Whakatane

Last weekend was Labor Day so I took an extra day off to get a 4-day weekend and went for a weekend adventure with one of my friends. We had planned to go to the city of Napier because her older sister lives there, but when that fell through we had to pick somewhere else to go. So I asked where she'd like to go and she said "Anywhere!" Not helpful, since I was of the same opinion. So I pulled out  my trusty North Island of NZ map, made a quick note of where I have been and then thought "OK, Whakatane, haven't been there, that's where we'll go." PS, that is how most of the trips I've taken so far has been determined. I see a place with a cool name or I close my eyes and point and see where my finger lands, then I go there. So far so good :)

But anyway, so Whakatane. For those of you who wish to be culturally aware, the "WH" is pronounced like "F."

It's a beautiful place. We stayed at a lovely hostel run by a couple who wanted to do something different. It was by far the nicest I have ever stayed at, and for an incredibly reasonable price. Our hostess was delighted that we noticed how she color coordinated the rooms, and we were thankful for the comfortable lounge room to relax in after a day outside.

Whakatane is a small town, so was easy to quickly get a feel for where everything is located. The best breakfast was at the Bean Cafe. Best smoothies are at Poppy's Cafe. The grocery store was just around the corner from the hostel and Pizza Hut was just around the corner from the police station. And it's a beautiful place to be outdoors. We spent most of one day biking/meandering down the water front, finding beautiful seashells and people watching and enjoying the fact that it was both warm and sunny all in the same day.

Our other full day there was devoted to hiking. There was a lovely trail (which we'd mistakenly thought we could bike on day 1 and quickly found out otherwise) which led to Ohope Beach. So we packed a lunch, grabbed some water (and sunscreen) and off we went. It was a delightful hike, up a mountain, or probably just a really big hill, and around the the top of it so we could see the town and then the bay and then we came to this lovely little cove thingey where we found more seashells. As we continued on from there it was only a short way further to Ohope Beach. We had a picnic and walk along the beach before making the hike back.

I'll let you look at pictures now because it's easier than trying to describe what we saw :)

Island in the distance is possibly Whale Island, not positive

He just about let me walk up to him :)

Ohope Beach