yeah, i know, i'm behind on my updating. it's hard because when i actually am doing something worth writing about is when i don't have the time or internet access to write about it. and vice versa, when i have the time and connection it's because i am doing nothing at all. and i've spent the last couple of days back in rotorua mostly just sleeping and looking at facebook, except for today when leah, vicky and i went to blue lake and just lay out in the sun for a good few hours. but i definitely made sure to slather on the sunscreen (minimum new zealand spf: 30) because the UV index for today was 13.0. i have never in the states had to worry about it being so high, that's extreme!
anyway, so i had a really fantastic last couple of weeks. obviously it wasn't always the greatest fun, travelling like that with four people can definitely be stressful but we certainly do not hate each other and really, i kind of miss it. i like having my own bed in my own room to sleep in, but it was a lot of fun.
we started out on the 29th leaving for gisborne. we arrived in time to make it to the isite (which is like a visitor's center almost every town has) where we were fortunate enough to find camping space on the lawn of a friend of someone who worked there. we'd tried backpacker's ahead of time and other places, but there was a concert going on and everything was booked. so that was really excellent. they even let us share in their barbecue that first night! then, the next morining debbie gave us a huge list of things we could do in the area. we started off checking out the landing site of captain cook way back in the day and took a number of photos, most of them amusing. we then headed north to tolaga bay where the longest wharf in new zealand is located at 660m. we checked that out, bypassing a "closed" sign at the end (a lot of others had as well, so we deemed it safe enough). after we finished there, we did the cook's cove walkway, a 5.8k walk to a place with a name along the lines of "hole in the rock" and where we found a monument to cook--a concrete block with a plaque on it. on our way home, we stopped at whangara, the site of whale rider. we drove into the town area in the car, but were feeling a little nervous about whether or not we should be there, so we went back up to a hill overlooking the town (which was definitely public property) and took a few photos there, while still receiving dirty looks from some guy. guess us pakeha weren't overly welcome. that night was the first time we ate at burger wisconsin, one of jack's obsessions on this trip.
the next day we went out to rere rock slide, which was so much fun! it's this rockface that is a natural slide in a river, and it's a lot of fun as long as you can keep control of your boogie board and not hit the rocks at the bottom...which i did the first time down, scraping my arm. it was still a ton of fun to do, and i went down at least half a dozen times even though it was freezing outside that day. that was also new year's eve, and debbie and her husband did another huge barbecue for those of us staying on their lawn, of which there were more by that point. it was such good food and i got to have more of that new zealand staple, pavlova. (yum!) we went into town to celebrate, and did midnight at the clock tower in gisborne--the first city to see the sun. that in itself was pretty cool, and one of the things i'd wanted to do while i was here, so i was glad to be able to. we partied in town for awhile and went to bed, missing the sunrise because it was cloudy.
new year's day we drove to napier, after stopping at millton's winery and picking up a bottle of muscat for celebrating after we got off of the mountain. i was tired and drugged up to my eyeballs, as jack would say, with dramamine so i only remember of the ride that we had to pull over approximately 6000 times so that jack could be sick. oh so totally awesome! we had dinner at this place called wok u want, where you fill a bowl of vegetables, noodles and seasoning, and they cook it for you on this big barbecue type thing. it was incredibly yummy. we then took a walk around town, playing in a park for awhile while it got dark, and then went down marine parade so that i could take photos of the art deco clock tower and the soundshell all lit up.
the next morning we parted ways so that leah and vicky could go on a tour of a chocolate factory and feed sharks at the aquarium, and jack and i could do the art deco walking tour of napier as dictated by lonely planet. (and look for our second burger wisconsin, where i only took his photo in front of it.) it was a pleasant and relaxing way to spend some time, and since i enjoy things like art and architecture i had a nice time.
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