Category: New Zealand & The Pacific

New Zealand is a dream nation of endless scenery and natural landmarks bringing visitors from around the world and making Kiwis proud of what lies in their backyard. I can say that New Zealand as a first world country opposed to its neighboring Ausssies, is stuck back in time in a number of places with zero cell service, unsealed roads and even so quite breathing seems like it’s an audible sin. But out of all the places I have seen and experienced, nothing compared to the timewarp feeling I had when I motorbiked around the East Cape peninsula in the North Island.

The East Cape is not only home to the easternmost point of the country, and endless bays, but is a huge region of Maori culture and population. While Maori and Pakehas have found a way (that can be disputed) to coexist in the Land of The Long White Cloud, the East Cape felt like what New Zealand would be had the Europeans never set foot here. It’s an experience that can’t be explained in a few words like visiting Cape Reinga, it’s a spiritual and energy filled experience that you feel within the soul. Here are my experiences of what I saw and felt in images.

Starting Point: Gisborne

Poverty Bay in Gisborne marks the point of Captain Cooks landing site in Aotearoa and would change the history of New Zealand forever, as Maori eventually evolved to coexist with Pakeha.

Riding east of Gisborn quickly takes you back to a road right along the sea. On the perfect sunny day, this makes this the ultimate start to a road trip.

---

Tolaga Bay

What is unique about Tolaga Bay isn’t only its wide bay and beautiful bright cliffs, but its Wharf is an icon of the town and region being the longest wharf in New Zealand at 660 meters. Taking a long stroll to the end was a reward on it’s own taking a nice panoramic view of both the sea and the cliffs above.

——————————————————–

Anaura Bay

Google Maps states that this was “THE” landing site of Captain Cook and because I didn’t actually find anything, I simply took in the beauty of the bay with my own eyes and was very much happy with that. But little did I know, Captain did make his SECOND landing right in this bay.

——————————————————–

Tokomaru Bay

I made a mandatory gas up, toilet, and coffee pit stop, minus the coffee since I found the Coffee at Cafe 35 quite overpriced with no ways to drink in. Sorry guys, I did make a nice road sandwich proped on the towns beach listening to the ways and enjoying the wide view of the bay. Didn’t walk around town, but it did look cute, quiet, and quaint. Wouldn’t mind having a simple quiet life here.

——————————————————–

Waipiro Bay

——————————————————–

East Cape Lighthouse

And Te Araroa

My final stop on a single day of motorcycle travel was in the cute small town of Te Araroa home to the largest Pokutukawa Tree.

With a front tire reaching it’s near end and understanding that the road to East Cape Lighthouse is all unsealed, I was left with a decision on whether or not I should go. But because this could be the first and last opportunity to go and discovering a $6 campground, I didn’t hesitate to make the ride. That ride was absolutely beautiful and insanely isolated. I set up camp for $6 overlooking the sea and set off for the East Cape Lighthouse on a long unsealed road, some of which hugs a cliffside over the sea. The lighthouse sits on a hill over private land overlooking the sea with views of the coastline further south. Surely would have been a regret not coming here.

---

Waihau & Te Kaha

Next morning I crossed the northern edge of East Cape over to the Bay of Plenty riding back down towards Whakatane with a stop in Waihau for a quick gas up. Along the way, I stumbled upon a beautiful place to stop under a maze of beautiful coastal trees on a tiny beach.

Endless Marae and beautiful Maori woodwork

The main highlight of this journey around the East Cape was checking out the endless Marae, woodwork, and Maori settlements. It was this lengthy ride that allowed me to enjoy and embrace what life would have been if the Maori advanced on their own without European intervention. Only the motorway allowed way for a motorcyclist like myself, to ride and fully enjoy.

 

Endpoint: Whakatane

Many things I couldn’t photo alike the rest of my entire journey, only enjoyable with my own eyes. Even if I ride by and catch a glimpse for a mere few seconds. That’s the beauty of riding sometimes. The East Cape is an experience on it’s own. A time warp! Once you leave Gisborne, there is a really that takes you away the further into the peninsula you go until you are lost in time with the villages you visit accompanied by the beauty of the endless bays. East Cape, is surely a ride you don’t want to miss.

 

Why the hell am I calling this dream inception? Because I literally just finished living a dream within a dream, owning a motorcycle while traveling the world. While I am still a motorcycle owner many miles from my final destination of living before I work and leave New Zealand for good, the height of my double dream has officially become a reality.

 

In the world of travel, I will fulfill having the courage to leap into the unknown, connect with people I have yet to meet, see beautiful places out of ones dreams, and have adventures of a lifetime. I don’t know how long I will freely travel, but at some point I will not only need to take a break, but I will need to settle down and earn some travel funds. Finding a place to live, find a job, and call a place home. These were all thoughts and ambitions of mine before I hopped on that flight, done what I had done with the anticipation that I will stop and call a place home. Picton, New Zealand, the heart of the Marlborough Sounds and the gateway to the South Island was that very place, opening a new chapter in my travels as well as, my life.

Three amazing months of travel in New Zealand as my ultimate reward for nearly a year and a half of freely roaming the world as well as my reward from achilles rupture recovery. Two and a half of the months we well spent traveling north of Auckand to Cape Reinga, back down through Waikato, Taranaki, Taupo and central North Island region, Coromandel, and back to Auckland. And ten incredible days on holiday with my family traveling as north as Auckland’s North Shore down to Milford Sound and Te Anau. It was those ten days with my family that allowed me to subconsciously decide where I will call home, I just didn’t know where yet.

