East Cape at twilight

Yes, we made it to east cape!! But first, I have to tell you the story of how we got there: so last time ee refueled petrol was in Cambridge and we thought it would be totally enough until east cape...but since the roads were like driving a swiss mountain pass, we used more.... we asked at that campground were the next fuel station was and she totally calmed us down, telling us its only 15km away. Great! So we drove there and on that very exact morning we arrived, they had a power shut down! No lights, no petrol, not even a coffee for our waiting time... power should have been back on at 1 pm... and it was back on, everywhere but the petrol station...so we waited...and we waited..and all the maoris (east cape is full of native kiwis) waited... and then power went back on! Buut the paying system broke down! And so we waited.... 3 pm the guy from the shop next to the petrol station told us that theres another one 50km further east, but they went out of petrol the day before! HAHA! So you see, we were absolutely in the middle of nowhere!
And then a technician finally called this guy, informing him that he has to stop by to fix it and he will come...within the next 48 hours!!! That was when this friendly man called the other petrol station in Te Araroa and luckily they got some new petrol! So not knowinf if we'd make these 50km to Te Araroa we started driving - aaaaaaand we made it! Phuuu! Petrol was totally overpriced...but at least we got petrol! 😥

In Te Araroa growd the oldest pohutukawa tree in the world with its 300ish years and it was massive! Now if you're wondering, what is a pohutukawa, its the new zealand christmas tree! As on christmas, the tree flowers with magnificent red blossoms!

As it only was about 6 pm we decided to drive past the campgound and all the way down to the east cape on a gravel road, so we'd know where to drive tomorrow before sunrise. When we arrived there, we realised there were about 5 other cars camping infront of the 800 stairs to the lighthouse. So we simply decided to join them and camp there as well to safe some sleep in the morning! Gosh it was so damn windy! But totally worth it, as even then sunset was breathtaking!Read more