Last walk of the year was Cooks Cove named after Captain James Cook, an English sailor and explorer who visited the Tolaga Bay area in 1769. Passing through gentle hills where sheep graze freely reminds me of the Kennedy's Bush Track in Christchurch. Wind was so strong near the coast I had trouble keeping my eyes open and couldn't take any decent photos with hair all over my face.


Tolaga Bay Holiday Park charged me $50 when they told me on the phone there was no penalty for cancelling reservation and there was no cancellation policy on their website either. I had given more than 48 hours notice which is a reasonable amount of time for them to re-let sites. When they refused to refund, I had to call up my bank to dispute this charge and was relieved to get my money back.




First view of Cooks Cove


Approaching hole in the wall





Track begins to climb uphill and we weren't sure where it's leading to so we stopped at this point







He didn't want anything too shabby for dinner on NYE. So we had our last meal of the year at The Wharf Bar & Grill. Atas enough ma?



Managed to extend one more night at YHA by camping in their backyard. Washed up and headed up Kaiti Hill to wait for fireworks. Recced this morning to find the best spot for tonight's fireworks and learned from a local they go off at 9.30pm where the three rivers meet. As night fell we could see tiny fireworks in the distant and hear some near us. While waiting we talked about what we had done this year and our wishes for the new year. No fireworks at 9.30... gave up at 10pm and went back to sleep.



Heard 5 4 3 2 1 not too far away and figured it must be 12 mn. BOOM! Our tent lit up and we could vaguely make out firework was really near us but too tired to roll out. Once again, we slept through the new year just like last year in Auckland lol.