Getting to Know Gisborne

To get to my second housesitting job I once again spent a long day on a bus. Gisborne is on the North Island on the east coast.


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To start off the trip we actually drove through the Manatua Gorge along where I had hiked so that was kind of fun to see. The scenery during the whole trip was beautiful but as we headed further east there was more pasture land and lots of sheep. The grass looked much more dry as well. The other thing that I started to see a lot of was the lumber industry. There were tons of logging trucks on the road and large patches of land that was cleared next to areas of timber that were clearly planted as part of a reforestation project.

I am learning that different areas of New Zealand are just like the different areas of the US, the people and feel of the areas can very greatly. The area around Giborne is call Out East and even in their brochures they talk about how things are different out east. Its the "gizzy" way of doing things. It seems like a surf town that is really laid back and is pretty off the tourist path. The town isn't small, about 33,000 people but so far I have only managed to find one stop light. There are LOTS of beaches though!

I am housesitting in Gisborne for all of February and once again I have some companions!

Meet Pongo and Perdi!

 

 

Just kidding! This is Stella and Ollie brother and sister, but still funny that I was able to remember during our first walk both of the names off of 101 Dalmatians. And the fun doesn't end there. The family also has two cats.

 



Rufus is a Hawaiian Siamese and Sméagol is a hairless cat. So with all four of them I do have quite a housefull!

Another big deal with this housesit is that it comes with access to a car, which I am a little nervous about! But it will be an interesting new experience to drive on the left....

After getting settled in and a few days of rain I decided to start my exploration out on Kaiti Beach watching the sunrise. Gisborne claims they are the first place to see the sunrise each day as there is a mountain about 130k from here that is the highest eastern most piece of land in the world compared to the international date line. That fact actually made Gisborne an extremely popular place for New Years and they have now grown that into a coming of age traditional pilgrimage for young people that includes a bunch of bands playing on the beach here for New Years Eve and thousands of people camping out along it.

My first attempt at watching sunrise was a little flawed....

 

Problem is that beach actually faces rather south and the sun will not come up over the water, but in fact over the headland to the north. But I now have a better idea of which beach will be the best place to try again for a beach sunrise.

 

 

While I was there I was also able to climb Kaiti Hill which gives a good view of the city and Poverty Bay.

 

 

 

The headland in this picture is Young Nick's Head, which is actually where New Zealand was first discovered by the English. On the Kaiti Hill there is a Statute for Capitan Cook and a plaque talking about how this land form was the first piece of New Zealand spotted.

 

 

They also have a memorial tree for Princess Diana on this hill.

 

The hill is situated right above the part of the harbor where large ships load out the logs from nearby forests, it is amazing how many truckloads come in and how big all of the logs are.

 

While I wasn't able to get the beach sunrise I wanted for this first attempt. I did find a beautiful little church that caught the glow on the back side of the hill.

 

 



 



I am hoping to find work while I am here but I am also looking forward to doing some pretty fun stuff around this beach town... and if I don't get work... I have decided I need a good tan :)

Mountain Biking - Windfarm Ride

February 1st I took my first mountain bike ride in New Zealand.

 

The family I had housesat for was amazing and I had a ton of fun with them over the past week. For my last day in Palmerston we went to the Wind Farm road and it was quite the view. For the record, this was a GREEN :) but there was a good amount of mud and puddles/pot holes that were so big you had to watch out. I'm sure the dirt bike rider that had to be helped back up onto the road after crashing trying to avoid a mud hole would agree. We did drive up to the top before starting, I can't imagine how much harder the ride would be to climb all the way up out of the valley to start. The views were amazing and it was weird hearing the noise that the big windmills make. The ride description had a very large warning about not doing this ride if it was windy. I don't think it is ever not windy along the tops of these hills!

 

Really fun afternoon getting muddy and even without crashing I somehow skinned up my knee so I looked like a pretty serious biker when we went for ice cream afterwards!

 

 

One Month! And What a January it was!!

What better way to celebrate one month in New Zealand that going to my first New Zealand dinner party! I was lucky enough to get to go along with the family I was staying with for a friend's 30th Anniversary Dinner and it was a real treat. Think English outdoor tea party with the grandiose New Zealand backdrop scenery and rural settings with a touch of flair. The hostess had even had 3 outdoor chandeliers installed just for that night. Everyone was dressed up and brought a dish for the dinner. It was all so delicious and the company was welcoming and interesting. The evening was a really fun way to cap off an impressive month.

Probably one of the more exciting moments of the month was the 6.3 earthquake that hit near Palmerston North. I have to say I was pretty proud of the fact that once I realized what was happening I did remember you were suppose to get into a doorway. I went to one of the doorways off the main room and saw that Doug was freaking out on the patio and it dawned on me that where the house was built on the side of a hill I really didn't want to be in it. So I grabbed the dog and up the stairs we went out onto the front lawn. Tia was actually outside on the front lawn so it was good to know all my charges were out of the house if anything did come crashing down. Luckily, the only thing it did was open some cabinet doors, knock pictures off the wall and a few things around on shelves and what not. But nothing broke. It was scary and I was a bit shaken up out on the lawn afterwards so it made me feel a lot better to have the neighbor come running out acting just a shook up. They all agreed it was the biggest quake they had felt. In researching afterwards I was very shocked to find that the magnitude was the same as the earthquake that did so much damage in Christchurch. The difference between how much damage and shaking happens depends on where the epicenter of the earthquake is. Luckily, this one was like 17k below the surface. The one in Christchurch was only 3k below the surface so that's why it was so much worse.
Earthquakes and dinner parties aside it has been a pretty crazy January. In this month I have stayed in Auckland and Palmerston North. I have traveled by bus, bike and boat. I have been to the beach and even an island. I have gotten a phone, went grocery shopping and even gotten library cards. I have become a pretty avid Skyper and realized that blogging takes some work! It has been very fun and interesting for sure but I will also say it hasn't been all easy. I do miss all of my friends back home and it was especially hard being this far away when one of them suffered a horrible loss. While I am liking the slower pace here, I miss working. Housesitting is going well but it does by its nature leave one pretty isolated. I hope to in the coming months find work and more ways to meet people. The past week has also been a little unsettling as until just two days ago I was unsure what I would be doing for the month of February. But in just the last couple days I have lined up two more housesitting jobs. One in Gisborne for the month of February and the second in Whangarei for April and May. In some ways it seems like forever since I was in Phoenix working and with my friends there, but in other ways it does seem like I just got here. I feel like I am suppose to be learning something or figuring something out during this year and the impatient part of me is a little nervous that isn't clear yet. But it is only one month, two cities, only part of one of the islands. I have a lot of New Zealand left to see and 11 more months for it to be clear.

I have over the first month here added up a little mileage for my goal of getting in 1000 miles this year. I don't know that I am going to get in the 1000 miles running but if I add in the hiking I think I will for sure. Doug has helped and this past week I have done a couple rides and hikes as well with the family here in Palmerston. So my January totals are:
            
                 Running: 31.39 miles
               Hiking: 43.36 miles
               Biking: 81.13 miles

Well as usual, here are some more photos I have taken this week! They are from a hike on the Sledge Track and from biking around town.

I brought one of my Husker shirts and had an interesting time explaining how crazy we are where I'm from about our college American football. So far it doesn't seem like they get very into the college level sports. I have heard a lot about rugby and cricket pro teams but nothing about college level sports.

 

 

Well just a couple more days here in Palmerston North and then I am off to Gisborne for the month of February! Seems strange for this to be the time to head to a surf city but February here is summertime. February Goal: Get a TAN!