DISCOVER NZ

EAST CAPE Wednesday 10 - Wednesday 17 February 2021 7 nights

TOUR OVERVIEW The of the North Island has a rugged beauty inspired by its isolation and on this tour you will be travelling on one of the world’s greatest and least known coastal road trips. This will be a leisurely journey because around every corner there is something new to see: stunning coastal scenery, white picture postcard bays and coves, remote settlements and farming communities and the ornately carved gateways of the many Marae. Its rich bicultural history makes this a unique destination. You will have the opportunity to meet some of the local characters working on the out of the way back country stations. With a warm Mediterranean climate, clear blue skies and warm sunshine, this an ideal opportunity to explore some of the local treasures in a part of you may not have seen. You will enjoy two-night stays at most stops, meaning time to relax and less packing and unpacking.

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS

• Ride the rails in Awakeri on your own self-drive railcart • Explore the little visited back country stations of Puketoro, Puketiti and Waikura and hear the stories of pioneer settlers and modern day farming TOUR MANAGER • Stop and explore the nooks and crannies of the Penny Pickett has worked for East Cape: lighthouses, Maori churches, wharfs, many years in travel and is a gorgeous beaches and bays fun and caring tour manager. She has previously lived in • Get up close and personal with the resident Gisborne and has explored a stingrays of Tatapouri lot of the places you will visit • Visit Gisborne’s garden over the sea:‘Tiromoana’ on this tour. She famously • Explore the national at Eastwoodhill was one of the first woman • Enjoy the slow pace of life around the coast members of the Gisborne Gentleman’s Club, and the only woman to win a snooker championship there! TOUR INCLUSIONS TOUR EXCLUSIONS • The services of an experienced Calder & Lawson • Domestic travel to Hamilton (flights can be Tours tour manager booked for you at an additional cost)

• 7 nights accommodation • Travel insurance • Meals not specified in the itinerary • Meals as specified in the itinerary • Beverages during included meals, unless • Local guides specified • All group transfers • Personal expenses • Admissions as detailed in the itinerary • If you wish to pay by credit card, a surcharge of 2.5% will be charged • Activities and sightseeing tours with local guides as detailed in the itinerary IS THIS TOUR FOR ME? • Pre-tour material This tour presents the opportunity to see an area of the country that is seldom visited. This tour will not be physically challenging, however the ability to stand and walk for 1-2 hours will enable you to fully participate in all activities.

TOUR PRICE

Share twin or double occupancy NZD$3,150 Single Supplement NZD$ 750

Please contact Calder & Lawson Tours if you are interested in a single occupancy place, as they are limited.

GROUP SIZE Minimum 10, maximum 20

VARIATIONS IN TRAVEL We can make arrangements for any travel you would like to do before or after this tour. Please contact us to discuss your requirements. DAILY ITINERARY

Wednesday 10 February 2021 Travel from Hamilton to Awakeri in the Bay of Plenty, via the pictureque Hamilton - Te Kaha Rotorua Lakes. Spend 90 minutes at Awakeri Rail Adventures, where you will Meals: L/D travel along a section of New Zealand’s rich rail history, the Taneatua Coach: 4 hours 30 minutes total Branch Line. You will be in complete control of your rail vehicle and can stop Overnight: Te Kaha for photos at any time. Continue on to Opotiki and then to Te Kaha where you’ll stay the night.

Thursday 11 February Begin your travel around the East Coast on the coastal road, stopping at Te Kaha - Hicks Bay Whanarua Bay to sample delicious Pacific Coast macadamias. At Meals: B/D Raukokore, visit the whitewashed Anglican church nestled beside the sea Coach: 2 hours 15 minutes and check for penguins roosting under the floor. For movie fans, the next Overnight: Hicks Bay stop is Waihau Bay where ‘Boy’ was filmed.

Continue on to Hicks Bay and to visit the iconic Te Waha-o- Rerekohu pohutukawa tree, the oldest in New Zealand. Lunch today is at the Cape Manuka Café and a tour of the Natural Solutions factory, recently featured on Country Calendar, where they process manuka honey products.

Friday 12 February After a leisurely morning, you will visit Waikura Joint Station where farming Te Kaha - Hicks Bay activities are in harmony with the natural resources and adapted to the Meals: B/L/D viability of the Waikura Valley. This is one of the most remote stations in New Coach: 1 hours 30 minutes Zealand and is a consolidation of four stations under one management Overnight: Hicks Bay umbrella. Today it operates as a traditional breeding station of about 50% sheep and 50% cattle. Recommended reading ‘Come be a Pioneer’ by Jock Hindmarsh, about the life of people living in the Waikura Valley will prepare you well for this visit. Tonight you stay at Hicks Bay, known for its history and unmatched sunsets in the summer months.

