Te Kaha

After welcoming in the New Year with a discreet kiss in front of 10,000 of our neighbors at the Civic Square, we hit the road for "the BOP". The sweeping coastline of the Bay of Plenty begins an hour's drive east of Auckland and extends over 200 km to the remote reaches of the East Cape, where the dramatic bush and ocean vistas are broken only by the occasional beach village. Te Kaha is one of these. Given the location, our hotel was quite flash; in fact, the decor was eerily similar to our Welly flat. Unfortunately, rain, holiday traffic, and the winding, shoulder-less roads rendered our planned bike trek impracticable. In a way, it was a relief to just bike up to the cafe a couple of km away, enjoy a leisurely brekkie, then lounge the day away listening to the waves, birds and breeze. The tropical pace was a welcome respite from the rush of work, and Te Kaha is one of those places in the world that makes slowing down seem both necessary and good. So we kicked back, sampled the amazing chardonnays of the region, and enjoyed the company of our good friend Patrick, another Minnesotan wisely spending a few months escaping the frozen tundra. Unfortunately, we were so laid back that we forgot to take any pictures of this spectacular region.

On a whim, we drove to NZ's easternmost point, where (surprize!) there's a lighthouse on top of a windswept hill. Climbing the 750 steps up was the easy part, at least compared to the harrowing drive to and fro along a single-lane of cliffside gravel road with seemingly innumerable blind curves. We also took time to comb the beaches, the quiet focus of which always feels so much like a kind of meditation.