Hi Everyone

Hope you all had a fantastic Xmas.

Friday was an early start, pick up was from the Burger King - but what no-one realised was that the burger king had actually moved premises the week before so we were stood at the new one and they were waiting for us at the old one! opps! Eventually we found our big green busand headed to Tatapouri near Gisbourne. On the way we stoped off at the Hinehopu tree to place an offering and wish for good weather as it was cold and rainning. It must of worked because a few hours later the sun was shinning We stayed at a place on the beach front next to a big hill which we decided to walk up and see the view. Even Pedro walked up - our really unfit driver guide (ledgend!) The sky was now blue and the views were fantastic! we spent our boxing day night sat around a log fire toasting marshmellows and having a few drinks on the edge of the beach.

Saturday we loaded up the bus and went down to the reef to feed wild sting rays- it took a while because a huge local king fish kept eating all the bait we were throwing in. The Stingrays were massive and they were swimming all around our feet they were really dosile and ate the bait right out of our hands. We jumped back on to the bus and headed to Rangitukia where we stayed at Eastenders Farm. In the afternoon we went horse riding for a few hours, we rode up through the forest where we saw some great views and then down onto the beach where we ran along the waters edge - it was really good fun.

Yesterday we were up at 5:00am we went and got on our horses and rode to the top of the hill to watch the sun rise. We also went for another run along the beach before heading back at 7:30 for breakfast. After leaving the farm we went to a small town called Te Araroa and climbed up steps up to the light house, the most easterly one in the world. After this we crused on down to Te Kaha and the Homestead Lodge. The place was really pretty with a nice little beach, we were told we could watch the sun set, sat in a hot tub with wine, however the owners didn't bother to fill it upand as there wasn't anything else to do we were really bored for the whole evening.

This morning we had a lie in before heading back to Taupo, which took most of the day. We stopped off at Whakatane and Rotorua on the way back. Back in Taupo in the evening we went out for a few drinks with some friends.

Loved the East Coast it was fantastic!

Hope you all have a good night on Wednesday - Happy New Year to you all!

Love us x x