East Cape, Anaura Bay Homestay

Unchartered country for us. We have sailed down the coast but never driven.
First stop Wairoa.
Lonely Planet described Wairoa as lacking in charisma but we thought it had a certain charm…The main street is set on the river which is very pretty

I loved this lighthouseWe didn’t make the best choice for the coffee stop
Baz’s Café, smell of fried food but the pretty little girl did make good coffee No scones so we had an indifferent blueberry muffin it had that real commercial taste you know artificial vanilla and the baking soda after taste.

As we left Wairoa we caught a glimpse of the sea. Wild out there.

As sailors will tell you it can either be flat calm as it was 30 or so years ago when we came down with the little kids.

Or real wild as when Dale and Terry found on more than one occasion.

I guess you could say never boring.

So onto Gisborne the city at the centre of East Cape Area.
I spent some time there as a teenager staying with my sister. I didn’t recognise anything really.
It’s the most eastern city in New Zealand and the first one to see the light.
We headed for the Information Centre and a lovely young lady Keryn gave some excellent advice. I must say these info centres, on every occasion we have used them, are great.

On recommendation of Lonely Planet and Keryn we ate lunch at the Wharf Restaurant.

We had fish and chips. They were good. The staff kindly charged up my camera…it was running on empty...(again)
There is a wonderful tiled wall outside of the restaurant. Self portraits of little children

What a fabulous idea.
On the road ahead we passed Wainui Beach only minutes from the centre of this city renowned for surfing.

On to Anaura Bay, we passed through Tolega Bay renowned for it’s 660 m pier…the longest in the Southern Hemisphere.
We didn’t walk down it as it was pretty windy and a bit unpleasant.
AS I said 30 something years ago we sailed down this coast 4 adults and 3 little kids. We called into a couple of these East Coast Bays and bought fresh crays and fish from the local fisherman. It was a lot of fun. Now it is nice to do it from the road.

Well this next Homestay is a gem

Rangimarie.

Down the drive

How about this view?

We chilled down a bottle of champagne and our host Judy Newell made us coffee and some lovely fruit muffins, a little rest and them into Scrabble and chilled Champagne.
We had bought some food from Gisborne’s Woolworths.
Couple of tomato and asparagus quiche, kindly heated by Judy. Well…Gisborne Woolworths Deli you should be ashamed they were pieces of thick cardboard with the stringy bit of asparagus and about a cm of custard.
The taste was OK but if it hadn’t been for the thick beautifully buttered date loaf from Judy we may have gone to bed hungry.
Talking of beds. Excellent linen good reading lamps, Dale snuggled in. I caught up on TV.
By the way Sky Digital is available Judy will programme your night for you.

Sunrise 28th November 5.53am

Breakfast

We had companions Anne and Audrey fellow guests
Delightful food. Judy is an excellent cook and we had fresh fruit salad, she squeezed the orange juice. Add to that savoury muffins and I will revert to what this blog is really about Food!

Here is the recipe
Judy found it in Cuisine Magazine courtesy of
Steely Blue’s Cafe in Takanini

Steely Blue’s World Famous in Takanini Savoury Muffin

3 eggs lightly beaten
¼ cup each oil, milk, plain yoghurt
½ cup small diced feta
1 ½ cups SR flour
½ teaspoon each crushed garlic, salt and white pepper
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups chopped raw spinach
½ cup grated carrot

Topping

¼ cup grated carrot
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
½ cup grated cheddar

Pre heat oven to 180C

Lightly grease 1 x 10 hole muffin pan

Combine the wet ingredients,

Reserve 10 small dices of feta for topping
Fold the rest of the feta into wet ingredients
Add dry ingredients, spinach and ½ cup of carrot

Mix the remaining carrot with the oil and cumin seeds

Fill the muffin pans
Sprinkle with the cheddar cheese, them the carrot mixture and pop a cube of feta on top

Bake 25-30 minutes

Makes 10

Now if you can take your eyes off the beautiful view complete with some of our paraphernalia

The other side of the room

That’s a chess board on the table in front of the telly.

Rangimarie
930 Anaura Rd
Anaura Bay

$185 per night inclusive full breakfast
If you request dinner it is extra.
By the way I love the way in the country the number of your house is calculated on the distance from the turn off. Isn’t that clever.

Bye Judy we loved your Homestay Click here for website

I would award this establishment
♥♥♥♥♥
Superb view, Best sunrise, great home baking, fabulous bed and linen, oh, and a great shower.