Today all the pickers from the Orchard had the day off work for Good Friday and we all decided to take a day trip together. F. picked me up from home early in the morning and took us to Irongate to pick up the Vanuatu boys. We had intended to squeeze everyone into the van but with the new backpackers we needed an extra car and I ended up going with the South Americans and the Irishman in their car.
Despite the weather starting to get a little cold, we all headed off to one of the local beaches – Ocean Beach. It was the first crowded beach I’ve been to in New Zealand, there would have been almost 20 people there! It was a bit cold and windy there which meant it wasn’t great for swimming but a couple of the boys decided to be heroes and go for a swim anyway.
A local was out on the beach with a sail kart, showing off his toy and swinging around corners with the kart on an angle that looked like it was about to tip. Of course the guys all thought it was awesome and the local even offered to let people have a try if they wanted. One of the South Americans had a turn and he had great fun racing around in circles on the beach.
On our way back we took a detour to stop at Mararetotara Waterfall. Just a short walk from where you park the car on the side of the road you pop out of the trees next to a waterfall which pours out of a shallow river down a 3-4 meter drop into a deep slow pool at the bottom. We all climbed up to the top of the waterfall and took turns jumping into the freezing cold water below. We went up for a second jump and I got tricked by one of the boys who said he was going to jump after me but just climbed back down after I jumped, CHEATER! It was a great day, but I think it might be the last outside swim I get this summer.
To finish our day we went up Te Mata peak – a local lookout that has views of all the coast of Hawkes Bay and over the townships. All of the boys were still in their swimming gear and F. was walking around the peak in his towel. We had fun, talked crap and took stupid pictures. One of the Vanuatu boys, A., had been so scared of the narrow windy little road coming up the mountain that he decided to walk back down and we picked him up halfway down on our way back. Not many mountains in Vanuatu I don’t think.
