Earlier on this DownUnder trip, while staying at a B&B in Albany/Western Australia, we happened to start a conversation with one of our table neighbors at breakfast.

Turned out she was a New Zealander, so we told her we were eventually heading for her country. Of course she asked us what we were going to see, so we give her a brief outline of our intended route. Before leaving on a trip, I always have a pretty good outline on what we wanted to cover, but I am often changing minor details and always leave a few days open for eventualities. She then exclaimed: "You are NOT going to drive the East Cape Road??!!". Well, I had to confess that I did not know what she was talking about, so she explained that in her opinion that was one of the most exciting and secluded drives in New Zealand that even most New Zealanders were not familiar with - and she highly recommended that we work it into our schedule.

Well, we do have those extra joker days for our eventualities, so we looked at this route and decided to give it a try, it was just a long looping detour of one extra day on our way from Napier to Rotorua. And since we typically do not reserve our overnight stays for more than a day or two in advance, that created no problem.

When researching this new route, we chanced to see the mention of Anaura Bay, where the British explorer James Cook landed on 21 October 1769, together with this info we also saw some quite enchanting photos and noticed a highly recommended B&B to boot, thus we grabbed the chance and made at short notice a reservation there.

So here in today's post you see us at Anaura Bay, and it definitely was a beauty: VERY secluded, no restaurant or anything around, so it pays to ask for dinner at the B&B when making the reservation (you can also do your own cooking but you need the supplies), and it comes with a beautiful bay and beach. Our excellent breakfast was served in our room with the picture-perfect window view from the table to the bay - judge it for yourself, you can see it in photo #4. And if you ever have a long drive in NZ in mind, consider including the East Cape Route.

For best quality, please view in Download.

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Earlier on this DownUnder trip, while staying at a B&B in Albany/Western Australia, we happened to start a conversation with one of our table neighbors at breakfast.

Turned out she was a New Zealander, so we told her we were eventually heading for her country. Of course she asked us what we were going to see, so we give her a brief outline of our intended route. Before leaving on a trip, I always have a pretty good outline on what we wanted to cover, but I am often changing minor details and always leave a few days open for eventualities. She then exclaimed: "You are NOT going to drive the East Cape Road??!!". Well, I had to confess that I did not know what she was talking about, so she explained that in her opinion that was one of the most exciting and secluded drives in New Zealand that even most New Zealanders were not familiar with - and she highly recommended that we work it into our schedule.

Well, we do have those extra joker days for our eventualities, so we looked at this route and decided to give it a try, it was just a long looping detour of one extra day on our way from Napier to Rotorua. And since we typically do not reserve our overnight stays for more than a day or two in advance, that created no problem.

When researching this new route, we chanced to see the mention of Anaura Bay, where the British explorer James Cook landed on 21 October 1769, together with this info we also saw some quite enchanting photos and noticed a highly recommended B&B to boot, thus we grabbed the chance and made at short notice a reservation there.

So here in today's post you see us at Anaura Bay, and it definitely was a beauty: VERY secluded, no restaurant or anything around, so it pays to ask for dinner at the B&B when making the reservation (you can also do your own cooking but you need the supplies), and it comes with a beautiful bay and beach. Our excellent breakfast was served in our room with the picture-perfect window view from the table to the bay - judge it for yourself, you can see it in photo #4. And if you ever have a long drive in NZ in mind, consider including the East Cape Route.

For best quality, please view in Download.

.

Earlier on this DownUnder trip, while staying at a B&B in Albany/Western Australia, we happened to start a conversation with one of our table neighbors at breakfast.

Turned out she was a New Zealander, so we told her we were eventually heading for her country. Of course she asked us what we were going to see, so we give her a brief outline of our intended route. Before leaving on a trip, I always have a pretty good outline on what we wanted to cover, but I am often changing minor details and always leave a few days open for eventualities. She then exclaimed: "You are NOT going to drive the East Cape Road??!!". Well, I had to confess that I did not know what she was talking about, so she explained that in her opinion that was one of the most exciting and secluded drives in New Zealand that even most New Zealanders were not familiar with - and she highly recommended that we work it into our schedule.

Well, we do have those extra joker days for our eventualities, so we looked at this route and decided to give it a try, it was just a long looping detour of one extra day on our way from Napier to Rotorua. And since we typically do not reserve our overnight stays for more than a day or two in advance, that created no problem.

When researching this new route, we chanced to see the mention of Anaura Bay, where the British explorer James Cook landed on 21 October 1769, together with this info we also saw some quite enchanting photos and noticed a highly recommended B&B to boot, thus we grabbed the chance and made at short notice a reservation there.

So here in today's post you see us at Anaura Bay, and it definitely was a beauty: VERY secluded, no restaurant or anything around, so it pays to ask for dinner at the B&B when making the reservation (you can also do your own cooking but you need the supplies), and it comes with a beautiful bay and beach. Our excellent breakfast was served in our room with the picture-perfect window view from the table to the bay - judge it for yourself, you can see it in photo #4. And if you ever have a long drive in NZ in mind, consider including the East Cape Route.

For best quality, please view in Download.

.