The Biggest One I Ever Saw

March 12, 2025
HereHare
2025, DESTINATIONS, Gisborne, New Zealand, Tolaga Bay
0 Comments

Another sunny day. Another beautiful drive. Another spectacular beach.

We finished up breakfast, packed the car, completed essentials (Wordle, Movie Grid, Spelltower, etc.) and were on the road north before 10. We aren’t carrying on up the East Cape after this stop, so today was our one chance to explore north of Gisborne. Gosh was it beautiful.

Random pic while driving. Indicative of much of the day.

Our first stop was Tolaga Bay, or just shy of the village, where we did a walking track (aka short-ish but strenuous hike) on Cook’s Cove Walkway, which is about a 6 km loop involving climbing up, climbing down, and of course climbing back up before you go down again. Initially the path heads up from sea level to a ridge overlooking the bay. Here are my panorama shots, west to east (or just skip to Stephen’s video of the same, below) showing the farms and village and ocean and coastline at Tolaga Bay.

The hike continues along a ridge in open ranch/farmland to another viewpoint looking east and south along the rugged coast.

Views south from the ridge above Tolaga Bay

We hiked down the incline to the ocean on the other side. The destination along this track is Cook’s Cove where, as part of his circumnavigation around NZ, Cook landed in 1769. Placards explain the interaction with Maori, the engagement with the Tahitian high priest who travelled with Cook, the plants Cook gathered, the well they dug, and so forth.

Looking down at Hole in the Wall, a natural archway leading to the sea

Hole in the Wall, or Te Kotere o te Whenua, a rock formation between the shore and ocean

After we tramped around the historical site we had to hike back. The track up to the ridge is, well, straight up. But the steepest parts have steps built into them. It was 200 steps for 400 meters above sea level, 376 steps to the top of the ridge. Not that I was counting. But I was.

After the hike down, we drove down the road a few hundred meters to the Tolaga Bay Wharf, which dates from 1929. It’s a staggering 600 meters long. That’s long. Have you ever seen a 600 meter long wharf? Have you ever experienced a 600 meter long wharf? One website claims it’s “the longest wharf of its type” in the southern hemisphere. That’s both long and iconic. Iconic and unique. And long.

I’m telling you straight up, I’ve never seen one longer

Looking up or looking down, it’s plenty long

Of course it’s wide too, plenty of girth, let’s not just talk about length, I mean be fair, length and girth, the whole package

And at the end, the tip of it all, there’s quite the plume, four loads at once you can plainly see

And it’s hard. Rock hard. Because it’s made of cement. Geddit?

So that was that, as they say. We drove into the Tolaga Bay town for lunch. Not much action there, trust me. (It was all out at the wharf.) But we had a decent bite at a place called Black Market, which appeared to be the only place open.

Sleepy Tolaga Bay. All tired out from thinking about that wharf. No wonder. It’s the BIGGEST one I ever saw

After lunch, based solely on a comment from our AirBnB hosts, we drove further north to Anaura Bay; it was quite the distance north, then 6 clicks off the highway, and then, if you were camping, an additional few clicks down the beach. We walked the beach for about two clicks north, to see the campground, then back. We had the beach to ourselves. I mean it was incredible: The beach, the privacy, the beauty. Unbelievable.

Really? And like there’s no one on this beach? Like period?

Or, in different speak, beauty doth persuade the eyes of men without an orator

And also really pretty, like really pretty

Well that was pretty much the day. By the time we’d finished walking, and changed, and driven back to Gisborne, and picked up something for dinner, it was early evening. So we ended up at the AirBnB, and it clouded in, and it rained, and we put our feet up. And still, I couldn’t stop thinking about how darn big that wharf was.