Gisborne - Day 5

Today is our 5th day in Gisborne and so far so good.  Until yesterday the weather has been wonderful - sunny with temperatures in the upper 20s C.  But unusually for one of the sunniest places in New Zealand, we are now forecast to have rain every day for a week, which really sucks.  So here's hoping that the forecast is wrong. 

 

I have caught up on work, Marlene has caught up on the laundry, and we have found time for several beach walks, city walks & bush walks, and checked out a few local cafes.

 

Gisborne certainly does not have the cafe culture that we have seen in Wellington and Nelson, so we are not spoiled for choice, but two cafes of note are Verve and the cafe in Muir's bookshop, both on Gladstone Street.  While on the subject of food, the pies are great at Morrell's Artisan Bakery, as are the sausages from The Butchery.

 

Today was the weekly farmers' market, where we stocked up on bulk vegetables for the week, free range eggs and locally grown macadamia nuts it is hard to only eat a few. 

 

As the rain was holding off we headed a short distance out of the city and did two bush walks - Gray's Bush and Waihirere Domain, which are both short walks about 3 Km apart.

 

Gray's Bush is one of the largest remaining stands of Kahikatea trees on the Gisborne Plains.  These giants grow straight and tall up to 40 metres, making for a very high canopy in the forest.

 

Waihirere Domain is a pleasant 25 minute walk to a small waterfall, through a mixture of tree types, on a somewhat muddy (today) track.  

It was a peaceful place to eat our sandwiches and we saw nobody else during our time there.

 

We did see two things of note on our walks.  The first was the Rangiora tree, also known as the Bushman's friend, as its large leaves with soft furry underside come in handy if you don't have toilet paper.

 

The second was the native Fantail, a small bird named because of its large fan-like tail.  They are inquisitive, but skittish, making them difficult to photograph, so my apologies if the picture is not the best.

 

Having worked up an appetite we stopped at Verve for a coffee, where we read some of the notices posted on the wall.  One interesting newspaper article talked about why Gisborne is shrinking when it has (normally) great weather and great people, and the answer seems to be it's isolation (which I think is part of its charm). But the article pointed out that isolation breeds creativity (out of necessity).  It also pointed out that in New Zealand's first happiness survey, Gisborne ranked first in 4 of the 9 categories - most connected to the community, most active, most mindful, and the most women with high self-esteem.  So ladies, if you lack self-esteem, perhaps Gisborne is the place for you.