Now I've Seen Everything!

My mobile ran at 7:40 this morning, it was White Island Tours, the tour is cancelled today because of strong south-easterly winds, which makes the landing on the island very difficult. I booked again for tomorrow.

I slept like crap last night, the beds here are dumb, they bend, it was like trying to sleep in a V. I would like to sleep on a _, but even sleeping in a U would be ok. If I'm alone again tonight, I'm gonna throw my mattress on the floor and sleep on the floor.

Showered and had breakfast, and decided to drive the East Cape today. Pam tells me they've had others drive it in a day.

Headed downtown and browsed shops, then left about 10:00, headed east on SH2 to Opitiki, then north oh SH35, which essentially skirts the coast all around the cape. Stopped for pictures here and there. As I started heading down the east side of the cape, the rain came, and it got harder and harder the further south I went.

Stopped in Tolaga Bay and visited the historic Tolaga Bay Wharf, 660 metres long, the longest in the southern hemisphere. It's in a state of disrepair, you can walk on it, but watch your step.

Got to Gisborne about 3:45, pouring rain, visited the site of Captain Cook's first landing. Then walked around downtown, visited the visitor information office and used the internet. Yesterday, I had e-mailed my travel agent in Sydney (the one who shipped me off to NZ) to inquire about flights to Bali. She replied back, they have a special fare right now of $699 return for an open ticket (good for a year), but I'd haev to fly on Sept. 22, the only seats left are for that date. Perfect! Regular fare would be about $970, so I replied and asked her to book it for me. For those not sure, I'm going to meeting Kristin and Scott there, they are flying to Singapore on Sept. 17, then to Bali shortly thereafter. We'll spend about a month in Indonesia (dodging all those terrorist bombs), then back to Australia.

Went to Pizza Hut, which is right across the street from the Information Centre, and had their all you can eat pizza, pasta, salad and dessert for supper. Yum!

Left Gisborne about 5:50, headed back to Whakatane via SH2, which runs along a river gorge. Unfortunately, I couldn't see anything, as it was dark.

Arrived back in Whakatane shortly after 8:00. So, now I've seen it all! I've been to every corner of New Zealand! (Excepting the islands.)

When I got back to the hostel, Pam told me that White Island Tours called, they will call again tomorrow morning to let me know if they are going, it's to touchy to tell right now.

Pam and Hare live in and use the hostel just like everyone else. Quite frankly, I find it kind of uncomfortable having one (or both) of them there all the time. It feels totally like you're intruding, that you're living in some strangers house, and being the only one there, I felt a certain obligation to tell them where I was going and when I would be back, almost like a teenager living at home again! Ugh! And if you don't tell them, they'll ask!

Wrote in my journal, watched "Bad Girls" with Hare and Pam, then to bed about 10:30. Oh, and I did sleep on the floor tonight...

(Bad Girls isn't as bad as it may sound, it's a British show about a female prison...Pam and Hare watch it all the time, they know exactly what's happening, and when it's between seasons, Hare goes into withdrawal when he can't see new episodes!)