Thanks to Cat’s little knock at 6am, we were up before the crack of dawn, and wandering across boggy fields, confusing cattle in search of the beach to watch the sunrise. As we are as far east as you can go, our aim was to be the first to see the sun come up. We weren’t disappointed either, with the rising sun’s orange rays radiating out from behind the cloud, just like the Japanese rising sun, or a childs drawing.
After a couple more hours extra kip we hit the road again for the final section of the East Cape road. Driving past Maori meeting houses (Marae) with their ornate wood carvings, cows giving us odd looks as they were herded past, and a little church with picket fence next to a beach. At the end of the day, what could be better than relaxing in a hot bath? Fortunately we’ve made it to volcano country, so the campsite had a nice hot spa to relax in!