On the very last day of November, Tom and I said goodbye to Meryn, hopped on a bus, and spent the next 12 hours travelling to Gisborne. Our second visit was a lot different to our first: for one thing, we weren't staying in a hostel. Far from it. We were staying with a family Tom had met through cycling. Now if there was ever a lesson in kindness, it is in the way we were treated here. They welcomed us into their home and gave us three weeks of happiness, comfort, great food, and even better company.
The weather started to heat up while we were in Gisborne, and we discovered just how hot the New Zealand sun really is. There was one afternoon when I burnt my foot on coins I had accidentally left on the carpet.
This particular afternoon was when the temperature reached 28 degrees and we officially declared it hotter than the sun (probably). There was just nowhere cool, not even in the shade. Tom lay here, in the storage bit of the room we were sleeping in, and gave up.
Tom's very successful first attempt at cooking on a BBQ! He was responsible for everything that was being BBQ'd that evening. A pretty big responsibility considering our tea was 80% BBQ food. He nailed it though, and we all survived!
At the end of our first week back in Gisborne there was the "Gizzy Food Festival". A selection of local cafes/restaurants all put up stalls along the river. It was free to attend and nothing was over $5. What more could you want?!
I had a pork sub on rye bread with homemade coleslaw, a strawberry and lime cider, and a cupcake for dessert. Tom finally had butter chicken curry with rice, a naan bread, the same cider as me, and had tiramisu for dessert. It was deeeeeelicious and a really fun evening! We saw local Maori children perform different haka, and there was some live music after that.
All of this taking place against the backdrop of the river and with the sun washing over it all. Perfect!
This was the view from our bed and it was one I never got used to. We were staying outside of the city (about an hours leisurely walk) and were surrounded by green hills. The river ran behind the bush you see in this photo and there was a little path that led down to the banks. It was a really lovely place (and the house was oh my god good).
Example 17639 of things New Zealand is cool with that the UK would just freak out about: this was an old railway bridge that ran across the river. The only trains that used it were tourist steam trains that ran when cruise ships docked in the city's harbour. All of the rest of the time it was used by people walking across it, jogging across it (Tom had a terrifying afternoon jog over that thing), or kids jumping off it into the river. We couldn't believe it. One strong gust of wind and I'm 99% sure I would have just blown off the side.
If that were in the UK, there would be fencing, gates, signs, all sorts. Health and safety would literally implode and die if it saw people casually walking across it like we did.
Our eating hugely improved while we were in Gisborne and we started to get more creative with what we were eating. Who said living on a budget means eating crap all the time? One thing we've become hooked on is wraps. Mince wraps with a ton of salad is A++++++ and something we could eat day in and day out (which we pretty much are doing right now).
Tom spent the three weeks we were in Gisborne cycling with the local cycling club. He finally found a New Zealand kit he liked and wanted to buy, and luck would have it that it was the kit for the club he had temporarily joined! This is him modelling it for me. I love this kit on him, I think the colours really suit him!!
And now an example of cycling kit that doesn't suit the wearer...
This was taken during mine and Tom's 19 mile bike ride (nothing for him, huge for me). It was so much fun going out with him again, and I got to see parts of Gisborne I hadn't seen before!
Plus I didn't die from all that exercise, or from being forced to wear those hideous socks, so it was a winning day really.
Our one and only breakfast and coffee at a local cafe called Zest. We did try and go back before we left but they had closed early (a very annoying habit here in New Zealand).
The meal on the left was a breakfast: 2 pieces of rye bread, 2 fried eggs, baked beans (or something similar), rashers of bacon, 2 sausages, mushrooms, and hash browns. The monster on the right was Tom's scone. We shared the breakfast and I sampled the scone and it was all fantastic. Even our coffees were good, a soy latte and a mocha. You can imagine how disappointed we were to be turned away on our last day in Gisborne!
Tom eagerly volunteered to mow the lawns once afternoon. He loves mowing lawns and he was desperately excited to use the ride on lawn mower. This picture is of him about an hour and a half into the mowing. The contrast between him starting and him then was so funny, we still laugh about it now. He just looked so flat!
This right here is the healthiest donner kebab I have ever seen in my entire life. It was so tasty as well, I'm gutted I have to go back to the land of greasy filled polystyrene containers on drunken walks home.
Our first New Zealand thunder storm just happened to coincide with one of Tom's evening jogs. He was absolutely soaked when he came back and it was absolutely hilarious. Bless him.
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