Survived the trip to the East Cape. Saw grey clouds get slightly brighter in the morning (ARGH). Thoroughly exhausted, will update tomorrow. Or 2 days from now. Or sometime! 😛
The Far East
With or without White Island, my plan for the afternoon on Monday was the same – head east. My next host is in Gisborne, the only major town in the Gisborne region of New Zealand. North of Gisborne is the East Cape area – a very sparsely populated region of New Zealand, that I’m going to attempt to drive around, with a few stops and one sleep along the way.
There is little up in the East Cape past the apparently beautiful and rugged scenery. No big grocery stores, no major centers, very few gas stations (which often have no gas for sale) and a lot of open land. And one far eastern tip, a lighthouse, where I’ll likely spend the night sleeping in my cozy station wagon awaiting the morning sun. The lighthouse has the distinction of being one of the first places a person can see the sun rise on a new day. So, if the weather can behave for JUST ONE MORNING when I’m travelling, I might just get to see that. Or I might just see grey skies lighten a little bit, which would be just another weather related disappointment. But at least this time I won’t be the only one disappointed with the weather, I’ve picked up another travel companion for the next week or so. Hopefully she won’t steal my car at gunpoint, she is American after all…
As close as I’ll be able to get….For now
This would be White Island, about 50km off the coast of Whakatane. The weather doesn’t look like this today though – it’s rainy, high winds and choppy water. Which is why I’m not currently standing on the island enjoying the barren, foreign landscape. White Island is an active marine volcano, the only one in New Zealand, and one that you can walk onto. This isn’t an easy undertaking though, it’s a 90 minute boat ride all the way out there, and once there you have to take a smaller dinghy to get onto the island. On the island you are issued gas masks, as being an active volcano it can have highly sulphurous parts and there are a lot of steam vents – the clouds above White Island in the picture above are from the steam. Nobody lives on the island, it’s only accessible via one boat tour operator or a helicopter operator. It’s supposed to be an absolutely amazing tour, but it will have to wait for me to return to Whakatane later on – it’s something I’m going to do in NZ, rest assured.
Long walks on the beach
Yesterday was yet another beautiful day, so it was time for another walk. I walked along the beach in Ohiwa this time, and had company as well – Marion, from France, a fellow traveller who is also staying with a host family here in the Opotiki area. She’s staying in Ohiwa, so we walked the beach from her host’s place, which has the kind of view I doubt I could get tired of:
For some reason I didn’t take a picture of the waterfront facing area and patio, but it was even nicer. I’ve enjoyed staying with my hosts here in Opotiki, but I certainly don’t have these kinds of views (I look at hedges and an evil banana plant).
Front Page News!
Up in Canada, a few of you may be aware of a sporting event going on down here in New Zealand. A little one called the Rugby World Cup (RWC). The opening ceremonies on Friday even made the front page of TSN (for a few minutes).
It certainly isn’t a big deal for Canadians (I am rather impressed that TSN2 is showing the games at all), but for Kiwis, this is THE biggest sporting event they have ever hosted. Similar to the FIFA World Cup, the RWC is held every 4 years, with one nation playing host to the games. The games are played all over the country at various times of the day for the round robin play, then focuses on the main stadiums for the playoffs. So pretty much wherever you are in New Zealand, you aren’t too far away from a major international Rugby game.
Spring has sprung
I had assumed that New Zealand followed the North American convention/dates for seasons, simply with opposite seasons, so following the equinoxes it would be Spring by around September 23rd this year. However, turns out I was wrong. Spring is already here! Rather than use a constantly changing date (though only by a few days either way), the Kiwis and Australians simplify things and simply have each new season start on the 1st of the month of the equinox. So I’m about 8 days behind in realizing all of this. Always said I was a bit slow in the head.
The weather has stayed wonderfully warm and sunny, and today I went on a hike up to the site of an old Maori Pa in the nearby area of Ohiwa.
To crush your enemies, see them driven before you,
And hear the lamentation of their…Chokos.
3 days, nearly 10 hours of work, several kilometers worth of vines cut and 100s of chokos later, I’ve finished the task of eradicating the vast majority of the choko infestation. It was the first job I’ve done that actually got me to break a sweat. Not that I minded though, it was actually very fun – you can see the machete like implement in my right hand (it’s curved saw blade) – it’s what I used to cut through all the vines and trees. Since they were very much dead and brittle, it made for a very satisfying display of carnage when chopping through the vines. I figure by the end of it, I’ve probably cleared over 500 chokos. They will be burnt in a sacrificial fire later, unfortunately after I leave. Next up, window washing, in other words, fun with ladders and spiders. The ladder part doesn’t bother me, the spider part does.
Kudos to those that get what the title is referencing.
False Advertising
This isn’t one hour later I’m talking, but 5 days. The wonderful…odour has gotten less noticeable, but next time I’ll just go with the tried and true method.
