tokomaru bay

After leaving Lake Waikaremoana, we drove east through Gisborne and then north along the coast to Tokomaru Bay where we stayed for two days, celebrating our five year wedding anniversary. We rented a beautiful three bedroom vacation home right across the street from the beach. Almost every room of the house had great views of the ocean and mountains. The yard had a huge fenced grass area where the kids loved to play. We enjoyed sitting on the porch looking out to the ocean while the kids ran around the yard.

This is the beach that was right outside our door. We spent a morning collecting shells and building sand castles. We even saw the nest of what I think was a sand piper.

We enjoyed the beautiful sunrises. Tokomaru Bay is in the East Cape of New Zealand, which is the easternmost part of the country. In a sense (due to New Zealand's location near the international date line), East Cape is where the sun rises first in the world.

We also enjoyed quiet time reading the huge stack of Dr Suess books at the house.

The house even had a jungle gym. It was a bit big for our little ones, but it still helped to keep them entertained.

The kids enjoying cookies and milk after nap time.

We spent a morning at the beach collecting seashells and building sand castles.