Saturday 13 February Leaving Hicks Bay, continue to hug the coast road as you head to . Hicks Bay - You’ll visit St Mary’s church, one of the finest Maori churches in New Meals: B/D Zealand. It was built in 1924 as a memorial to the Ngati Porou soldiers who Coach: 2 hours 15 minutes died in WW1. Sir Apirana Ngata was the mastermind behind the spectacular Overnight: Tokomaru Bay interior design, featuring ornate carving and tukutuku panels.

Pass through and on to a special experience at . Nestled under Maunga Aorangi, we visit a local community growing hemp, native trees and maara (kai gardens). You will meet locals who have intimate knowledge of cultivating the land and learn about hemp cultivation and hear about what the future of legalized cannabis growing my look like in the future, you will enjoy a hangi of local produce onsite.

Sunday 14 February Travel inland today - from to Puketoro Station then on to Puketoro Station and Puketiti Puketiti Station. At Puketoro, stop for a packed lunch and hear stories about Station the station’s history. Looping back to the coast, stop in at the 7,000 acre Meals: B/PL/D Puketiti Station homestead for smoko and learn its history. The station has Coach: 3 hours been in the Williams family for 138 years, taken up byJ N Williams, son of Overnight: Tokomaru Bay William Williams the first Bishop of Waiapu. With his brother Henry, he was involved in the translation and signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Hear stories of life on an East Cape station, some of which have been published in the book ‘Puketiti Station’ by Bee Dawson.

Monday 15 February Following breakfast at Café 35 in Tokamaru Bay, continue around the Cape Tokomaru Bay - Gisborne to where you will be able to walk the rebuilt 660m long wharf. Meals: B/L Locals love it for its history and also because it’s an excellent place to fish! Coach: 2 hours Overnight: Gisborne Continue on to the exceptional beauty of for a picnic lunch. is the next stop (where Whale Rider was filmed) then later this afternoon, enjoy a reef ecology tour at Tatapouri. This is an interactive experience with sting rays and other marine life and has been voted one of the world’s best marine experiences, an opportunity to get close to Tangaroa’s tamariki! Tuesday 16 February This morning visit one of the most innovative regional museums on offer, the Gisborne Tairawhiti Museum. This will be followed by a tour of Gisborne, including the Meals: B/L/D renovated wharf area and the spot where Captain Cook landed in 1769. Coach: 1 hour 15 minutes We pass Matawhero, the scene of Te Kooti’s massacre in 1868 in retaliation Overnight: Gisborne for his exile to the Chatham Islands; along the picturesque Valley and on to .

Home to 25,000 species of exotic and native trees, shrubs and climbers spread over 135 hectares, this is the National Arboretum of New Zealand. Planting was done by Douglas Cook from 1910 onwards and the Arboretum is regarded as the largest and most comprehensive collection of northern hemisphere trees in the southern hemisphere. A naturist, Cook gardened naked with only a gumboot on his spade foot!

Your farewell dinner tonight will be at a local winery with a chance to sample some of the delectable local wines.

Wednesday 17 February ‘Tiromoana’, the house over the water, is one of the most stunning coastal Gisborne gardens in NZ. Situated above , just south of Gisborne, it is Meals: B featured in numerous publications. Masses of native trees interspersed with Coach: 6 hours pockets of exotic trees and water features along with views over the ocean, complement a garden carved out of the hillside with winding walkways and delightfully bizarre clay sculptures rising from the earth. You will also have entry to the house and private gallery.

This afternoon you will begin your homeward journey, leaving Gisborne behind and winding your way through the Waioeka Gorge. You will stop at the historic Tauranga bridge, one of only two harp strung suspension bridges in the country. Lunch is at the quirky Living Water Bush Café, before emerging at Opotiki for the final leg back to Hamilton.

Photo credits: Thanks to Rebecca Williams (Puketoro Station) , Awakeri Rial Carts and Tairāwhiti Gisborne (Regional Tourism Organisation).

HOW TO SECURE YOUR PLACE ON THIS TOUR A deposit of $500 is required to secure your place on the tour. When minimum numbers are reached, the tour will become a ‘confirmed departure’ and your deposit will be non-refundable. At that point we will advise when the tour payment will be due. If the tour is unable to operate as a result of government travel restrictions due to Covid-19, you will have the choice of transferring your deposit to another tour or receive a full refund.

• Click here to complete the online registration form, pay the $500 per person deposit and your place in this tour is secured.

• Or you can complete a paper registration form. You can down load one from the website www.calderandlawsontours.co.nz, or give us a call and we will email or post one to you.

• TERMS & CONDITIONS Can be found on the website www.calderandlawsontours.co.nz, on the back of the paper registration form or on the summary page when you complete an online registration. If you wish to pay by credit card, a surcharge of 2.5% will be charged. VARIATIONS This itinerary is Version 2 dated 22/06/2020 and is subject to change.