Advertisement
Published: April 14th 2011
Before the sun is up
I love the reflection of the light on the tide in this photo. This was shortly after I arrived at the beach.Well, on Wednesday morning I loaded the bus headed for Gisborne. I first went to Rotorua and had near 3 hour layover. not to worry...I found a cafe and ordered a flat white and an early lunch. I had gone more than a week without my flat white and I was jonesing for one. This is not good...what am I going to go when I get home. I now have a very serious afternoon coffee addiction. The coffee was excellent and the lunch was even better...lamb stew and there was a whole heap of it! Very tasty. I sat, ate, drank and read my book. I ended up there so long that I even induldged in desert - rhubarb crumb cake and a 2nd flat white. I'm seriously loosing it! Then, I headed back to the bus terminal and was off to Gisborne.
I had anticipated the drive being a bit boring. Years back when I went to Napier I drove through Taupo and then after that, the country was rather flat. But this drive was much different. We headed north first and then followed a bit of the coast around to the east side of the country. So we
Surf's up
The one surfer on his way into the water...sun still not yet up! say a few little coastal towns which were cool and then we crossed through some rather large mountains. What fun! We followed a beautiful river that was babbling along and rushing in some spots and the road twisted and turned and made its way through the mountains. At one point I noticed that there were lamb and cows out to pasture on the sides of some of the mountains. I had forgotten about that but quickly remembered seeing that last time I was here. Just as before, one turn after another and the country just gets more and more beautiful. The forest was dense and green but this time speckled with reds, yellows and oranges. It definitely made the four hour plus drive much better!
We arrived into Gisborne at 6:45 pm. I stayed with the bus driver and he ended up dropping me off really close to my hostel for the night. Sweet as! I checked into the YHA and was happy to find out that in the 6 bed dorm only one other girl was in it. Yes, another good night of sleep was to come! I made a quick dinner of noodles and the settled in
with my book. I was now in the last 100 pages and wanted to finish the story. I ended up setting me alarm for 5 am and finally putting the book down at 10:30 pm.
When my alarm went off on Thursday morning I was up and out of bed with a start. I did not have time to screw around. This morning I was going to watch the sun rise. Gisborne is the first city in the world to greet the sun every day. If that's not a reason to get up and see the sun rise, then I don't know what is! I got dressed in several layers since it was wicked cold outside and then made my way to the lobby of the hostel. I had a 6 km walk in order to get to the beach to see this. After filling my water bottles and considering how badly my legs still hurt, I noticed there was a pay phone and a phone book. Well hello taxi service, yes I would very much like a ride to the beach so that I can watch sun rise! That's right, I took a cab. Best $20 of my
life! Cabs are super expensive here. The driver was really nice and dropped me off at the beach access point. From here I walked down onto the beach and the light was just coming over the horizon. It was 5:45 am. There was a couple walking their two dogs on the beach and set out north to find a good spot to sit down and enjoy the show. I went about half way down and then found an excellant piece of drift wood, settled in, got my camera out and waited. There were just a few clouds in the sky so it looked as if it might be a perfect sunrise. As I waited, I watched more locals come out on the beach. Several more people with their dogs taking a morning stroll or run. One surfer came our around 6 am and a second one showed at 6:20 am. I couldn't believe they were braving the water on this cold morning...though I suppose they are used to it. The waves were amazing and roared as they came into the beach. There was a good wind and you could see the stray in the air as the crested and fell.
Good stuff! The beach was really pretty. Soft tan sand, no sea shells but good amounts of drift wood and sea weed. Its a wide open beach and you can see how high the surf had come up at high tide. Incredible! As the sun slowly crept towards the horizon the clouds started to glow. At one point, they were this candy pink color...then they started to turn a orangish color and then it was a fire red. It was amazing to watch as the sun come up closer and closer and closer! The other beautiful aspect was the reflection of the gradual rise in the tide as it came up on to the sand. I have some great photos of those. All in all, it was absolutely spectacular! As the sun came over the horizon, I said good morning. I'm such a nerd.
After the sun was up, I sat for a bit longer and watched as it rose into the sky. I love that feeling of warm that decends upon you when the sun comes up into the sky. Then I started on my 6+ KM walk back to the hostel. I have to say, I'm pretty
I just love this one!
It really was a special morning. And that's saying a lot. I saw some pretty amazing sunrises on my journey! proud of myself, I made it in 50 mins. And let me tell you, I was not walking fast. Ha! Once back, I stripped of some layers, grabbed my book and sat outside at the picnic tables to finish up my book. By 10 am I was done. I felt like I had already accomplished so much that day! As far as the books go...I think the seond one was the best - The Girl Who Played with Fire. In the third one, he leaves a few things untied which really annoyed me as the story was going on. I think its due to the number of characters in the final book, but either way, they were all great! I had a snack and then changed my clothes again. The sun was fully up in the sky now and it was going to be a beautiful day. I headed into town and decided to just stroll. I walked along and saw the river and the park, the marina, the town center and main street. Its a cute little town. I was in and out of a few shops and found a used bookstore. I picked up Lonely Hearts in Italy. I'm about 10 pages in and so far it seems like it could be a good read. I think I will end up having to pick up one more book before getting on the plane to go home. Let's hope the next hostel has some good books at the book exchange. I've left 4 books...I due to find a good one! I had lunch at Burger Wisconsin. This place was not nearly as good as Burger Me was in Oz and this place also says its the best burger in the world. I beg to differ. But, it was good. I had the venison with plum sauce burger. Kaley, next time you have venison, make a plum sauce to go with it...its a really good accompaniment! I also had the South Pacific version of sweet potato fries which were super good! All in all, a good lunch, sitting outside and soaking in the autumn air! After lunch, I was tired so I headed back to the hostel. I've been all afternoon. I dozed for a bit, I read a bit, I watched some TV. This is the most melon day I've had since I laid all day on a bean bag chair in Pacific Harbor in Fiji. That was at least 2 months ago. I have to admit, it felt good!
Tomorrow morning I board the bus bound for Auckland. I'm going to stay there a few nights...on Saturday night I'm going to the Super Rugby match of the Auckland Blues! So excited!!! I love rugby!!! Not sure what else I'm going to do after that...I'm still working on the plan.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.151s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 12; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0854s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Mamie
non-member comment
Burgers....
How are they compared to Le Tub? Oh! And another burger place has opened on Himmarshee next to Tarpon Bend called Rok Brgr. So good!!!!! Was it here when you were?? Oh! There is going to be a Burger Battle on May 13th on Riverwalk! Yay!