Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hmmm, where am I writing about today... ah yeh the Bay of Plenty. Well it's kind of all around that area, have lumped a few places in together otherwise we would have like a billion entries... we've been proper busy you know.
On the way to Mount Maunganui we passed through the kiwi region, as in millions of kiwi orchards. The smell all round the area is really sweet which made a nice change from the egg bonanza in Rotorua. Along the highway we noticed a massive green and brown shape and as we got closer we realised it was a ginormous kiwi - hurrah. With much excitement we headed over and found out you could go up inside it - wow! ... made my day anyway.
Onto Mount Maunganui which is a really nice, quite wealthy town on the coast. The beaches are gorgeous, with islands dotted out in the sea which felt slightly Thai. Looking up in the trusty old Lonely Planet we realised the only thing to really do in the town was shop (financial issues make this an unlikely option) or climb the mountain.... hmmm. As we had been in the van for like a hundred years that day however we decided a little light hiking could be the order of the day so we set off up this enormous mount which looks over the town. It is covered with sheep and as we hiked our way past them Grant experienced the absolute highlight of his trip so far... as the sheep jumped down off the bank in front of us he farted. Now this was not just a small cheeky one, this was a full on whopee cushion guff and Grant was beside himself with joy... well how often do you hear a sheep fart eh?!?
Anyway, back to the hike, as we got higher we came to a proper rock face bit which meant getting proper involved in a climbing type fashion. The sun started to go down then which made for spectacular views out across the sea and the harbour below. Obviously much snapping of the camera commenced which was a welcome break from the imminent heartattack I felt I was about to suffer. When we arrived at the top the views were quite mesmerising and... well... best just look at the pictures I say as they probably speak louder than words. All in all a great experience to climb the mount, and obviously the sheep fart was an added bonus.
The next day it was onward to... well, we didn't really know actually. Grant was at the wheel so I had a flick through the trusty LP and came across a place called Sheepworld. Now being in NZ nearly 5 weeks and seeing a billion sheep every day this place said it gave demonstrations of how sheepdogs works with sheep etc and I thought it sounded pretty interesting (not sure Grant was quite on the same page but hey, that's the beauty of being the passenger). We pulled up and the place looked deserted, with just a sweet little old lady behind a counter. She told us there was a show in half an hour and before that we could go round and feed the other animals.... OTHER animals, yay! There were goats, mini horses, lambs, pigs alpacas, donkeys and of course sheep (do u love it Stu??) We had a merry old time feeding all the animals like we were on a school trip or something and then headed off to the 'show'. I was a bit sceptical about what was gonna happen and I think Grant was just embaressed to even be there but it ended up being wicked! There was a guy who told us all about different types of sheep and what they are used for, then he introduced his sheep dogs. They were so talented (not sure that's really the right word for a dog but man, he had skills!) There were some sheep up in a field and just by making sounds he would get the dog to herd all the sheep in. Each of his dogs spoke a different 'language' and responded to different sounds meaning when they are all out together he can get them to do separate things - genius. He then sheared a sheep and told us all about how it is done. Then... the best bit of all... a load of baby animals came scuttling in and we got to feed them!! There were lambs, piglets and an 8 day old goat. Grant was obsessed with one of the piglets that was literally the size of a mouse. After his feed I sat cuddling the baby goat for about an hour and just didn't want to let him go. He had been found on the side of the road after his mother had been killed and I truly think I could have been his new Mum but after some time Grant said it was nearly dark and we'd have to go.....awww.
We stayed at a tiny campsite on the farm that night which rocked. There were glowworms in a stream at the bottom of a hill which we trekked in pitch black down to see... worth it though, they are such cool creatures. That was about it for the Bay of Plenty, animal fuelled few days as usual eh - love it.
Linz x
- comments