After my families’ departure, I hopped back on my motorbike across North Island en route back to South Island, only this time, with intentions of finding work and calling a place home for the first time in my life. Ultimately, I wished and hoped to live and work somewhere central in South Island like Greymouth or Hokitika. Hell, even a small town in the geographic center of Te Wai Pounamu (Maori for S.I.). I had an offer for woodworking and paneling in Christchurch which is to no surprise thanks to the continuous rebuilding efforts from the CC earthquake, but this wasn’t something I was all about. I wanted a job that could help me grown as a more versatile person, something that this job nor fruit-picking would do for me. I was not looking for just a paycheck.

For the second time, I crossed the Interisland ferry in a timeframe of only two weeks, only difference, no family plus a motorbike. Coming from North island to South island is an experience on it’s own not because of the ferry itself. Or crossing the violent cook strait, gazing at the rugged southern coast of the North Island. It’s slowly drifting into and through the gorgeous Marlborough Sounds. There was a familiar energy I felt when coming back through here, something I felt two weeks ago that was much stronger. I arrived in Picton with my motorbike with not a single plan but to find the nearest campground and what my next steps were. It was time to find work. I needed and wanted it!

The next several days were the days that allowed me to find the most beautiful opportunity to call this place home finding my ultimate dream job. Camping out at Whatamango gave me a different view of the sounds than before, but the ultimate experience was the off the grid couchsurfing/ camping I did with a mother and three children in a different sound. A three hour ride brought me to an isolated “village” of possibly a population of maybe 10 ish people. Camping out here allowed me to fully connect with the sounds in a whole new level. Upon returning to Picton and being offered a job in a hotel, despite my desire to be in the heart of South Island, I ultimately made my decision. This was going to be my home!

The Job

The Foreshore, multiple cafes, Irish Bar and Oxleys, High Street, Fresh Choice, the ports for the Blue Bridge and Interislander Ferries, coathanger and marina. All icons of this magnificent place I call home. In the middle of all this, is the Picton Yacht Club Hotel, not only a place of employment for me, but the open door for several things I’ve craved to learn and get better at. That is bartending, serving, and making  damn good cups of coffee, the right way. What I though would be a receptionist job, would end up being a bartending job, the very job skill I desired nearly all of my adult life because I couldn’t make a mixed drink for shit.

For about two whole months, I went from only knowing how to pour beer, to making top notch cocktails and understanding spirits entirely. Understanding the differences of rum to spiced rum, liquor to liqueur, what vermouth is, garnish styles, measurement between ML and OZ, and pouring by counting methods.

Towards the end of my employment, I was utilized more so at the restaurant including group event lunches and dinners. This allowed me to excel in my inner serving skills in a top notch ish restaurant while find comfort with my interaction with guests. I learned how to display and pour wine properly, taking orders from the guest to the kitchen, silverware order, and which side of the guest to place the meals.

 

And last but not least, finally working behind an expresso machine. Understanding coffee and how to properly make the different types of coffee has been a huge desire of mine for the past two years since I started drinking. And while bartending and serving desires surpass that with time, there was nothing I wanted to learn more, than becoming a barista. One of the first things I mentioned to employers was that I wanted to learn how to make coffee. In three months, I learned what each cup of coffee entails, how to properly make it via extraction, milk steaming, and finally, earned starter skills at decent latte art.

Living

In my honest opinion, hostels just don’t do it for me anymore. I guess I got way too spoiled with Couchsurfing and the luxury of airbnbs. Hosteling just isn’t my thing anymore. I don’t even know if it ever really was. After accepting my job offer, I stayed a night in a hostel to give it a shot again and left a sour taste in my month. At the end of the day, I accepted a $165 a week private room with a local in town via the site TradeMe. Strong wifi, privacy, good shower, prime location, full kitchen, laundry, and an extremely awesome and helpful roommate all were prime reasons why my first living experience was as amazing as it was.

The Town

Picton is a unique place. It’s the gateway to the south and the heart of the Marlborough sounds. Coming from New York (New Jersey really), people always ask me how I went from that to this. And my response is, Picton has the small town charm I’ve grown accustomed to living in a small town in the Carolinas. But when the ferries come in and before they leave, the world comes into this small town, giving it the essence of a big city full of people of different backgrounds that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting at work.

The Energy

Something brought me to persuade my family to stay in Picton for a night. And that we did! But upon my return, that very feeling existed in a new way allowing me to call this place home for three months. What it was was a mystery for me until I made a two day trip to Golden Bay on my days off. I had been in the sounds for two months with short trips into Blenheim on occasion. But I never really left the sounds. When I did, I realized how much I missed it as I got further away. As I could see the edge of the sounds from Golden bay, I missed being there and my home. Upon returning, I felt a ball of joy to see Picton harbor and that familiar view from the beautiful foreshore.

Thats when I found the answer to my question. It’s the energy here! I feel it when I wake up, while I work, and before I sleep. When I gaze at the sounds from my bar and restaurant, watching the Interisland ferries arrive and depart every several hours from the foreshore, or even watching the train begin its journey from my backyard. Weather it’s the swift but cooling breeze from the calm sea or the cascading mountains. Or the Polynesian history that remains in the earth in this region, there purely is an energy I feel every time I come here. It’s allowed me to fulfill some lifelong dreams to even simply living comfortably day by day with a wonderful roommate.

————————————————————————-

To conclude with one more week to call home here in beautiful Waitohi, I say this. Although I have spent only three whole months here, including passing through for a night with family. This will be the very place I remember where I yet again evolved as a traveler willing to leap into a new way to continue traveling. Taking on responsibilities and job dutues that will make me more versatile as a person. After all, knowledge IS EVERYTHING. Picton and the Marlborough Sounds will forever in my heart, be my New Zealand summer home. Or simply just, home.