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  • Day 499

    The coldest water in the world!

    June 30, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Turns out Gisborne isn't that exciting. We had a brief look around a farmers market and the city centre before deciding to head out into the country side to see some waterfalls. We drove down a very picturesque road through farmland all the way to Rere Falls. It was a much longer drive than we expected but it was definitely worth it. On route we passed some calves on the road and a couple of cows as well. We couldn't find anyone around nor where they had come from so tried to ring the council to report it but couldn't get signal. We decided if they were still there on the way back we'd call up when we were back nearer town. We've seen many signs with numbers to call about wandering stock and every council seems to have a number for this issue. The waterfall wasn't very tall but what it lacked in height it made up for in width and power. You can actually walk behind the waterfall but we didn't fancy getting wet so early on in the day. Our next stop was further up Rere river at a more sloped waterfall. This one is renowned as a natural water slide because the water has smoothed off the rocks. Many people come here and body board down it and we've even heard of people going down on blow up mattresses. On Campermate many people on reviews said there were often body boards left to be used but unfortunately there were none there when we went. A group of students were there filming some kind of video so we just had a walk around the area to look around before trying to decide if we wanted to actually give this a go. I really really wanted to do it, Nick wasn't so sure but eventually decided to try. We had lunch and got changed into costumes and extra layers before deciding our yoga mat is the only usable thing we have to act as a body board. When the children had left and we had it to ourselves we headed down. Because I was the most keen I was up first and with Nick at the bottom ready to take a video I edged my way across the top of the slippery slope. My golly gosh was it freezing, like blisteringly cold freezing. I had to just bend over and tense up at one point because it was so cold on my feet. I persevered and made it to the left hand side which looked much smoother. Only then did I notice the rocks have quite large dips in them. I climbed down the side of the water and saw they were very deep and I felt our little yoga mat wouldn't skim over them but would nose dive into them sending me flying. I tried to edge out onto the slope below the most major of the dips still clinging onto the green mat but the water was so powerful that it was spraying off my foot halfway up my body. I couldn't do it I determined and after ten minutes of inching all around the place we called it a day and headed back to the van to get warm feet. Socks felt so amazing on my freshly swollen feet! On our way back the cows and calves were still on the road so as soon as I got signal I called up to let the council know. We decided to drive down to Napier which is at the other end of Hawkes Bay. It was a good few of hours of driving and I had a little nap on route but we did share the driving. We arrived in Napier at about 6pm and managed to get a spot at the second freedom camping spot we visited. We are right by the ocean so we get to fall asleep to the sound of the waves tonight.Read more