Not Such A Relaxing Cruise Then Ay

Now I've been horse trekking before, I went twice with my parents when they came to visit me in Cairns and from what I remember they're a leisurely wander along with the horses nose-to-tail, breaking into an orderly trot if you fancied it but with the horse pretty much in complete control of what's happening. Nice, easy, nothing to worry about, right?

Right...?

Clearly I'd never been trekking on the east cape of NZ before, Reg who runs the horse trekking at Rangitukia has very different ideas, he "breaks all the rules of commercial horse trekking," there would be no nose-to-tail meandering, you would be in control of the horse and not the other way around and you were free to wander where ever you wanted at whatever pace you felt like.

I waved goodbye to my comfort zone and jumped onto my horse, Avante.

You get a really good trek for your money. Paul, one of our group, owns a horse back in Scotland and is very comfortable on horseback so him and Reg went galloping up the beach while the rest of us tried to work out where the Go Button was on our animal. I managed to get mine into something resembling a trot before I decided my arse couldn't take that kind of bouncing and slowed it back down to a pleasant meandering pace. We trekked through the fields to the beach then across a river and up to a hill where we chilled for a bit before heading back down to the backpackers. If you only do one horse trek in NZ, do this one.

Once we were loaded back onto the bus we were driven to the nearby Tikitiki historic church where we were taken inside and Renz told us a bit about the carvings and what they mean. Maori carvings are pretty grotesque because they believe if you create someones true likeness then their soul will be trapped in that likeness forever. Not good when you believe in life after death. She told us that the protruding tongue in a carving means something different according to which way it points. Straight down means the person was a straight talker, you can believe what they say. If the tongue is split the person was a liar and if it pokes to either side then you can't always believe what they say. If there's a shiny eye thing in the centre of the tongue Renz said it meant that that person was a great storyteller and could "paint picture with their words."
Before the missionaries rocked up the carvings were pretty much the written language of the Maori people but Christians being Christians and not open to new thoughts and ideas decided that they were worshipping false gods and banned the carvings. They also gave them a written language made out of letters and stuff. The art nearly died but for a fella who took a group of young people and made them into master carvers, these days every Marae will have a carved meeting house.

Totally East As

After a bit more driving and a quick stop to take a photo of the world's most easterly lighthouse we made it to Te Kaha, our last stop of the trip before we would be taken back to Rotorua or Taupo. It's a stunning place. We were taken out in a 6 person waka (canoe) to a beach for a snorkel before we headed back for a feed. We were meant to have written a song to sing at this stop but we'd discovered the hot tub by this time and after probably the most amazing sunset I've ever seen me, Chris, Gemma and Paul settled into the tub with a box of wine and remained there for the ensuing five hours until we resembled drunken prunes.

So much for my relaxing little cruise around the East Cape. The top half of me ached from rock sliding and the bottom half of me ached from horse trekking and my head ached from all the cask wine, I wanted another 4 day bus ride to recover from it, preferably somewhere flat with not much to do apart from knit and play bridge.

Nah, I jest, I recommend this trip to anyone, I really do and Te Kaha with its stunning sunsets, good hospitality and hot tub right next to the ocean is a perfect end to an awesome trip.

written by

Koala Bear on March 4, 2009 from Te Kaha, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Tiny Little NZ Road Trip

tagged RoadTrip, LovinIt, NorthIsland and EastAs

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