BONNE FETE CLAUDINE!!

A big HELLO and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my childhood friend who I've been trying to reach all day without success!! J'ai pense a toi aujourd'hui en allant faire de la rando! J'ai bien hate de te voir cet ete!!
A bientot et passe une belle journee de fete!!

La laine des moutons...

Ok, I didn't do it myself (which is STILL one of my New zealand goals!) but it was still very impressive to see someone elso do it! Here's a few photso of that very unimpressed sheep getting sheared...
p.s... Pour ceux et celles qui ont grandi avec Passe-Partout... je dois vous avouer que j'ai encore la chanson des moutons dans la tete!!

A little thought for my friends in Omaio...

About a month ago, while I was riding through the East Cape, I stopped in front of a marae (meeting house for maori people) and I could hear some music coming out of it. I stood outside on the road listenning to the music (thinking it was a CD!) when a woman standing at the door waved me to come in! I was so happy (and honored!) as the marae is a very spiritual and special place for maoris and they rarely let people (tourists) in other than in the touristy places where they have "marae tours"... a bit fake! Anyways, I was so surprised to find out that the music I could hear was actually live and sang by 40 people practicing for a big National competition for what they call the "Kapa Haka". A Kapa Haka performance is practised by 40 people in rows (20 men in the back and 20 women in the front) and "involves choral singing, dance and movements associated with the hand-to-hand combat practices by Maoris". It is very impressive to watch and also quite freaky when the men do their parts! It is basically a dance that they used to do before going to war to get them "pumped" to fight! Anyways, I thought I'd share this experience with you and at the same time send them a little thought as the big competition is this weekend! I also found out later on that the team that I had seen practice was the champion team from last year!! Good Luck again this year!!
Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures (I would have felt very rude!) and I tried to get some from the internet...but can't figure out how! So if you are curious, go to www.flickr.com and type kapa haka in the "search for photos" section! Have fun!

Still in search of the skateboarding cow...

First in the world to see the sunrise!

Here's the first sunrise of February 6, 2007! The East Cape of New Zealand is one of the first place in the world to see the sunrise, which is why it is such a popular place for tourists to come and spend New Year's! I was lucky to have a nice one that day!

Horseback riding dream!

After leaving Maraehako Bay, I headed over to the other side of the East Cape to a place called Rangitukia. There, I found a nice little hostel located on a ranch where I was welcomed by a bunch of (rather scary looking) pigs! After having a nice sleep, I woke up to the worst weather ever! Crazy insane winds and pouring rain... so I decided to spend the day there and take a day off from my bike! Early afternoon, the weather cleared up so we (me and 4
other girls) decided to take a horse ride on the property... when I say property, I mean oceanfront with nice ridgeline on the mountain above the sea... not bad for a horseback ride! We even got to let the horses go completely nuts and ride full speed in the surf on the beach... just like in the movies! (sorry, no photos of this one... I was going way too fast!)

Maraehako Bay Retreat

After leaving Opotiki, I bike for 2 days to get to this place

called "Maraehako Bay Retreat"... Mareahako means "a gathering place for good people" in the maori language (which is why I HAD to stay there!). I wasn't planning on spending five days there but it was such a cool place and they had a really good package deal... 5 days for 500$, including food (fresh seafood everyday!), accomodation, guided kayaking trip, possum hunting (haha!), guided maori culture walk, guided nature/medicine walk with visit of an old pa site (old maori village from 300 years ago), eel hunting and a day of fishing... I figured it was money well spent! Not to mention that the place was owned by a maori family (quite interesting people!) and that the best homemade ice cream in the world was just up the road! So instead of explaining all of the above activities, here's a few photos that will better show what those 5 days were like!

Ok, it is a real nightmare to try to organize photos on here! So if you want to see more photos, click on "Gen's photos" on the right! And I apologize for the look of this post! I give up trying to make it look nice!!

Return to civilization!

I made it! I finished my trip around the East Cape without any problem! After being warned many times about the East Cape and it's people (maoris), all I have to say is that so far, the nicest people I have met in New Zealand were maoris! They were all very welcoming and helpful and I recommend this little trip off the beaten path to anyone coming here! The only thing about the East Cape is that there is no internet! So for those who thought that I was having too much fun (which I was) to write, or that I had been abducted by sheeps, you were wrong! I just didn't have access to computers! I am presently uploading photos on my smugmug and it's taking FOREVER!!! You would think they would have figured out the high speed internet by now but no! So I will split my last two weeks of cool experiences into different blogs... I just don't know where to start!