Hi everyone! I can't believe I'm coming to the end of my New Zealand adventure.
I've had so much fun though:)
After drinking way too much in queenstown and doing some crazy adrenaline shizzaz including skydiving, bungee jumping and jumping off a canyon swing in the nuds I bought my ticket to the north island after much contemplation over hitch hiking.
Driving from queenstown to kaikora was amazing and there are some places like twizel which should not be missed.
I bumped into Scott again and heard about his sky gazing which i will surely come back to do when I come back to work in nz after my travels.
Wellington was so interesting and reminded me of Melbourne with it's culture.
I made really great friends with molly, abbe and tim who I travelled with for a week after Wellington and I'll definitely be visiting soon.
I did the tongariro crossing near taupo (mt doom) which was life changing because I almost died haha. I got the flu for a bit but still managed to go zorbing and appreciate the culture and sulphur pools in rotorua (rotovegas) which you can't match in any big towns in nz.
I recovered from my flu and parted with M,A and T and headed out to the east cape which was beautiful and the highlight of my whole new Zealand trip so far. We left rotorua on Friday night and headed to gisborne to stock up on cash and food before our trip into small towns with populations under 100 people. We arrived at this beautiful unique beachfront landing at whangara (fangara) which had hammocks, swings, kayaks and surfboards you could use at your leisure. That night we had a bonfire and met some interesting people and played some fun games.
The next morning I woke up for sunrise and enjoyed being one of the first people in the world to see the sunrise on saturday(because of our positioning to the date line).
Later that morning we drove up to the town where whale rider was based around which was really beautiful. The Maori people have a beautiful lifestyle and understanding of how the earth should be treated.
We arrived at rangitukia in the afternoon and sara, gianmarco and I went horse riding amongst the most beautiful scenery anyone can ever ride through. The man who ran the stables had a beautiful soul and appreciated the land he knew so well. You could do as you pleased with your horse and they were gentle and very magnificent looking. My horse daisy was a nutty brown all over with a dark mane and had a foal named india who was light brown with a Blonde mane.
Our guide was hillarious and gently gave you tips to work better with your horse. We walked along a beach with black sand and light blue crashing waves and made our way up a stream to the countryside hills which we cantered up as a group to overlook the spectacular view before heading back to the ranch.
Once we took the saddles off and reunited our horses with their young i went bone carving to make a traditional "sea people" charm for a necklace.
That night we waited until late to go possum shooting to help the farmers but rain poured down so we watched whale rider and went to sleep in our cabins instead.
The next morning a few of us woke up early and hiked up to see the sunrise with tux the farmyard dog.
Later on we continued to te kaha where we received traditional Maori welcomings into the wharae (home).
Then after playing with the kids and cuddling all of the cute dogs that lived at the homestead on the beach we followed tradition and wrote a song about our journey together which we performed that night to chay (our friend) who ran the household and then again to Rex our amazing driver the next morning. We had so many laughs that night (especially when James teabagged archimedies while he was drunkenly singing on his bed) and the next day so the trip to whakatane (fakatane) was the end of a great friendship. We stopped by at a stream on the way and Ed, Rex and I fished for peipei( they look like mussels but taste like oysters) and ate them raw like the Maoris. In whakatane we had a cheap lunch together and got back onto the bus for our rainy drive back to rotorua and taupo where Johnny and i kept entertained by playing "there was an old woman from botany bay" and 20 questions.
I'm booked to do blackwater rafting tomorrow and I will head back to rotorua for one night and then aukland for one night before heading up to the bay of islands.
I'll upload some photos soon!
Ki Ora chays!
