Grumpy in Gizzy
You know you’re back in civilisation when instead of waking up to the warmth and light of the rising sun, the early and rather annoying morning alarm call is traffic noise! In particular the loud logging trucks who are on the road from first light – welcome to Gisborne, New Zealand’s most eastern city, and known by the locals as “Gizzy”.
That said it was still a beautiful morning to wake up to. We are camping by yet another beautiful beach (Waikanae Top 10 Holiday Park at NZ$44 per night) which is slightly busier than most we’ve been on, but by no means crowded.
Tolaga Bay – Gisborne
Thankfully the sun made a welcome return today after it’s short lapse yesterday. It had been a clear blue sky when we set off from Tolaga Bay for the 60km ride to Gisborne, but by mid morning the clouds had rolled in and on a steep climb inland we were caught out in a short, sharp thunderstorm.
By the time we’d rejoined the coast for our picnic lunch we had dried off completely, thanks in part to the constant headwind we were facing which got stronger the closer we got to Gizzy. Just as we pitched up the heavens opened again, but as always there was sunshine after the rain. This time in the form of a brewery – Gisborne’s Sunshine brewery was just around the corner from the campsite!
Gisborne City
Since we were in the “city” this morning we thought we’d go out for a slap up breakfast instead of making our usual muesli and fruit. But after walking the streets for two hours we couldn’t find a single place serving a fry – definitely a gap in the market here for a good breakfast café that opens before 9am! An afternoon coffee spot proved almost as difficult with the first couple of places we tried already closed at 3.30pm!
We had a similar experience this evening – this time we fancied fish and chips takeaway for dinner and had spotted a fresh fish place on our breakfast hunt, but when we got there at 7.30pm it had been closed half an hour already! We raced around town on the bikes and eventually managed to snag a takeaway from a restaurant that at 8pm was shutting up for the evening.
This opening late and closing early malarkey is frustrating for hungry and grumpy travellers! But all was forgiven as tonight Gizzy put on a show stopping sunset for our romantic fish supper on the beach. Life is good, again.
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