On the 29th, I said goodbye to Alex and his family, and got on a coach to Gisborne. Well, that is after a bit of drama. I got to the coach stop for check in and put my bags on the bus, then the driver said that we would be delayed an hour and we should be back at 12, to leave between 12:15 and 12:30. So I came back at 12 exactly, walked across the road to the bus and when I was within only 5 metres of it, it drove off!
A frantic phone call to Alex later, and we were in the car driving to where the bus would stop next. I phoned Inter City and they told their driver that I'd been left behind. We eventually caught up with it at Te Puke, which wasn't too far away and I finally got on the coach bound for the world's eastern-most city.
Gisborne is home to about 30,000 and sits on the Pacific coast in Poverty Bay. It's here that Captain Cook first set foot on New Zealand soil. I had arranged to stay on a farm just outside of the city through the FHiNZ (Farm Helpers in New Zealand) scheme, working for my food and accommodation.
Rivka and Richard were my hosts, and picked me up at the coach stop. For the next week, I worked for five hours a day on their small 1ha farm, with the afternoons and evenings free to do whatever I pleased. The work wasn't especially hard, but the unrelenting sun that appeared on cue every day was fairly draining. As well as a dozen sheep, they had about 20 chickens and a couple of cats. Richard also manages a neighbouring orange and corn orchard for a company based in Napier. The Hawke's Bay area has some the best soil and one of the sunniest climates in New Zealand and is therefore particularly good for agriculture.
We didn't do much for New Year's Eve, but on the 1st, we went to a beach a few miles north of Gisborne for the day, meeting up with a few of Rivka and Richard's friends. Like a lot of beaches in New Zealand, it was by no means busy, was clean and had crisp golden sand. Kiwis are so lucky to have that sort of scenery within such easy reach.
On the 2nd, I went into Gisborne in the morning to check out the town properly, stating at the harbourside, where there are statues of Captain Cook and Young Nick. Nick Young, as he was otherwise known, was the sailor who first spotted New Zealand and Cook named a headland on one end of Poverty Bay after him. From there I went around to Captain Cook's landing site, commemorated by a large statue in an otherwise industrial area. I then climbed Kaiti Hill to its summit, overlooking the entire bay, before heading back down to Tairawhiti Museum in the city centre. Museums tend to be excellent in New Zealand and this one is no exception, with a great art gallery and interesting displays on the Cook landing amongst others.
My working farm stay in Gisborne was a great new experience and while I wouldn't want a life of outdoor labour, it gave me an insight into life on a farm. Rivka and Richard were very welcoming and helpful, which made it even easier. They even managed to set me up with car rental for a trip around East Cape, which I would never have normally gotten, being under 21. Details of that to follow...
