East Cape: Wairoa to Napier And once again back to the Pacific Coast highway! I'm not sure if this is the longest of NZ's scenic roads but it certainly seems to take a while (I've been on it (with a few detours) pretty much since leaving Auckland). The Wairoa to Napier stretch curved back inland pretty quickly, but made up for the lack of beaches with some impressive river canyons, and a couple of detours to waterfalls. My first one was out to Shine falls, in what they call a 'mainland island' which is basically a native flora/fauna reserve, shine falls is a 58m waterfall. It's about a 40min walk through the bush, and the pool you come out at would be a perfect place to go for a swim in summer. I went for a quick paddle with my jeans rolled up, and they betrayed me by falling down. The 40min walk out definitely seemed longer when soaking wet, but I'd still say the falls was worth it ;) (Hasan, I hope when you left your jeans with me you didn't want them back...) My next stop was a couple of lakes, a DOC site where sadly swimming was prohibited because of an Asian weed in the water. They've introduced fish to eat the weeds, but the whole area is closed to boats and swimmers until they can be sure it's all gone. It started spitting when I was there anyway, so I wasn't in a rush to go for a swim! The rain cleared up quickly once I got a bit further down hill and I managed to do a couple more walks, one around a little nature reserve and one out to two more waterfalls, another nice swimming spot (where I decided to stay dry for a change) and one that was just a look out through the trees. Unfortunately the rain started up again when I got back to my car, and didn't let up as the road came back to the coast in Hawkes bay. Normally there'd be amazing views all the way out to Napier, but I didn't end up ps topping much, just drove straight through to a camp right on the coast beside the city centre (thank you Napier council!) Napier is famously an Art Deco style city, after an earthquake destroyed parts of it, they decided to rebuild in the same style and now it's the theme of the whole place. It's pretty cool, lots of vintage shops and unusual buildings. I spent a day exploring around looking at all the buildings and visiting some nice little cafes in the centre.
