There isn’t much to do around Gisborne but, there is Rere Falls and the Eastwoodhill Arboretum. One day Scott came back from work about an hour after he left and said John had given him the day off. We were hoping the sun would come back out. Scott had gotten the day off because the sun decided to come out for the first time in weeks but, by the time he got back to the apartment it was cloudy again. So we decided to chance the weather and try to do some sightseeing. So we left for Rere falls. It was about a 45 minute drive and by the time we got there I was incredibly car sick! Really the problem I have with New Zealand roads is, they are terribly twisty. The speed limit is 100 km (about 62 mph), but normally you can’t get up to that speed because the road curves too much. I decided the best thing for motion sickness is a waterfall. So, I left Scott to get Catherine out and I ran down to the falls. It was gorgeous. You can also get right up close to the waterfall. I guess sometimes you can even get right up behind the waterfall. Scott even has pictures of him standing behind the water of the falls. Unfortunately, the water was hitting right against the wall. So we decided not to try a fight with the falls. Anyway, it was gorgeous. We had a nice little picnic by the falls. Also, no one was around. There was absolutely no one around. We had the whole place to ourselves. When we decided to leave the falls I had had enough of the twisty roads and decided it was time to learn to drive in New Zealand. I did a pretty good job! I had a little bit of trouble with some one lane bridges. Mostly I would go across the bridge and automatically move to the right side of the road. Scott kept reminding me to get back over to my side of the road. Luckily we didn’t see many cars. So we drove on to a rock slide. It is on the same river as Rere falls just a little ways down the river. Basically it is just a decline in the river that has just the right amount of slope to be a slide. Apparently you take a mat and slide down this gentle slope in the water. It was a little intimidating to me, mostly because I’m a chicken, but Tran Burt told me that once you see all the kids going down it you realize it’s not that bad. Luckily, for me, it was too cold to get in the water, even though the sun did come out and it was moderately warm. I did stick Catherine’s feet in the water and, needless to say, she was NOT happy with me. After looking at the rock slide for a few minutes we decided to go to Eastwoodhill Arboretum. Everyone in Gisborne has been telling us to go see it so, we decided, “why not!?” We get there and talk to the lady at the office and she tells us what walk should take us about an hour and we set off. It was gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful!! It was basically a forest. One thing I noticed as well, there are so many different colors of trees. They have white, pink, purple, red (I love all the red blossoms on the trees), dark red, green (of course), yellow, and orange. I think I even saw a blue tree once, it might have been purple but, it was pretty close to blue. I just love all the different colors here!! We made it about half-way when Catherine decided the ride was too bumpy in the stroller, and told us (very loudly) to get her out. It was also at this point we realize she has thrown her pacifier out of the stroller, which also happened to be the only one I brought. Also it was my favorite of her pacifiers. So, Scott heads back down the trail while Catherine and I wait on a bench we found. Scott comes back empty handed… so now we have a little girl who will not sit in her stroller and no binky to put in her mouth. She also happened to want her Mommy, who can’t hike and hold her so, she gets to scream in Daddy’s arms. It was still a great walk. At the end of the walk there was a fountain. Catherine didn’t like it but, I sure had fun! It was a large marble ball that sits on water. So I was playing around, rolling the ball and running my hands through the water. It was quite refreshing after our long walk. Unfortunately, we exhausted everything there is to do around Gisborne in one day. Looks like we are going to have to try harder to find things to do while we are still in Gisborne.
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