baaaaahhhh....so many sheep!

1-17-10 continued

Well, the hike to the Pinnacles ended up not working out. We didn't realize that the only enterance to the trailhead was on the west coast of the peninsula. Instead, we decided to cover some ground and make it down to Rotorua. The drive was nice, and once we got into Rotorua we checked out the information center of the city. We found a hostel fairly close and were able to get internet for a short time. At the hostel they had a board of free things to do locally. We decided to check out the local thermal hot pools just outside of town. The whole town smelled like sulfur from all of the thermal activity going on, and there were several steam plumes coming from random places. Once outside of the city we found the park with a small stream running through it, and a cove where the stream hit the hot springs. This was nice because the water from the springs was at least 100 or 105 degrees, but where the two mixed it was very comfortable to relax. Also, the mud from the sides of the spring is supposed to be good for your skin, unfortunately it left me smelling of sulfur for the next couple of days. We ended up talking to a few Maori natives there who were carving pieces of rock. They explained some of their heritage and culture, in exchange for some insight on where they should visit if they come to the USA.

After the sulfur bath, we headed back into Rotorua so Nicole could have a shower at the hostel. After paying $5, she had a shower and we left town. It was just getting dark and we were having a tough time trying to find a place to camp for the night. Several journeys on smaller roads up toward lakes ended in dead ends, both literally and figuratively. We were pretty sketched out at staying in a place completely alone and in the middle of nowhere. We ended up finding a place to sleep, about 1.5 hrs outside of Rotorua where we decided we should take some tylenol pm and go to sleep in the car. Me:"Nicole, pass the tylenol pm....nicole?....nicole??" nicole: "@#$^@^." Me: "Oh great...what?" Nicole: "Brian, I THINK I may have left my wallet in the shower"

So we searched the car, high and low, but no luck. We tried finding the hostel's phone number on the gps, but no luck. So back to Rotorua we charged, into the rain, and darkness...it was a silent ride. I think we both prayed the whole time we were driving that the wallet would be there, safe and sound. Thank God, when we got to the hostel, Nicole found her wallet, on the same hook in the bathroom where she had left it. Someone had even used the shower after she did, and either didn't see it or was nice enough to leave it alone. Whew! Nicole paid for gas, and we ended up making it further than we had before towards Gisborne. We "camped" in the car on the side of the road, it was sketchy.

Disclaimer from Nicole: It was not just as simple as leaving my wallet, it was a complicated matter with many other things going on, I'm sure you would have all done the same. Plus, this is my signature move, I had to lose something significant, this is an international trip right?

1-18-10

So why Gisborne you ask? Well b/c there is this AWESOME all natural rock slide gig. Thanks to our trusty GPS we took the road less traveled...FOR TWO HOURS! It was a one lane dirt road with more sheep and cows than people at Mardi Gras. That actually made the drive so much more entertaining. One beep of the horn and they were scared to death. It was so funny. They'd run so fast b/c they were so scared of us. Nicole was maybe even singing out the window to them...? That scared them too. So we're cruisin down the one laner, when out of no where a semitruck comes blasting into sight. AHHHHHHHHH! Brian swerved off into some shouldery, grassy, not suppose to be driven on side of the road. Good grief...it scared us both pretty bad. BUT...we pressed on.

HOORAY we made it to our final destination! Brian was psyched and ready to charge the chilly water--I mean this is on the 101 things you must do in NZ...cold water was not going to stop him...(Nicole on the other hand was going to take pictures). BUT, when we got to the top of the rockslide we looked down into the pool in which you'd be sliding into...GROSS! There was this white foam on the surface and it just looked like was breeding bacteria! So...we took a picture of the rockslide, talked about how fun it would be, took a picture of Clyde with some cow (yes, there were more cows), and got back in the car and headed off to our next stop.

We made it to the actual town of Gisborne (it's such a lame town)! We found a little spot on the beach and put up our tent, took a little nap and then headed into town to discover just how lame of a town it is. We were chatting with a lady who ran a book store and she told us of this neat cove and the longest wharf in the southern hemisphere at Talago Bay, about 45 mins away. BOOM! we're on it. So we took off to go see Captains Cook's Cove.

