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Published: December 19th 2009
The second week of December we found ourselves (again) with a lot of free time - not having heard from the job that had 'guaranteed' us 60 - 70 hrs. per week before Christmas (can you feel my frustrations?).
So, trying not to think about it too much and get too upset about it, we instead focused on the fact that
a) We were actually in New Zealand
b) It was December and averaging 25 degrees Celcius each day
c) We were living within 10 minutes of the beach
Needless to say, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful vacation-like conditions and made our way to both the tennis courts and the beach every day (eating mainly peanut butter sandwiches, as this is all that we can now afford if we want to splurge during Christmastime). We had some great days of surfing, body surfing and beaching - and I must say that I now have the best tan of my life (since, that is, I was a small child - before all of the 'sunscreen' pushing came about).
Saturday December 12th we decided to make the trip over to Auckland to visit David one last
time before heading down to the South Island in the new year and also to enjoy the Christmas atmosphere of the city. Despite missing the snow (pathetic, I know) to give us that magical Christmas feel, we enjoyed our time in the city and it was nice to see David again - he was so helpful during my first few weeks when I was here alone.
By Monday, we had finally given up on the idea that we were going to be going back to our 'job' and so we packed everything up and headed east. The drive up to East Cape was very beautiful - not unlike the Cabot Trail - and we enjoyed it very much. We stayed the night in a somewhat shady campground near the East Cape and awoke at 4:00 am the next morning. The reason for our early rise can be guessed by looking at a world map, but I will explain it for those of you who aren't interested in doing the research for yourself...
The East Cape lighthouse is at the most easterly point of New Zealand - and it lies precariously close to the International Date Line - which
December 15th Sunrise
The first in the world!means that, with our rising before the sun and hiking up to the lighthouse for sunrise, Brett and I were, quite literally, the first two people in
the world to see the sunrise on December 15th, 2009. Needless to say, we were pretty stoked about it and enjoyed it thoroughly (despite the time of day).
From there, we continued our way along the east coast until we arrived in Gisborne. We roamed around the city for a bit before setting up camp at a nearby park. The next day we made our way out to a place called Rere for some rock-sliding - something we had never heard of before, but was recommended to us as something 'neat and free' to do by the girl in the information shop. She was not kidding... it was both neat and free. I would even go as far as saying it was
a lot of fun and free. As you can see in the pictures, it is where there is a semi-waterfall/mini-rapid area of a river that you can use as a giant water slide! We stayed there most of the day (treating ourselves midday to another one of those great pb&j
sandwiches!)
From Gisborne we continued south to Napier, where mom and dad have some friends who graciously accepted us into their home for a couple of days. The visit even came complete with some delicious home-cooked meals and a full-day tour of the city with Iain. We had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed learning about the cities of Napier and Hastings. We especially enjoyed the wine tasting at New Zealand's oldest winery (Mission Bay Estates - interestingly enough, started by Monks in the 1800's).
We are now back in Taupo area in the hopes of being able to make another attempt - in nice weather - to do a trek in the Tongariro Crossing, before heading to Raglan where we are booked in a cottage for Christmas.
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Amanda
non-member comment
New bathing suit?
Beautiful pics! You are so dedicated to your sunrises... put that on the list with the ocean and weather:) Looks like you bought a new swimsuit... the color is pretty from the back. Rita McNeil wanted me to wish you a Merry Christmas.