April 21 – April 23, 2016

Ohiwa Beach Holiday Park and White Island

I left the Thermal Explorer Highway and headed to Whakatane (pronounced Fuckatane…seriously) to check out White Island, an active, bubbling, steaming, sulfury volcano. The drive there was absolutely gorgeous and right at the end of my journey I got to see one of my favorite sunsets so far (there have been a lot of good ones though). This was near Ohiwa Beach Holiday Park where I stayed that night. It was also a full moon so I took some fun pictures of the moon. It was a really magical evening.

The next morning, I went on a tour of White Island. I saw a lot of volcanoes in South America, some that were still smoking (Villaricca) and some sleepy ones in Rapa Nui but none like this. This island, which is essentially a volcano is pretty serious. There is sulfur and smoke everywhere. There was at one point a mining company set up on the volcanic island. The company tried to entice people to come work there and they did for a bit but because of the make up of the air on the island everything kept corroding and it was not profitable to maintain the equipment needed for mining and they eventually shut it down. For the people that do tours on the island and the scientists that monitor the volcano, their backpacks, shoes etc. have to be replaced quite regularly because they also fall apart sooner than they would otherwise. There’s not a lot of life on the island except for plants and a lot of birds. Very cool and alien looking place to visit.

April 24 – April 25, 2016

Gisborne and Napier

The tour of White Island ended mid-day and from there I headed towards Gisborne a cute little beach town. Here’s a map, by the way, to give a sense of where everything is and where I ended up.

Here’s a link if you want to click on stuff…New Zealand – North Island

The drive from Whakatane to Gisborne goes across some spectacular mountain scenery and some adorable farms on the mountain sides with cute sheep and other livestock. I kept stopping every few minutes to take pictures and then I ended up taking a very long and nerve-wracking but amazing detour to find Rere Falls. It was really only nerve-wracking because I didn’t look at my gas tank before I went on the detour and I only realized when I was on the edge of a mountain on a rocky road, at nearly empty, and quite far from the main road. I never did find Rere Falls on this detour but it was beautiful regardless so it was totally worth it. And, somehow I managed to get back to the main road and to a gas station before the car died or exploded. I paid more attention after this incident. I got to the airbnb, where I was staying, pretty late but my host was wonderfully sweet and her house was awesome with a gorgeous garden in the back.  We chatted for a bit and she gave me some recommendations on where to eat and what to go see the next day. I ate at the place she recommended…Ussco Bar and Bistro…and I had some AMAZING lamb and delicious red wine. It was like being home and going to one of the fancy restaurants in Atlanta with Moomoo, SuzAndy, Branielle and/ or CoKo (yes guys…this is your new name).  Good times.

The next day, my host prepared the most amazing homemade muselix with rhubarb and honey for me. Her brother in law gathers his own honey and I think the rhubarb was also grown somewhere close. I’m now in love with muselix. After breakfast, I walked through the city and harbor to a beach. It was adequate. In the evening I drove to another beach to see the sunset…except that the sun sets on the other side of this town hahaha…oh well…the beach was nice and I watched some surfers surf. I tried another restaurant this evening but it wasn’t as memorable. I do remember a NZ/indian waitress telling me this is not like India and they wouldn’t have hot sauce in NZ and then they did! What a newb. NZ is always hot sauce ready based on my very limited experience. The next morning I went to the farmers market as my host recommended and bought some local honey and delicious golden kiwis. I also tried some locally made wine. Can’t do that in Atlanta…yet!

Then off to Napier. On the way I did stop and see Rere falls. I have to say, after you see something like Iguazu Falls it’s a little hard to be impressed with other waterfalls.  Rere was cute :-). I didn’t really do anything in Napier. I was just passing through here to get to Wellington and wanted to break up the long drive. Only two things I really remember, at the hostel I was thoroughly annoyed but this creepy old man that kept telling me that the people from my country (muslims) are evil and that he is from around there and was in the army so he knows but he means no offense but still my people are evil and why do they have to be that way. He was shit faced drunk and he didn’t know which country I was from. Ass. The other memorable thing, I met a very sweet French girl that I think is still in NZ and is aspiring to be a writer and a very nice Spanish girl that is an engineer. The three of us chatted for a long time in English and Spanish…fun times.

On the way to Wellington

On the way to Wellington

On the way to Wellington

The next morning I set out for Wellington.  That will have to be another blog.  This is getting too long.