The first view from the bedroom window shows this ship just leaving Gisborne Harbour. Marine Traffic app. informs us that the ship is bound for Incheon in South Korea. So at least we know the destination of all those logs that we saw being hauled along the road yesterday.
The usual homemade muesli, bucket loads of fresh fruit and yogurt for starters. There was a choice of fresh fruit juice this morning, one of the choices was fresh apple and feijoa. It looked rather turgid and an unappealing greeny brown colour! But it just had to be tried, and turned out to be really scrummy, so much so that another large glass was imbibed. This is followed by Glenn's big breakfast, venison sausages and all the other works. The mushrooms were small and particularly delicious. The vegetarian alternative is strawberry pancakes with bananas, homemade Manuka honey and maple syrup. It turns out that one half of our hosts (that should read one of our hosts) is (currently) a commercial bee-keeper and they make Manuka honey to grade 10. We discuss our plans for the day - a trip around the harbour in an old fishing boat and a walk around the town's historical sites and along the river to the beach. Our host checks, and the harbour cruise is not running at the moment, only on Sunday. A trip to feed the wild Stingrays is recommended, down the coast at Tatapouri. Not too sure about this but are assured it's not a big commercial operation and is as much to do with a reef ecology tour as anything. You don't need a snorkel, just chest waders, which they provide. We arrange to go at about one o'clock and so are able to fit in the walks beforehand.
We start outside the iSite office. Take a quick check of where we are exactly.
There is a big totem pole that confuses Eric. Am I back in Canada again?
It was donated to the town by the Canadians.
Adjacent to this was Alfred Cox's Park, running alongside one of the three rivers that join in Gisborne. There are large Palm trees beside the river that look rather picturesque.
Eric insists on having his photo taken by one of them.
We wander further into the park but the scene on the other side looks rather industrial and anyway it's not on the Historical Tour leaflet we are following (being real tourists carrying a map with landmarks highlighted on it).
Returning to the iSite we follow the map past where Dame Kiri Tekanawa had her Gisborne home, past the town clock;
a stranded tall ship in the middle of the high street;
the old post office clock; an interesting street statue in the histotic Peel Street quarter;
Eric enjoying the story being read by the old gentleman on the bench.
and on to the river.
There is a maritime museum on the other side of the river that is made out of the bridge and deck of The Star of Canada, which was wrecked on Kaiti reef in 1912.
Crossing the river we visit the rose garden, Eric nips over to smell them, can you spot him?
There is also a memorial here to one of the key founders of the Women's Movement in NZ, Margaret Sievwright, with her name carved in stone, but mis-spelt.
Eric spots another memorial statue he'd rather like to imitate.
Wandering on past the war memorial we are once again alongside a river, but a different one. The three meet near this point before disgorging into the harbour and out to sea. There is a marina,
but also a working dock where they are loading more of those logs onto a ship.
There are hundreds of logs piled on the quayside.
Our host tells us later that the lorry drivers who collect the logs from the forestry blocks and deliver them to the quay have to do this three times a day (about 150km each way) just to pay off the loan for their lorries. This could be why they were in such a hurry before. Apparently they start at one in the morning and finish about five in the evening, go to bed, and then wake up to start all over again.
Past a statue illustrating the prow of a Maori waka or canoe
and around to the beach promenade. They are busy cleaning the beach. Our host had told us yesterday evening that after the last severe storm there was virtually no sand to be seen on the beach, it was covered with so many logs. Looking at the clear up operation we can well believe that.
On down to the waterfront to return to the car we pass some interesting murals.
Watch out Eric, that's and electricity sub-station and there are live wires under where you are sitting.
Then a statue of Cap'n Cook, who we may have mentioned previously.
Then there is one of Nicholas Young. He was the first person to spot New Zealand because he was the 14 year old cabin boy and had the dubious pleasure of being stationed at the top of the ship's mast.
Eric thinks it must be a pretty large tent that needs a tent peg this big!
Along the waterfront we manage to get a good picture of White-faced Heron having a mid-morning snack.
Returning to the iSite we pass this rather weird boat sculpture.
Time to find the stingrays.
The tour place is about ten minutes along the road. We are greeted by Alex who explains what the reef ecology tour entails.
Views of the reef area, the first is looking towards where the Marine Reserve is; the second looking the other way towards Tatapouri Head.
Donning chest waders, and holding a bamboo stick we make our way out to where they have a marker float. Waders are size 10 and size 9. Would be better if one pair was a bit smaller - I'll leave to your imagination the worries entailed with combination of size 5 feet in size 9 waders, water and rocks.
But remarkably make it out to buoy without getting wet.
Alex has a bucket full of bait and the rays are soon swimming around our feet. Swimming seems too ugly a word for the way these creatures glide seemingly effortlessly. There are two species here, Eagle rays and Short-tailed Rays, and they are easily distinguished on the basis of size, wing shape, number of tail barbs (1 and 3 respectively) and swimming style.
The Eagle Ray.
Angular wings and swims with an elegant flapping motion of the wings.
The Short-tailed Ray.
Much larger and as they move through the water the wings seems to ripple along its outer edge providing the propulsion. They also proved harder to get many good pictures.
We spend an hour and half just watching them approach and investigate us. Alex suggests that we can hand feed them, which one of us does somewhat reluctantly as we are more than happy to just watch and not interfere with them. It has to be said that the feeding was also a remarkable experience. By simply holding a piece of bait on the sea bed the ray glides across your hand and seems to "Hoover" the bait of your hand with almost no contact. We are reassured by the fact we are told they have no teeth.
There were also a large number of other fish of various sizes taking advantage of the bait being used.
All too soon it is time to make our way back to the shore. On the way we keep our eyes peeled for anything else that may be lurking in the shallows, and soon spot a number of photogenic crayfish.
Speaking with the owners of the establishment we discover that they have a Welsh heritage. Dean's parents still live in the Rhondda valley and have a caravan in Porthcawl. The last time he and his wife visited Wales, about 2 years ago, they spent some time in Porthcawl. His father is Maori and was a boxer, his mother Welsh.
Next its back to the B&B to have a quick cuppa, I hadn't noticed their weather vane before - I'd like one like this
and also since it's so warm, a quick dip in the pool.
After a relax we decide to visit the lookout on Kaiti hill, which sits above the point where Cook first set foot on NZ.
It had fantastic views over Gisborne
And a good plaque describing what Eric can see
It also has a statute of the Captain
though the plaque beneath explains that there is some controversy over the statue as
a) it shows him in a French Naval Officers uniform, and
b) reputedly doesn't look like him!
So who could it really be?
On Kaiti Hill there is also a plaque commemorating a Pohutakawa tree planted by Princess Diana in 1983.
As well as the Cook Planetarium, which the Queen has visited but that we are not able to as it's only open on Tuesday evenings.
So it's off to The Wharf restaurant for a steak and eggs Florentine. Outside in the harbour is the MV Takitimu, the boat we had hoped to go out on this morning.
There's also a lovely Morris pick-up - well would be a cheaper option than a yacht or helicopter (the latest fancies).
On the way back we see a somewhat confusing advert on the rear of a lorry, is this advert for or against drinking a particular drink.
The rain held off long enough to have tea outside our room, but once it started (including gale force winds, thunder and lightening) it seemed to rain most of the night and was still pouring down when we awoke.
The biscuits had to be locked in the safe to protect them from nighttime raiders