East Cape

From the Bay of Plenty we have headed east to the sparsely populated Eastern Cape. As we drove we could constantly see a small island out to sea with cloud clinging to it...

...On closer inspection with the telephoto lens we could see it was White Island, an active volcano that erupted... yesterday! Apparently this is a regular occurrence that the locals don't bat an eyelid too.

Signs of volcanism are everywhere, our lunch stop at a beautiful black sand beach just one example:

We arrived late afternoon at the East Cape lighthouse just as the storm clouds did. The World's most easterly lighthouse felt like the end of the Earth and the storm that hit at 3am sure made us feel that way!

No tourist gimmicks here just rugged NZ beauty and a total feeling of isolation (if it wasn't for all the sheep!)

The storm had blown over in time for a stroll on the beach the next day, once again with so many beaches to chose from we seem to always have the sand to ourselves :-)

We have now arrived in Gisborne where we are going to prepare for our first Great Walk, Lake Waikaremoana, a four day backcountry trek through ancient forests. We will be taking all our supplies such as food, water, cooking and sleeping gear so we will spend the next day or so making sure we have all we need before we start the walk on Monday. 

We will update when we get back from our first of 9 Great Walk experiences! Wish us luck! :-)