Day 39 - Saturday 14th July - Mahia Peninsular to Tatapouri

Another beautifully sunny day here, we woke early as the campsite lady had recommended we go see an interesting rock formation on a beach the other side of the peninsular but they were best seen at low tide, which was 8:30am.

The drive took us past the wetlands which were so still a good reflection was seen in the waters.

Early morning wetlands on the Mahia Peninsular

The rocks from the road didn't at first seem anything unusual so we had a wander on the beach for a closer inspection to discover actually how amazing they were. Hard to explain in words so check out the photos. We also found some interesting items on the beach, check out the photos as well!!

View from the road of the rocks and beach on Mahia Peninsular

Interesting rock formation 1

The rocks just being covered by water

Interesting rock formation 2

Interesting rock formation 3

Interesting rock formation 4

Interesting rock formation 5

Interesting rock formation 6

Shell life on the beach

Luke looks in disgust as he picks up a sheep skull on the beach :S

Interesting rock formation 7

Interesting rock formation 8

Interesting rock formation 9

After our walk on the beach we travelled along a high gravelly road where the only traffic was goats, back to the Pacific Coast Highway. From here we drove to Gisborne with a stop on a hill for lunch looking down over the city and bays.

View over towards Gisborne from our lunch spot

Gisborne is a small city and is the first city in the world to see the sunrise and was the place Captain Cook first landed in New Zealand. We did not stop in the city other than to stock up on supplies.

We travelled to a small bay called Tatapouri just 15km north of Gisborne where there is a lovely campsite to spend the night in. Again right on the seafront :) 

Another beach sunset