The 'exciting' state highway 38

We left Rotorua this morning and decided to travel to Gisborne on the road the AA calls 'exciting' 93 kilometres of gravel road helping to give it that name plus many bends and, as there had been much rain for the previous two days, many mud slides.
We saw very few people as we travelled along until we were stopped in a 5 car traffic jam by a mud slide plus tree that covered the whole road. Some people got out their deck chairs and drinks and prepared to wait for the bull dozer which was coming from Wairoa, 90 k away. We were lucky, it arrived quite promptly and all the mud was cleared in15 minutes and off we drove.
We passed through beautiful, pristine forests and past the pretty Lake Waikaremoana and on to Gisborne, our home for the next two nights.
The journey took nearly 5 hours as opposed to the 3 going the longer but more conventional route!