Sunday, November 14, 2004

Horse Trekking and the Surf

The big event for Saturday was a horseback ride. After we finished posting at the internet terminal near our campsite and got all packed up, it was already almost noon. Kerrie called ahead and made sure there was space, and it turns out that was probably unecessary because we were the only two people the guide took out! We arrived a bit early, and she got us saddled up and we rode out within 10 minutes.

The ride was very peaceful. The guide went first, then me, and then Kerrie. The guide wasn't very talkative, and since I didn't feel like trying to pull conversation out of her and Kerrie was behind us, we mostly rode in silence and just enjoyed the scenery. The whole ride was about two hours round trip, and took us up about 900 feet to a hill overlooking farmland and the water beyond. It was a gray day and misty so visibility was down and it wasn't very photogenic, but it was still an outstanding view. The farm had hundreds of sheep, and Kerrie was positively smitten. She said she probably would have to skip eating lamb for the whole trip.

Afterwards, we drove South to the other noteworthy stop for the day, a place called Cathedral Cove, where the rocks have been carved into arches by the surf. We had hoped to do a half-day kayak trip but when we called they said that the weather was expected to be bad for the next few days so they weren't going to take out any groups. We came by anyway to look at what we could see from shore, and the scenery was spectacular. Both of us were enthralled at a spot called Gemstone Bay which is a little hike off the side from the main trail. It was a stony beach (rocks varried in size from baseball-sized to 10 feet across) and the tide was coming in. We just sat and watched it for a while. Kerrie said she never wanted to leave, so I had to promise that we'd come back if we didn't see anything in New Zealand that enthralled her as much. The picture below doesn't do the bay justice.

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