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Feel like summer passed you by? Head for the East Coast and you might still catch the warm glow, writes Clare Moleta.
Poverty Bay is the first place in New Zealand to see the sun.
Blue Sea, blue sky, dusty heat. It's the end of summer. The four of us are on the coast road just past Wairoa and outside the car everything is swollen with light. Up ahead, Mahia Peninsula is a long, low crocodile.
At the Mahia Beach Motel and Holiday Park, girls queue outside the office in bikinis, shorts and jandals. There are kids on bikes, in togs, playing pool in the games room. We can't see the water from our 'standard' pink motel unit but otherwise it's got everything: bedroom, bathroom, a big living area with three extra beds and a kitchen straight out of the 50s.
It's not even a minute's walk to the beach. The dry heat's tempered by a breeze off the water - perfect for frisbee and body surfing. It's not crowded either; just a handful of swimmers, delirious dogs, kids playing cricket and a dad constructing a sandcastle empire for his son with an actual shovel. Even the quad bikes buzzing up and down can't spoil the pleasure of floating in a warm sea.
It's still warm at midnight; we sleep under sheets with the doors and windows open.
The next day we explore the peninsula's rugged, north-east end. The road runs between hills and the big blue sweep of the Pacific, with the coastline curving up to Poverty Bay. We pick a bay of our own and wade in the rock pools. Suddenly a dark shape breaks the water just metres offshore, then another. Dolphins. We watch the pod feeding and playing for nearly an hour before they head back out to sea.
Overnight, rain sets in. Our neighbours load up the ute with kids, dogs and gear and head off eeling. We drive up to Morere Hot Springs and follow the walking track through lush nikau to three small pools of varying temperatures, surrounded by the kind of rainforest that used to cover much of the East Coast. On our last visit, Leon and I had the nikau pools to ourselves but today they're packed, so we pile into the big indoor pool down near the entrance instead. It's steamy, sociable and about the best rainy day activity I can think of; especially followed by Kapiti icecream from the tearooms across the road.
On day four we play an epic game of Risk while we wait for the sun to come back. Concentration starts flagging, so Lisa and I queue up at the shop for sugar supplies.
Around sunset the wind drops and we bond with our neighbours in a rowdy game of beach volleyball.
On our last morning, Stu's mate from Gisborne rings to find out how our holiday's been going. "Seen many Mahitians?" he asks.
It's hot again so we decide to check out one of his favourite swimming spots; a natural waterslide up near Rere Falls on the Wharekopae River.
North of Morere, SH2 flirts with the coast all the way to Gisborne. In between are paddocks and pine plantations and hills. Rusting tin-and-wood sheds, farmhouses vivid with fruit trees. A field of sweetpeas sends a hot pastel smell washing through the car.
Gisborne streets are lined with jacaranda and flame trees and everyone's out in the sun. We stock up on picnic supplies and head north-west into the hills. Rere Falls is pretty but the real excitement's upriver. Just across the bridge we follow the screaming and find locals of all ages hurling themselves down 45 degrees of smooth, wet rock on tyres, boogie boards and their wet-suited bums. Leon and Stu go first. From the landing pool at the bottom the whole thing looks terrifying but up top there's less testosterone than I expected and a lot of friendly advice on technique from surfer boys and small children, so I gather my courage and don't look before I leap.
It's wet, wild, high-speed and 100 per cent worth the bruises.
An hour later the surfers disappear suddenly. A local dad explains that one of them cracked his head open and his mates have taken him off to hospital. "ACC's got a huge file on this place", he says. His daughter confides they're about to move to Auckland. She doesn't want to go. "It could be exciting being in the big city," I offer. "Yes," she says sadly, "but the East Coast is the first place to see the sun."
Need to know
Getting there
Gisborne, on the North Island's East Coast, is a 50 minute flight from either Auckland or Wellington. Mahia Peninsula is 80km south of Gisborne via SH2; take the turnoff east at Nuhaka. Intercity runs a daily bus between Gisborne and Auckland and between Gisborne and Napier with connecting buses to Wellington.
Where to stay
The Mahia Beach Hotel and Holiday Park
There is a safe swimming beach, camping, plus standard and sea-view units. There's a shop and takeaway and the office hires out bikes and other gear. Ph (06) 837 5830, email mahia.beach.motel@xtra.co.nz
Where to go
Morere Hot Springs
Just north of Nuhaka on SH2. Public and private hot pools, rainforest walking tracks, picnic and BBQ facilities, accommodation bookings. Open daily with longer hours in summer. Ph (06) 837 8856, go to www.morerehotsprings.com
Morere Tearooms and Campground is just across the road. Ph (06) 837 8792, email morere@xtra.co.nz
Rere Falls
50km north-west of Gisborne on the Wharekopae River. There's a well set up picnic area at the falls itself; look out for a signed turnoff to the water slide just across the bridge.
More information
Gisborne's Visitor Centre, 209 Grey St, Gisborne. Ph (06) 868 6139, email info@gisbornenz.com, or go to www.gisbornenz.com
