The light is different out on the East Cape

The longest wharf in New Zealand, Tolaga Bay wharf is under repair.

Before I tackle the East Cape, the woman at the Gisborne Info Centre wants to get a few things straight. It's 330km to Opotiki with just a handful of shops and petrol stations in between, so stock up wherever you can. Don't go dropping into a marae without an invitation but the churches shouldn't be missed and their doors are always open. Most importantly, take your time; this is the real New Zealand, not the stuff for the tourists. "You could do it in a day," she says, "but you'd be missing the point."

In the mid-60s my dad drove round the East Cape in his orange Citron. He remembers sleeping on the beach with pohutukawas right down to the sea, marae and churches everywhere, a different kind of light. "It felt like a Maori place," he says. After growing up in Australia and moving "home" to Wellington last year, the Cape seems like a good start to some discoveries of my own.

North of Gisborne, SH35 runs through farmland with the ocean just out of sight over hills, caught in the bent-ness of trees. Then a sudden gorge opens out and there it is at last. Kids are riding horses bareback down the wide streets of Tolaga Bay and in the dairy I feel about nine years old; barefoot on the dusty floorboards with ice cream melting in my hands while the guy tries to get the till working. New Zealand's longest wharf is under repair so I take my icecream down to the wild driftwood beach and admire it from a distance.

Back on the road in the late, hot light I drive past cornfields and trucks full of corn, hawks floating in the big sky. After about 10km there's the sudden turnoff to Anaura Bay; a lovely white curve of deserted beach sheltering under green hills, where Captain Cook made his second New Zealand landing. The DoC campsite is a paddock with no drinking water but I have it all to myself and the beach is right through the gate. All night long the ocean purrs and the Milky Way is a giant anchor holding down the sky.

In Tokomaru Bay the next morning I buy ice at the Four Square ("the first store in New Zealand with bilingual signage"). A guy on a racing bike approaches diffidently as I'm repacking the chilly bin. "Your name's not Moleta is it?" I nod, slightly awestruck - over the past year I've discovered relatives in some unexpected places. "Thought so," he says. "You left your Kiwibank card in the shop." We laugh about me thinking he was a long-lost cousin but I'm a bit disappointed.

This town was a thriving port before the highway was built and there's a vibrancy here that's not diminished by the epic ruin of the freezing works that closed in the 1950s. There are four marae, a cafe, pub, artists' workshops tucked among disused buildings. And still the whole place feels sea-corroded. In a shed by the harbour a '73-registered Vauxhaull rusts quietly. The wharf, like the cliffs, is crumbling into the bay. There's a tiny, corrugated iron church but the shell of the freezing works is an overgrown cathedral, graffitied and open to the sky.

The woman from the Info Centre was right, I don't have enough time. A couple of hours exploring Tokomaru Bay means missing the hot springs at Te Puia but I manage a quick detour to the tiny and beautiful Waipiro Bay. Before road transport took over in the 1920s this was the biggest port settlement on the coast. Now there's a school, a couple of marae and a church overlooking the sea. The metal road back to the highway is held together with Lego pieces of bitumen.

Churches seem to be at the heart of these communities, almost as much as marae. I've heard a lot about St Mary's at Tikitiki with its richly-carved and woven interior telling the history of the Ngati Porou, but I turn up to find this particular door firmly locked. Two guys unloading painting gear out the back look bemused by my interest in getting inside. After hunting around for someone else to ask I give up and head north again, slightly disheartened.

Travelling through towns like Ruatoria has highlighted the obvious truth that I've got a bit to learn about my own country but, at least, I know the rules in church if I could just get inside one. There's something admirable about this East Cape disinterest in pandering to tourists but it's starting to feel like I'm peering through windows in an unfamiliar neighbourhood - voyeuristic and sort of missing the point.

From Te Araroa to the lighthouse it's 20km of gravel road and light-soaked green sea, plus a steep climb up into the wind. The rusty white tower looks out to its old home on East Island and the blue world's end beyond it. Since the last keeper was sacked in the 1980s, the world's most easterly lighthouse has been programmed by a computer in Wellington. Coming down I meet the world's most easterly Telecom guys, trailing up a phone cable to get a reading on a break in the line. It's the earthquakes that do it, says one, stopping for a breather.

"We were up here yesterday - probably be back tomorrow."

The birthplace of Sir Apirana Ngata, Te Araroa sits under the cliffs of Whetumataerau like an egg in a nest. I like everything about it, from the girl who sells me the double-choc-and-boysenberry icecream to the world's biggest pohutukawa tree and the sign on the fence that warns: "Children's playground. No horses." Three middle-aged women are heading into the church beside the marae on a cleaning mission. I'm suddenly shy about asking to follow them inside but they tell me to go ahead and look around the graveyard. It's easy to feel how life and war run together in a small town. These young Maori Battalion guys who died at the utmost ends of the world are remembered with a desperate poetry: His battle fought, his name enrolled in the school of the deathless brave.

Just outside town I pass the perfect holiday park, but a night here would mean an even bigger drive tomorrow so I head on. Past mobs of piebalds - the foals sticking close to their mums, nodding in astonishment with each high step. Past pohutukawas sinking into the sea and the ramshackle splendour of the Hicks Bay wharf before the road turns west to Cape Runaway.

Approaching Raukokore in the milk-light at dusk, you can't miss the lonely church facing the sea. Expecting another locked door, I find a welcome sign and a note apologising for the smell. (There are penguins nesting under the floorboards). The walls of this tiny wooden ark are covered with kids' drawings.

On a whiteboard, under "reverence" and "respect", there are names with red ticks keeping score beside them; Brian and Sunny have shown a lot less reverence than Sarah.

One word is carved three times into the plain wooden altar: Tapu. Tapu. Tapu.

No translation is necessary.

NEED TO KNOW

Getting there: Air New Zealand flies regularly into Gisborne and has Auckland-to-Whakatane direct flights. It's about 385km around the coast from Gisborne to Whakatane on SH35, but returning via the scenic inland SH2 between Opotiki and Gisborne makes a much shorter trip. Ask at the Gisborne Info Centre about passenger travel on local courier services round the coast.

Churches: Are often kept locked and some are on marae. When a visit is possible, a donation towards upkeep is appreciated. Entry to St Mary's at Tikitiki may be arranged by calling Te Runanga o Ngati Porou in Gisborne or ask around in Tikitiki. A small entry fee applies.

Marae visits: Can sometimes be arranged in advance but the day-to-day business of the marae will take priority. A basic protocol guide is available from the Gisborne Info Centre.

Accommodation: Most towns have a holiday park, B&B or backpackers and some offer free beach-sites for self-sufficient campers; look for the Freedom Camping signs. The DoC campsite at Anaura Bay is closed from Easter to Labour Weekend. The Te Puia Springs Hotel has a private hot spring, bar/cafe and gallery.

Stocking up: There are supermarkets at Tolaga Bay, Tokomaru Bay and Ruatoria and general stores in other towns. Most stops on the east side of the cape have petrol but fill up for the windy stretch between Hicks Bay and Omaio on the west. (Contrary to brochure listings, there's no petrol in Te Kaha.)

More Info: The Gisborne Info Centre at 209 Grey St is open seven days (8.30am-5pm weekdays, 10am-5pm holidays and weekends in winter). Ph: (06) 868 6139

Whakatane Info Centre is at cnr Quay St and Kakahoroa Dr. Ph: (07) 308 6058

Te Runanga o Ngati Porou is at 199 Wainui Rd, Gisborne. Ph: (06) 867 9960