The Pacific Coast Hightway is one of the world’s best touring routes. Beginning in Auckland it gives you the opportunity to explore New Zealand’s eastern coast. The vast and diverse Eastland coastline is home to innumerable small bays and beaches, just waiting to be explored, and is rich in Maori culture and history

The Coromandel Peninsula bursts with colourful bush and vibrant artistic people. The bountiful Bay of Plenty with its warm climate and inviting beaches is the East Cape’s craggiest of coastlines

From Opotiki the Pacific Coast Highway (SH35) passes dozens of small towns on its way around the Raukumara Mountains. Wharekahika, now known as Hicks Bay, is a destination resembling simpler times. This pristine area skirts the lush green coast and reveals the Cape’s spectacular views where in 1769 Captain James Cook in the HMS “Endeavor” travelled around East Cape and Licutenant Zachariah Hicks sighted the bay

Waihau Bay on the rural east coast is where the hilarious and heartfelt coming-of-age tale, BOY, about heroes and magic, was filmed in 1984 The beachfront schoolyard in Te Araroa holds the world’s largest

Pohutukawa tree, name Te Waha o Rerekohu. Te Araroa is also the gateway to the lonely East Cape Lighthouse, New Zealand’s further eastern point in relation to the International Dateline, where yesterday bids good bye to a new day. East Cap sits at – 37.41 south Latitude & 178.33 East Longitude

Tikitiki lies 24km south of Te Araroa where St. Mary’s Memorial Church perches on the town’s hilltop. One of the most impressive Maori buildings in the region, the church’s exterior hides and ornately carved inner sanctuary

Mt. Hikurangi is the highest non-volcanic mountain on North Island at 1,754m. Hikurangi holds great spiritual significance for the ngati Porou People

In Whangara, one of New Zealand’s small eastern coastal villages, the movie “Whale Rider” was filmed, an internationally recognized and acclaimed film about Maori history and one person who prepares to make the ultimate The Pacific Coast Highway contains south to Tolaga Bay and the longest former wharf in the southern Hemisphere. The jetty marks Cook’s Cover Walkway, one of Captain Cook’s first landings in aotearoa. Gisborne, the southern end of the Pacific Coast Highway, is the food and wine capital of New Zealand with vineyards and wineries