Whakaputaina: 14.12.2018
I love a relaxed morning: being cozy woken up by the sun, a nice cup of coffee (with lots of milk!), then checking the news and having breakfast. The day can only be good like that!
The mountain bike was not adjusted to my size and the higher gears didn't work, but I was still grateful. This led me to a slightly more remote hiking trail that led through farmland to a spectacular viewpoint. From there, I had a much better view of the Bay and Gisborne than yesterday.
On the way, I was accompanied by several cows and goats that had no fear of humans and were quite interested in my bag. Strange, there was nothing to eat in there...?
After the hike, I continued to the museum in Gisborne. Thankfully, the lady at the entrance let me in without paying the 5 dollars, which wasn't worth it to me.
The museum has several changing exhibitions and a permanent core part. This is rather a colorful hodgepodge of Maori cultural pieces, European treasures, and maps. There were a few Victorian chests of drawers still standing there.
The exhibitions were hardly exciting, a lot of art that didn't really appeal to me.
So I only spent 1 minute in this museum.
The last point on my list was Kaiti Hill. Actually, just another viewpoint, but this was the exact landing site of Cook when he first set foot on this land. But only a tiny plaque reminds of that, the actual highlight was once again the wonderful view of Poverty Bay.
The way up was quite mean to ride, because the climb was continuous and my leg muscles burned. But going down was very fast again.
After that, I bought a few things and then went home in the early afternoon because rain clouds were coming. Sigh.
My host finished work at 3 p.m., and despite the bad weather, he drove me to a waterfall and the rock slide.
The Rere Waterfall was quite impressive, as it was one massive and massively dirty mass of water cascading down the rocks. Madness. But because of the rain, I quickly got out of the car, took the photo, and then fled back to the dry.
The rock slide is a river course that you can really slide down in good weather and with less water. I imagine that to be really fun, which my host confirmed. It would get very crowded there in summer.
But please forgive me for not daring to do it today: too much water from above and the water level itself had tripled and had an uninviting color.
In the evening, I had my first BBQ in New Zealand: fish. Well, not really, but it's a start. There was also a nice salad and grilled pineapple.
And then I have to say goodbye to Gisborne again. Too bad. I really enjoyed my stay with the host!