Excellent East Coast

---

Having travelled up from Kaikoura to Picton and flying across the Cook Strait to Wellington I made my way to Taupo where I joined up with a four day trip taking in the East Coast of New Zealand. This part of NZ is not so widely visited and is indeed quite isolated from the rest of the country. Napier is a pretty town that is built completely in the style of Art Deco, all the original buildings having been flattened by a massive earthquake in 1931. We stayed further round the coast just outside of Gisborne at an amazing surf chalet lodge right on the beach. I yet again practised catching a few waves here with Brazilian surf instructor, Ricardo, who has given me info on where to go in Ecuador and Peru (!) for surfing, so think I shall have to add South America to my surfing experience.

Gisborne/Napier are also slap bang in the middle of wine country: Hawkes Bay, so again it would have been rude not to have partaken in a little imbibing, and so I did in Esk Valley. These wines are available in Waitrose and they were wicked...well, they were by the sixth tasting. I also found out that it is now no longer chic to have cork as your stopper: most Oz and NZ wines now use screw caps as they have proved it improves the taste and quality of their wines, and is now widely accepted in Europe due to a massive marketing campaign. So, if I bring you back screw cap wine it is not because I am skint, but because in fact it is the most proper thing to do!

We travelled on very merrily to Tikitiki where we stayed in a farmstay and went horseriding along the beautiful coast. Galloping along the beach I got totally soaked but it was an amazing experience. My horse, Mona Lisa, was a little sulky, but soon got over it. We were all very sad to leave Reg, the one handed maori horse whisperer (he lost his right hand when he landed a massive shark as an 18-yr old, and he got a bit too excited when killing it and it bit off his hand) and his family and dogs and pigs and horses, but we were in for another treat when we went to stay with the O'Briens, another Maori (and Irish!) family in Te Kaha and experienced Maori hospitality. I was so full from the excellent food I couldn't move from the sofa. The East Coast is a real heartland of Maori culture and settlement: we also visited Whangara where the film "Whale Rider" was set and filmed.

I was very sad to leave this amazing part of NZ and the 15 or so other people I travelled with were brilliant, we all got on so well. I also met some amazing locals and I feel quite deflated at having left them all. I only have a few more days left in New Zealand and I am thoroughly downhearted - I absolutely adore it here.

---

Photos

Napier
Presumably, er, the Daily Telegraph building

Whangara
Where "Whale Rider" was filmed

Rangitukia Beach, close to the farmstay
Later to be the scene of our galloping, close to the water line and away from the copious amounts driftwood!

How cute??
Nayala and Bluey, the puppy

Comments

[tricia123]

excellent east coast
Liz, glad you enjoyed Hawkes Bay and Gisborne, we were there last November. Enjoy the rest of your time in NZ, it`s a great country! Patricia.

[Orla]

Hello!
Hello you! Pictures and updates look fab! I even got the "So long and thanks for all the fish" title! New Zealand is looking great! You seem to really be enjoying it all and why not?! I'm just putting all the holiday photos into an Oz album which I can't wait to show you! See you soon Orla x

[Wildman]

Thanks to the Bazmeister....
(...ask your Dad!) I now have your blog address and can skive off work reading of your adventures. One day I will look at each photo but so far I have 'done' Japan and Oz so you are going to take some catching up! 7 years ago we were at Wentworth Falls, Three Sisters etc. (My cousins live near by.) I don't do heights very well and came off the cable car ('aerial skyway' I think they called it) shaking so much I couldn't walk. Happy days! Anyway me, Baz, Flipper, Doc, Denzil and Wurzel are off to Auschwitz in less than 2 weeks. The idea of our own travelblog has not been discussed. Perhaps we should leave it at that! (Flipper and I went to the Oxon/Cantab Boat Race earlier this month....good job there were no photos; 3 minutes of rowing, 9 hours of beer and curry, and we missed the last train home. Mrs Wildman had to pick us up from Salisbury at midnight; it was a rather frosty trip back in her mobile 'fridge! Accordingly we plan to stay clear of the bars in Krackow ;-) Great to see the trip is going so well. We are all very envious. Take care. 'Wildman' Webb