New Year Trip: 8~Killing time in Wakkatain

There was a tv ad on a while ago which featured an ‘Australian’ pronouncing Whakatane as ‘Wakkatain’. (For non-Kiwis reading this, it is in fact closer to Fha ka tah nay.) Mike and I often now refer to it by this nickname, just coz it’s a bit funny.

We woke earlyish with the expectation of readying for the tour. The forecast was OK, the only question was around the state of the river.

Which wasn’t good as it turned out – they called us to say that tours had been cancelled. Rats.

But, would we like to rebook for the following day?

We hummed and hawed for a few minutes. The plan had been to drive home then in time for me to be back at work. But, work wasn’t hellish busy and I could probably wangle another day of leave. It was more important to stay for the opportunity of the tour. I called back to book us in and extend the motel stay by another night.

So what to do with our spare day? It was going to be hot and sunny and there were parts of the Whakatane area we hadn’t seen much of. We decided to do a bit of good old sightseeing.

First, on foot, in an upwardly direction…

Steps along the trail up to the lookout. The artwork on the edges is a vertical progression and at the right angle appears as one scene. Pretty clever

A green-filled gully

View from the lookout across part of Whakatane to Whale Island

Looking north - a good vantage spot for the flooded bits

South toward the river mouth

…and back at sea level…

The Commercial Hotel in art deco style

One of the hillsides above town was strikingly covered in agapanthas

We found a couple of murals tucked down alley ways

A building across from the motel

For the rest we jumped into the car.

Popular Ohope Beach, just south of Whakatane

The beach, normally quite pristine, was awash with drift wood and other flood debris

Ohiwa Harbour from the domain at the end of the peninsula, past Port Ohope

Whale Island as seen from Coastlands beach, just north of the Whakatane River

In the distance, White Island vents away. Hopefully we would get there tomorrow!

From Coastlands looking south

Heavy and prolonged rain resulted in the brown tinted water off-shore

Near the Whakatane River mouth

During the day we checked on the river a couple of times. Each time the water level had lowered quite a bit, and the flow rate seemed to reduce. It was looking promising for tomorrow. Hopefully we would finally be going to White Island!