Hey everyone, sorry that it's been so long since my last post. I haven't been feeling too well of late so I have been resting. Anyway, I feel 100% better tonight so here I am...

 

The East Coast of the North Island of NZ was quite a nice chance of pace. I drank some good wine and had some nice relazing time. I met local NZers and a few local Maori people which was quite nice. The places that we stayed were definitely the highlight though. The first night, we were at a place called the Surf Chalet in a town called Gisborne. I was in a really nice hostel with a huge kitchen right on the coast facing the ocean - got a great view of the sunset so it was awesome. The next night, we stayed in a place called Rangitukia and it was on the far east coast. We stayed at a Maori farm and my friends and I were the first in the world to see the sunrise that day. It was a really cool experience. We climbed up this hill at around 6:00 am to do it but it was well worth it. While at the farm stay, I also went horseriding for the first time which was quite the experience. My horse's name was Brownie and she was really tame and good. Just a little slow - but that's actually pretty good since it was my first time... The final night of our trip was at a place called East Cape where we stayed in a Home stay with a Maori family. They had a hottub right on the beach by the ocean so we could sit in the hot tub and watch the sunset. Actually, it was quite cool cause I ended up seeing the sunrise and set in the same day which was pretty sweet.

 

Got back to Taupo after the East coast trip and chilled out for a few days before going to a place called River Valley for some Grade 5 White Water Rafting which was pretty fun. The hostel at River Valley was literally in the middle of nowhere. There were a bunch of Canadian people working there too which was kinda cool. After River Valley, it was off to Wellington (NZ's capital city) which was definitely really nice. I did an awesome Lord of the Rings movie tour while in Wellington which requires a separate blog to tell you everything I learned. The museum in Wellington is called Te Papa and they have a Lord of the Rings exhitbit there right now too - it's so amazing. I didn't have enough time to properly see it though :o(

 

I crossed the Bass Straight from Welliington to Picton last Monday and now I'm on the South Island. More stories to come...