The East Cape

Man, this is the first time I've really been a bit homesick since I've been here. Not that I want to go home this instant, but I really don't think I could just carry on staying away. I've met some great people, but nothing compares to the life-long friends and family (of course) I've got back home. I'm in a little town called Opotiki right now, which is pretty much our last stop on the East Cape. It was a pretty wicked trip, though I have to say driving with LiLu has been the most trying thing I done with her yet. Anyway, we are staying in a little house/backpackers lodge just out of town that is literally 50 feet from the beach. From the deck you can see the waves crashing. Yesterday we went out in some sea kayaks and played around in the surf. I started trying to find the holes in the crashing waves and knife my way through them. It sparked such fond memories of you Dad when we were in Hawaii so many years ago wave racing on that double kayak. That will always be one of my fondest childhood memories. Anyway, before I start crying in the Internet cafe, it was a ton of fun. The surf was really good and I could actually ride the waves in about 60 feet from where they were breaking straight on to the beach, it was awesome fun. LiLu both got it handed to us a few times though. Catch a wave sideways at all and you are eating sea water. We decided to stay another day here because it's such a nice and chilled out place. It's a beautiful sunny day too, which means all day chillin' out in the sun playing in the ocean. I'll try and take some action shots today!

Lets see, tracking back now... We stopped first in a town called Napier. Where I did some souvenir shopping and some wining tasting. It was an art deco town and really cool actually. From there we went to a national park in Maori land. It was about 2000 feet up and we stayed on this lake in the middle of a mountain range. Got some great pictures, including me in a 1000 year old Rata tree, which are like parasite trees and start in the top of a host tree and then send roots down to the ground. It was massive! As soon as I get to a Internet cafe that will allow me to download fast pictures I'll get the whole thing on facebook, could be a couple more days though, still pretty small towns.
Next we stayed in a bay, forget the name, where Capt'n Cook first landed in New Zealand. He was the first white guy to find it in the 1700's. They had the longest pier in NZ there, 660meters which we walked along and took pictures of the sunrise from. (Top Most Picture)
After that we went up to the East Cape, where we stayed in a little holiday park. They had a sweet beach there surrounded by forested hills. It was like a jungle on the side of the ocean, like nothing I've seen before. We woke up at 5:30 in the morning to be the first to see the sun rise in the world (along with about 8 other people). There was a bit of clouds in the way, but the sun broke out and we got some pretty cool shots of it (2nd picture). On the way back to our campsite the sun came over the clouds and looked amazing! I have a shot of that here, 3rd one.
The final shot is of what is supposed to be the largest tree of this kind in the world (I forget the name but it's really long)! It was 40 meters across at its widest point and 21 meters high. You can see our 4 door car on the left side that gives you some perspective.
From there we marched along the rest of the coast, took a few pictures and ended up in Opotiki where we are now.
That's the update for now. We are heading up to what are supposed to be some more amazing views and hot water beach, where, depending on the tides, you can dig a hole in the sand and have it filled up by hot springs underneath. You can sit in your own man made hot spring!
After that it's back to Auckland where we drop off the car and see where to go from there.