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After a couple of days spent catching up with Ambient I headed on down to Taupo where I was due to do a four day East Cape tour with Kiwi experience. I had a few days left and had to choose between that and the Tongariro Crossing but I'd just thrown out my only trousers that weren't jeans in Bay of Islands (jeans are very bad to hike in so I'd have had to buy more!!!) and the East As tour was longer so a bit more worthwhile! I was on a bus with 14 other people and we headed off around the cape via Whakatane which is as far east as I'd got with the boys. We had lunch there and then drove around to a homestay where we stayed for the first night (I get a little foggy with the actual names of the places in this bit Im afraid!) It was gorgeous and we had the best hottub to chill out in whilst the sun went down (im sure you've oooh and aaah over the pics in the album!) THe next day we drove round past the lighthouse which is the most easterly point in New Zealand to a lovely Farmstay where we stayed for night two.
During the days we had long drives so whilst we got out for photos and lunch stops we didn't actually do many activities here. That afternoon we went horseriding - galloping along the beach and riding up what can almost be described as a mountain!! It was amazing although on the way back down the mountain my horse Tapu took a dislike to my jacket flapping in the wind and bolted - galloping down a steep gravel mountain road!! I stayed on ok and it took me a good minute to pull him up which is a long time when your hurtling along above a hard surface!! WHen we got to the bottom and were back near the farm he did it again and this time did a sharp turn and deposited me on the ground!! But i was ok (must be all that falling off ponies when I was a kid!) and apart from a grazed back was much better of than Tapu who still thought mt jacked was the devil incarnate!!hahaha can only happen to me can't it!
The next day we drove round the coast to Gisborne where we dropped some people off for a few nights and picked some newbies up. We drove on past some pretty impressive Kodak stops to a spa where I got to soak my aching legs and chill out with the gang for an hour. Thne it was on to Napier which was our accommodation stop for that night, Rens our driver had arranged for us to watch Whale Rider that night - a famous New Zealand film about a Maori tribe from one of the villages that we'd passed that day. It was well worth the watch and I'd recommend it guys!
The next morning we went to a mountain with amazing views over napier and the nearby wine making region, and to a chocolate factory and wine tasting! That was pretty good and we all had enough to keep us going for the afternoon drive back to Taupo and the end of the tour! I stayed in Taupo for the night with the girls that I'd met on the tour before heading back on the Tuesday to Auckland to stay with Ambient until the Friday and my flight to Fiji. We had a chilled out few days and I met up with Lucy Jewel again on the Thursday afternoon/evening when she really kindly treated me to a last evening dinner down at the harbour!! On the Friday I got the bus to the Airport for my 2pm flight to Fiji!!
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