Tolaga Bay and Cooks Cove

 We anchored off the long dock in Tolaga Bay.  The dock is said to be the second longest in New Zealand and is one of the two tourist attractions of the area.  

True North anchored off the Tolaga Bay dock

The view from the centre of the dock to the end.  The dock is unsafe out from this point and closed to access from here.

The view from the middle of the dock back to the shore.

The other attraction is a hike up the peninsula to Cooks Cove where Captain Cook anchored for about a week to resupply during one of his voyages.  We headed out to climb the steps up to a Māori sculpture and then to a lookout over Cooks Cove.


Cooks Cove from the sheep / cattle pasture

After the lookout we descended many more steps down to a pasture filled with sheep and cattle.  There was a short side trail taking us to a “Hole in the Wall” formation where ocean waves have created an arch.

The Tolaga Bay Hole in the Wall

After exploring the Hole in the Wall, we continued down through the pasture to Cooks Cove.

Cooks Cove

The cove would be a great protected anchorage but unfortunately it has silted in since Cooks visit and is too shallow for True North to visit.  We returned back to the dock on the same trail.  I counted 473 stair steps on the way back.

Our Cooks Cove hike map

We were stuck at Tolaga Bay for several days because of no wind and then strong headwinds on our route.  We visited the small community to pickup a few groceries from the two small stores.  Along our walk to town for the beach Andrew grazed and collected tomatillos, feijoa and oranges.  Back at True North Andrew made a cake with the feijoa and orange peel and a chutney with the feijoa peelings.

Tomatillos 

Feijoas


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