Road Trip! Part One: The Drive

As we approach the two-year mark of living in New Zealand, we decided to revert to behaving like tourists once again by taking a long weekend holiday to the East Cape. This somewhat isolated region is home to fewer people but still chokka with natural beauty and adventure without all the fuss and bother of having to share. It's the first place on the first major land mass to see the sun each morning, as the international date line lies only a few hundred miles to the East.


The relatively long drive was just as much a part of the experience, as Chad and I love road tripping anyway, and in NZ there are always an amazing amount of things to see on the way to anywhere.

A falling rock sign:

And they are not kidding around - Land Transport NZ runs road checks morning and evening from both ends of the Gisborne highway to make sure its not blocked by landslides.

The river that accompanied us partway on our drive, making for some prime and ridiculously scenic sheep farming country.



A tom turkey parading around in front his unimpressed girlfriend.



Strange, suddenly I'm craving seasoned breadcrumbs and pumpkin pie...


Then we suspect we took a wrong turn somewhere near the Indian subcontinent.


Yeah, there's cows on the road. It's how they roll here in the East.


A spot of off-roading. Why? Because we can.


Following the highway along the coast.


An historic church gives evidence to the long history of the area. East Cape is where both Polynesian and European explorers first came ashore on Aotearoa (New Zealand).