Mahia Peninsula Road Trip in Hawke’s Bay – Day 269

Today we are going to be mini road tripping around the Mahia Peninsula. And then going to Gisborne.

Alright so today we have planned to explore the Mahia Peninsula but the weather is not playing ball. So we need to find ourselves something to do. And our accommodation today is actually located just nearby a very old and historic school in the morere region so we get the keys and we check this one out a little bit. It’s super old and I can’t believe I am finding records from 1929 I mean how long have those things been here. Well, actually since 1929.

But one last thing we can’t miss before leaving morere is feeding the eels and apparently behind the Morere tea rooms there are hundreds of eels to feed so we grab a loaf of bread and and head down to the river.

But after spending at least half an hour by this river throwing at least a loaf of bread we only see one lonely eel coming to visit us. It is one of my saddest moments in New Zealand and as I was really expecting to see to heaps of eels gathering around the food that I was throwing in the water.

But we still got our wildlife fix for the day as this eel is leaving us and going back to where ever it came from.

We are now heading on the road because the Mahia Peninsula is not going to visit itself and despite the weather we are eager to make the most of our time in this very remote place in New Zealand.

It really feels like the Mahia Peninsula was built for road trips there is heaps of stops on the side of the road for taking in the views and they are really well made they are big enough so every car can park here without the stress of being parked on the side of the road.

On a clear day you can see the sand bar that connects the Mahia Peninsula to the mainland but unfortunately for us the weather is too crazy to really see any amazing views.

It’s a little windy. Even the car is just rocking, eh?

I feel a little windswept.

Despite the weather we still soldier on to one of the main highlights of the Mahiha Peninsula which is the Mahia Beach. This beach is super huge and it’s meant to be a really awesome surf spot. There’s several surf breaks that you can find around the Mahia Peninsula and as we start walking down the beach we realise that the weather and the wind especially is getting a little bit too much for us to bare so we make our way along the beach and then turn around back pretty quickly because we actually saw a cafe on the way in. However, although we haven’t go to see everything that we wanted to see on the Mahia Peninsula we have a whole guide on NZPocketGuide.com which is 11 Mahia Peninsula Must-Dos so you can get all the awesome activities right there on that article.

But for us, we’re heading to The Beach Cafe so we can get out of this crazy wind.

The Beach Cafe really makes you in the vacation mood. Honestly, the entire place looks like it’s straight out of a seaside resort. Well, that’s exactly what the Mahia Peninsula is it’s the seaside of the seaside.

Our host here could not have a more fitting name. Her name is Sandy, how fitting is that?

Anyway there is heaps of awesome food on the Menu. Laura is taking herself a steak sandwich and I’m getting one of the pizza because you know what? Every single pizza in this cafe is named after one of the local surf breaks. My one is called Annihilation Point.

And as soon as we finish our hot chocolate, well deserved hot chocolate if I may say, the food arrives.

It smells absolutely delicious and it looks fantastic there is so much colour on our plate and because we mostly eat with our eyes it tastes absolutely amazing and to be quite honest the taste is also awesome.

As we are starting to think about making our way toward the little town of Gisborne. We are reminiscing about this day which feels absolutely mismatched. We did a lot of things but nothing really stood out as the main activity of the day so if you did notice we did not mark this day as an activity day and our counter remains at 268.

This evening when we arrive in gisborne we find the perfect cosy indoor activity to do which is the Dome Cinema. this is an art style boutique cinema where they deliver food straight to your seat.

We get a name instead of a number here and the lady looked at me she was about to give me Hugh Grant and then she looked at me and was like nah and she gave me Homer Simpson. Feels great.

They’re not coming. We saw two eels. And that’s pretty much it. See more sandflies than anything else. Sadness. [Crying sound].