EDITOR'S COMMENT: Dearth of welcoming spirit clouds Poverty Bay holiday

I'm feeling quite lucky after finding a solid dose of the summer sun on my just-completed holiday.
By that I don't mean I've been out there bronzing myself like an Adonis, it is just that my family and I went camping for five days in Poverty Bay last week and we saw nothing but the sun's golden rays.
I call that very lucky after the summer we've had so far.
Did anyone find sunshine in December or early January? Let's hope we've turned the corner and sunshine will again become our friend of the next couple of months.
Driving along the Poverty Bay coast between Gisborne and our Tolaga Bay campsite and you'd struggle to believe anything other than the region's had a scorching hot summer.
The hills have that dry summer brown about them and the sun beats down incessantly.
There's a wonderful barren yet natural beauty about the East Coast.
And you tend to see more sheep, cattle and horses than you do see cars and what a pleasant change that is from the growing traffic problems we encounter daily.
Since we were on the East Coast, in the neighbourhood of Whale Rider country, we decided to search out the beautiful seaside village of Whangara, the setting of the hit New Zealand movie.
But a piece of advice, I get a very strong impression that visitors are not welcome in this village.
Driving along the main road, half-way between Tolaga Bay and Gisborne, there exists a small sign to Whangara School that can be missed in a blink of an eye.
No sign exists to Whangara and I don't think there is any accident associated with that omission.
Heading down that side road and you soon crest a hill that looks over the picture postcard village that is instantly familiar from the big screen.
And standing out almost like a beacon, is the whale rider sitting atop the sea creature on top of the marae's meeting house.
Wanting a closer look at this beautiful part of New Zealand, we made our way down toward the village.
At the entrance to the town we were stopped in our tracks by a sign at the entrance to the main road into town - `PRIVATE ROAD' it read.
We were dumbfounded. We felt instantly that we were not welcome in this village.
We contemplated our options but decided against pushing our luck by wandering into the village.
Returning to our spot at the top of the hill overlooking Whangara, we were passed by several cars emerging from the village.
The sneering looks we received from locals suggested we were right in not making our way any further.
I must say I wasn't too impressed that here was a part of New Zealand that wasn't open to all New Zealanders, only to certain New Zealanders.
Does that mean if I talk to my neighbours down our street and we all agree, can we put PRIVATE ROAD up at the entrance?
I found the whole Whangara visit quite disturbing and I certainly hope this is not a sign of the future where people can take parts of the country and restrict the rest of us from visiting there.
There's a very real apartheid smell about such a situation.
Following on from the situation up north recently when a blockade prevented campers from accessing a Department of Conservation campground, I get the message that we all need to stand up and tell our leaders that this is a country for everyone and we all have equal rights. And no one is more equal than anyone else.
Whangara aside, the East Coast provided me with a great dose of sunshine that will help me get through those working days ahead and the cloudy days that are sure to rejoin us soon.