The wharf was pretty neat to see. We took some pics and headed off to find the cove. It was 5.8K hike roundtrip. It was about dusk-ish and we set off. So the craziest thing...we're hiking and there are cows and sheep ALL over the trail. It was unbelievablely funny!! There was no one to collect money, there was no one there to tell us to sign off saying we would not sue them, there was nothing there except this trail and cows and sheep. Good thing they are scared of us. It was a little scary at first until we realized they were willing to jump off cliffs to get away from us. WE HAD THE POWER!!! and we might have taken advantage of it. We were chasing them up the hill, off cliffs and everywhere inbetween. SO after chasing cows, scaring sheep off cliffs, and hopping over 3 barbwired fences (at this point we thought the bookstore lady was back at home, laughing about the tourists she just sent to slaughter) ,we made it to the top of the mountain overlooking the wharf and Captain Cook's Cove. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! We made some Nutella sandwiches and called it dinner--hiked back down, scared more animals...maybe even did the Chicken Dance for them and made it back to the car.

Needed showers badly, we saw a campsite across the way. Nicole's way of thinking: if we act like we know what we're doing...we can do just about anything. Let's go shower at that campsite. All it takes is confidence! HA! So we drive thru the campsite and everyone is looking at us. No biggy, just park and walk to the showers, act cool, stay calm! As we are sitting there, some man on a bike rides up and taps on the window. Pretty much told us we had to leave, he didn't like us and that we were not wanted there!" Ok ok ok so maybe we needed a little more than confidence for that shower. Needless to say, we went to bed nasty! BUT we were on the beach and it was an awesome sleep!

1-19-10

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day and decided to make some breakfast on the beach. Being American, we had to make a healthy breakfast fattier, more sugary, and much more awesome. We discovered that Nutella can pretty much be added to any food item, just like bacon...or ranch dressing. Nutella goes pretty awesomely in oatmeal, with a bit of brown sugar also. After packing up camp, we headed back into Gisborne to once again realize how lame the town was and stock our food supplies with more bread, eggs, and you guessed it...Nutella. We checked out a couple sweet thrift stores and found some nice beach chairs for only $5 each! Also found a bag of diapers called crawler nappies over here...strange.

Fully loaded and ready to leave, we headed towards the beach town of Napier. A couple hours later we pulled into town, and I was dying to find some fish and chips. Pretty much every beach town we have been to has had seemingly hundreds of take-away (take out as us Amuuuricans like to call it) fish and chips joints. I was craving a hot lunch, and guess what, no fish and chips to be found. We drove up and down the beach, through town, and eventually found a nasty looking place called "Continental Chinese food - And fish and chips too". I figured it was worth a shot and went inside. Right before ordering, a spitfire of a woman walked in to pick up a call-in order. After finding out they had forgotten to cook her food, the f-bombs started flying, and Nicole and I got out of there as quickly as possible. The gps took us to two other fish and chips places...closed, my luck was running out, but I finally found an open take-away place. I ordered the $10 pack, which strangely enough was pretty standard for the places I checked, and contained 2 pieces of fish, french fries, a corn dog (called a hot dog here), and 2 fried pieces of crabmeat. We headed back towards the beach and Nicole hit the library for some internet while I devoured my food. We went to the beach after and found that instead of sand, the beach consisted of really smooth black rocks. Nicole being the world class gymnast that she is did a few handstands in the surf.

We left Napier and headed towards a small Department of Conservation (DOC) campsite a couple hours south. New Zealand has a bunch of these government run spots that range from fully staffed and serviced pay sites to ones like where we are staying now, which are a small clearing near a lake or stream that have a fire pit and room for 10 tents. Most of these basic sites have an outhouse and source of water, and are 100% free. The site we are at now has a clearing for tents and a parking lot for a trail to a backcountry hut, some 5-6 hrs hike away. We noted a truck in the lot, and figured they were off to the huts for the night. Since we arrived around 8 pm, we quickly cooked dinner and headed to the stream to clean the dishes before it got dark. As we are bent over the stream cleaning, I catch some movement out of the corner of my eye and am startled to see a rather large man, in full camo gear and a pretty large caliber rifle over his shoulder. This may have startled us, just a bit. He emerges, from the woods and nonchalantly comments, "just out for a walk mate"...(Nicole and I are thinking "Sure you are, where'd your buddy go?") He ended up being friendly, and left in the truck fairly quickly. We were the only ones here at the site, but as it got dark several other cars of French tourists showed up and set up camp. We spent a lot of time in the car today, and are looking forward to a nice long hike or something outdoors tomorrow.