Te Puia
Te Puia is a pretty, little town which you'll find about 25km down the road from Ruatoria. You can visit the nearby hotsprings or Waipiro Bay round the corner. Tokomaru Bay is next en route and also has a good swimming beach with dramatic cliffs rising from the southern end of the bay. Heading on you'll come to Tolaga Bay which is much loved by surfers. You can't miss the jetty which extends for 660m and is the longest in New Zealand. It was purpose-built to cater for any tide in 1929. The place has also gone down in history as being the first place where Captain Cook first able to communicate on friendly terms with the Maori. The town's streets have been named after Cook and his men who spent 6 days here.
If you loved Whalerider (written by Witi Ihimaera), the small town on which the work is based lies just a little further south of Tolaga Bay at Whangara.
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