New Zealand Roadtrip

---

Day 40 - Tuesday 29th May 2007

Brr... chilly morning...which turned out later to be a gorgeous sunny day! Left hostel about 8 after porridge! Drove around coast in a bit of a loop! No proper signs! Then joined a main road, took a small road off that again and eventually ended up in Pakiri! Tom and Jem had told us they went horse riding here and they really enjoyed it so we thought we might go there too! Found the stables and booked for a 2hr ride! After our horses were kitted out and we had a helmet.... i think Gem means a riding hat.. each we were allowed to jump on our horses!! Yee ha giddy up!! Nah, not really, apparently i'm not using the correct terminology!!! We mounted our horses...gem had to ask what to do though!! Sarah found it highly amusing that Gem's horse was wandering around to Gems dismay!! Hahaha! Just before when the horses got brought out, Sar's horse bolted across the paddock spooked by banging or something.... Just what Sar wanted to see... a crazy horse!!

Anyway, the girl led us (her on a horse too) down the road, through a stream, through some trees, across some sand dunes and onto the beach. More or less as soon as we got onto the beach Gem noticed a pod of dolphins right near the shoreline!!! Was really cool! We walked across the beach...gem lagging behind...for some reason her horse liked the other horses bums!! She tried to move it next to the others but it kept moving behind again...?!!! Later we rode through the sand dunes and all the scrub which was cool too. Then the girl said "Would we like to have a go at cantering?" Gem wasn't so sure as she had never done it before in her life...was a bit scared about it...but thought what the heck it might be fun! She didn't get too much choice anyway as Sar said YES! First though gem had to ask what to do again!! It was really fun but fast!!! On the return through the dunes we went through the dunes for quite a while. We cantered twice more. On the third time gem wasn't so sure but sar said "yeah cool" so off they went!! ....Gem took off a bit later though. A bit down the line The girl and sar were stopped round the corner on a bit of a hill along this narrow path. The girl didn't stop in a very good place... before the brow of the hill. Sar had just managed to stop to a halt before going into her... her horse wanted to keep going...... Gem saw the girl and Sar stopped ahead and tried to get her horse to stop also...However, on approaching sar, the horse got closer and closer and closer until all of a sudden there was sarah's horses behind! Gem's horse sort of veered to the side of sars horse bottom and faced downhill into the gorse, front legs straight with front half of horse lower than the rest. Gem flew forward and then straight back again...!!! Have never seen anything so funny wish i had filmed it!!! I couldn't stop laughing... not really even laughing.. i nearly had tears!! I couldn't speak or breath!!!

So we walked back through the dunes then back along the beach. Sar's horse tripped and landed on his knees... Sar didn't bat an eye! The horse recovered itself, was fine so we carried on back. A few minutes later the girl's horse and Sar's horse got spooked and cantered a bit, Sar's horse also reared a little. Got back to the stables in one piece.

From Pakiri drove down around the coast a little to 'Goat Island'. A little marine reserve area. Was really pretty. Sar had a duck harrassing her on the beach! Animals of all sorts seem to like her... hahaha! From there we drove down through Auckland to Raglan on the west coast. It was dark for the last part of the journey and as usual the roads on this bit were very windy!

Arrived in Raglan. Found a hostel and checked in. A cool little hostel with a courtyard in the middle. Mostly surfers or people who wanted to surf the next day staying there. Raglan is a well known surf spot in the north island.

---