Tokomaru Bay And Its Not So Great Wharf

The next bay also was beautiful and also had an historic wharf...this one awaiting renovation.

Land of slips (landslides)

The freezing plant, for which the wharf was built; and whose closure, in 1953,
marked its end; could "process" 500 sheep per day, as  well as cattle, goats, whatever

Tolaga Bay And Its Great Wharf

We drove on from Gisborne on Tuesday morning, March 6th, heading further up the east coast toward the East Cape, New Zealand's easternmost point and indeed the first place to see the light. Along the way were bays, wharves, churches, volcanoes, and vast seascapes.

Also seals

The big thing at Tolaga Bay, other than the scenery generally, is
the old wharf, 660m long, early 20th century

Like other such wahrves in NZ, it was built to facilitate loading
of commercial vessels, mostly with ag stuff; the wharf fell into
disrepair in mid-20th century, when road traffic replaced sea-
going vessels; but has now been restored as a cultural/heritage
thing

Need any driftwood? The east coast of the North Island is a
good place to look; also to learn surf-boarding

Very mild and regular surf; this day

Large sea cave; the crashing reminded me a bit of Fingal's Cave,
Inner Hebrides

A whole long cliff's worth of sea caves

And islands in the bay

End of the line

Looking back the 660m

An arch!

Thus

Beginning surfers

Last look

Wit

More wit

Another beauty

Gisborne

We proceeded on to the small city of Gisborne, staying two nights at the marina freedom camping area right downtown. We enjoyed nosing around Gisborne just as much as the other east coast small towns we have visited.

Interesting sculpture all around

Garden next to the marina

Gisborne prides itself on being "the first city to see the light..." international
date line, etc; this is of course arbitrary, since the Greenwich meridian might as
well have passed through Paris...nonetheless

More sculpture

And some art deco here and there; Gisborne wasn't affected by the 1931 earthquake
as much as Hastings or Napier

A great deal of historical signage

Obligatory clock tower

We're very much into girl scouts things presently

The free camping area, Sunday afternoon

"Evolution"

A gift from China on the occasion of the 2008 Olympics

The marina, interestingly, was mostly out-riggers of various sizes

I love cities that have this kind of self-regard

Not to mention historical/literary associations: here is Sir Guy of Gisborne, that
is, Basil Rathbone in one of his iconic roles (he's reading the death sentence for
Sir Robin of Locksley)