Road Trip! Part Three: Adventure Day

After the relatively sedate day of swanning about the mansion, we decided to liven things up on Monday with some outdoor pursuits.

First on the menu was surfing! While Raglan is known as a top surf spot in NZ for it's consistency and accessibility, Gisborne is certainly no slouch in the waves department. The day dawned bright and warm with an offshore breeze, and the uncrowded waves were gorgeous even close to the sand - less paddling out!
.

After a stellar session it was time to say goodbye to Gisborne and head up the coast to Tikitiki, and Eastender Horse Treks.

EHT is a small operation run by Reg, a Maori fellow who was quite stoked to be having horse-savvy people coming in.


It was awesomely rough around the edges - my horse's bridle was a bit held on with braided bailing twine - and he encouraged us to ride the horses like they were our own, and that meant pretty much doing whatever we wanted with them. Aww yeeah...

Reg and I racing half-sisters Yokie and East As down the beach


Chad managed to ride a galloping horse and film with his old point-and-shoot at the same time - very talented.


Me with East As and Chad riding Troy


Riding up the river -IN the river. Only limited to how wet you wanted to get (it got deeper later on).


Up on the ridge looking down at the beach where we rode earlier - quite a climb.


Jumping stream beds, all-out sprints, playing tag with the waves, and doing our best impressions of a wild west posse in the hills meant it was way more like a day "horsing" around with a friend than a guided tour. I highly recommend it if you like that sort of thing and are out that way :)