My Nemesis, the Rubber Ring

I'm not writing these posts in order, the past ten days or so on the Kiwi Experience have been jam packed, so I'm jumping around, chronologically speaking. From Taupo, myself, Suzanne and Silvia joined the "East As" tour. There were only two other people on this section, Miranda (FYI Rosie she's from a tiny village 20k from Deventer) and Lauren. Our guide was called Renee Kiwi, no I couldn't make up a better name.
One of the main reasons Suzanne and myself booked with Kiwi was for the "East As" leg. No other company offers tours to this part of New Zealand. The area is fairly remote and unpopulated, yes even by New Zealand standards. The leg also includes Napier, a city destroyed by a huge earthquake in 1931, a massive 7.9 on the Richter Scale, the city was rebuilt using the popular Art Deco style of the time. I have seen photo's of Napier and was keen to see her beautiful buildings for myself. The first news Renee Kiwi gave us was that from 21st September (the day before) Napier was no longer included in the tour.
None of the Kiwi Experience publications or maps show this change or even mention it's possibility. Suzanne and I explained how for us Napier was paramount to the trip's success. Okay not quite as dramatic as that.
Renee Kiwi (I want to include that name as often as possible!) phoned her boss and suggested we spend the last day doing a walking tour of Napier's famous buildings. We agreed to this and later found out this is actually more than the original itinerary included. Usually the bus would arrive in Napier around 6pm and leave early the following morning.
Our first day involved a visit to Whakatane to pick up supplies and a coastal drive to Te Kaha. The East As leg strays from the usual hostel accommodation and on the first night we found ourselves in a homestead.

View from the hot tub at Te Kaha Homestead.

This is run by the O'Brien family, proud of their Irish and Maori ancestry. A traditional Maori welcome involves touching noses twice. Paul the owner (an intense fellow) strode up to me and I thought "he's getting kind of close". Luckily at the last minute I remembered the nose touch, kept eye contact (as is respectful) and touched noses. I had a very cold nose, it hasn't warmed up since arriving in New Zealand.
I can't say I really enjoyed my stay at Te Kaha. The evening seemed to revolve around drinking as much as possible and singing rude songs. I have no problem with having a laugh, but it all felt slightly contrived, the owner and his friends drank as much as possible and then sang really filthy songs. From what I can tell women don't receive a lot of respect in Maori culture, even though our guide kept trying to tell us otherwise. Although I don't think the evening's entertainment had anything to do with Maori culture.
We did have a lovely meal prepared by Paul's wife and mother, but the women had little else to do with the guests. Which was a shame, because I imagine they would have been interesting to talk to.

The best thing about Te Kaha, the puppy Seeker.

I know Australia is famous for being a quite male chauvinistic society, but I haven't been there so I can't judge. It has surprised me however travelling in New Zealand, how many off hand comments are made as if this is the 1970's. I'd loved to know where this comes from, especially in a country that was the first in the world to give women the vote. Okay I'll get off my high horse and back to the journey.
The following day we travelled further along the coast to East Cape, where the mainland sees the world's first sunrise, they conveniently forget the Pacific Islands. Unfortunately the weather turned really bad as we arrived at a Dutch run farm, Eastenders. Miranda had worked at the farm (she's been in NZ for a year) and was returned for a few weeks before heading back to Holland. On arrival none of us could imagine why she would want to stay.
However the following morning, with clear blue skies we had a glimpse of the beautiful surrounding hills. It was here at Eastenders that we got to try bone carving. It's a popular way to make souvenirs, but takes a really long time, something like 3 hours for one necklace!

Silvia bone carving.

Eastenders Farmstay, Rangitukia

Now only Renee Kiwi and four passengers, we hit the road in search of Anglican churches. No not as dull as it may sound! Anglican missionaries arrived with the Europeans in New Zealand, ready to show the locals the error of their ways! Interestingly the Maori people quickly converted to Christianity as they mistakenly thought they were getting sick from diseases the Europeans survived because the "white" god was a stronger god.
The Churches here have a mix of typical Maori and traditional Anglican architecture, and some are really beautiful.

Anglican/Maori Church

Our third night was spent at a lovely homestay situated right on the beach, just outside of Gisborne. Renee Kiwi had described a natural rock slide in the near by hills we could boogie board down. For some reason, at the time this appealed to me. Only Lauren and I were up for the slide, but we all took the drive out.

Waterfall near the rock slide

Lauren and I were suited up in wet suits, thankfully this time they were comfortable and dry. Dean the homestay owner and local dive master guided us to the rock slide with his young helper, Shane.

The rock slide

We had to walk across the river and then Shane gave us a demonstration. He moved very slowly down the slide on a huge rubber ring. I thought this looks slow enough for me. Dean then suggested all three us (me, Lauren and Shane) climb on the ring and go down together. I did say, won't we just fall out at the end? But Dean insisted it was okay. Of course as soon as the ring started moving, I started to fall off, I tried to hold onto Shane, but by the time we hit the pool at the bottom of the slide, I had left the ring and ended up under the water. Again my system of swimming with my neck extended out of the water was badly compromised. I swallowed a load of water and felt quite sick.
I decided I would try on my own, pretty sure I could stay a float. The second attempt was a success and I enjoyed my rather sedate trip down the slide.
It was on my third attempt it all went wrong. Somehow I flipped up in the air as the ring hit the pool, from an eye witness (Suzanne) I hear I slipped through the middle of the hole, again touched the bottom of the pool, but popped up again in the centre of the ring.
At this point I decided I'd swallowed enough water, it was time to get dry.
That evening we had a lovely barbecue and toasted marshmallows. Silvia and I arranged to go out with Dean and Shane in the morning to feed stingrays. It was a great experience and another highlight to the East As tour.

Me, Silvia and Shane feeding a Stingray

I'm quite far behind with the posting, but should have more Internet access over the next few days to allow me to play catch up.