On the East Coast of the North Island

Before leaving Clover Hill Estates we went out with Lloyd again. It is facinating to watch the dogs work the sheep. The littel black and white dog (Pino), on the left, is only 2 years old.


Linda feeding the male ostrich.

Rotorua to Gisborne

We had a choice of routes today. We picked the longer route around the north-east coast. It didn’t look like it was too far but we are learning that there aren’t many straight roads in New Zealand. It turned out to be 468 kilometres of constant turning. We only averaged 56K per hour. The longest straight stretch of road we saw was perhaps 300 metre in length. We didn’t have to worry about squaring the tire. It was a fun ride but it required constant attention!

We are getting more accustom to riding on the left side of the road. It is not uncomfortable now but it requires constant vigilance and concentration, especially when turning onto another road. The New Zealand Road Code conforms strictly to the rule that the vehicle on the right has the right of way. It works well. Round-a-bouts (traffic circles) make sense here and they work very efficiently. They are especially useful when you need to make a U turn, as we have discovered on several occasions.

I always find in interesting to analyse the various driving habits, rules and road markings in the different counties in which we have ridden. One thing that is different here is the centre line marking. As in Canada, a dashed centre line means that is legal to pass the vehicle in front of you. However in Canada the broken line changes to a solid line when the highway department (or whoever) decides that it may be unsafe to pass. In NZ the solid lines are not used except at intersections or other selected locations. The centre line on the two lane highways here are dashed lines. Around corners, over hills, it doesn’t matter. It is up to the driver to decide if it is safe to pass. Also the posted speed limit on these highways is 100K. The fact that the road is so twisty that is difficult to exceed 50K seems immaterial. I prefer this over the constantly changing speed zones that I have seen on curving roads in Colorado.

Enough about driving... It is much warmer and dryer here on the east coast. As we rounded the northern tip of the peninsular the lush green vegetation turned to yellow. When you couldn’t seethe ocean you felt like you could be riding in the Kamloops area, dry, rolling and somewhat mountainous, cattle and sheep country. The temperature also jumped several degrees higher. We are staying in fancy hotel on the water front in Gisborne. Tomorrow we are off to Napier.

Gisborne to Napier


Today was a shorter day on the bike, even taking the longer route though the higher lands west of Gisbourne. We stopped at Te Reinga Falls and then in Wairoa for lunch. We reached Napier by 3pm and rode to the centre of the small city. Napier is a nice place to visit with is ocean front spa (ie. Multiple swimming and hot pools), parks and Art Deco architecture.

We are staying tonight at Ormlie Lodge. A renovated 1899 residence just outside the city. All the accommodations in which we have stayed have been very nice. Definitely a step above our normal level of holiday accommodation.

Today we are heading to Martinborough, not far from the Wellington Ferry port. The next morning we will catch the Ferry to the South Island. So far we have been lucky with the weather. The forecast doesn’t look to good for Nelson though, but the weather here is changeable.