Hi all, its Roy here 6/12/15 – 7/12/15
We weren’t expecting to write a blog every day, but as today was our last in the area and after having such a brill day thought it best to write about it now.

Well we have just spent the last couple of nights at Roz and Mikes place kiwi curio, who are hosts on Air B + B. They have a beautiful 2 bedroomed cottage in the grounds of their home. What a beauty it was too. I totally recommend it to everyone who is visiting the area.
Yesterday we had decided to take highway 35 from Gisbourne to Whakatane today, however we were invited into their home for “drinks after work” last night so thought “when in Rome……”, anyway it was then that they suggested we visit Tatapori on our way out. So after a leisurely lie in, and a grand breakfast of bacon and eggs (all provided by the hosts), we packed the car up and started the journey. I might add at this stage that there are not just two of us doing this trip, we now have Delorous with us, (that’s the name we’ve given to the lady talking to us from Google Maps). My how knowledgeable she is, and her American accent is something to listen very close to. She also has a second name – which is Miss Plumbton – as we call her this when she does not know her right from her left, and demands we go left, left, left and left again, meaning were back on the same road we started on! Anyway Delorous managed to guide us to Tatapouri, and informed us to pull into what looked liked someone’s driveway. What we found was an access to a beach area, very nice, very kiwi with very beautiful sea view. Yes we were in the right place but what we hadn’t worked out was that this place was somewhere where anyone can snorkel with live stingrays. WOW we were so exited. A few moments later Jake showed up carrying 2 wetsuits over his shoulder. He showed us to a Bach where we duly attempted to put the WET wetsuits on. Well I’m sooooooooooooo glad there weren’t any cameras around (or maybe there was and the footage is circulating facebook currently). It took us 10-15 minutes to work out the wetsuits were at least 10 sizes to small. There were legs, arms, butt cheeks (and everything else), pointing upwards when they certainly shouldn’t have been. After ages of side splitting hysterics, we managed to peel what was left of our dignity out of the wetsuits, went outside where Jake was superbly kitted out and had a look on his face which could have read “what the hell!”. He soon got us what he said were several sized bigger suits, so off we went again. This time we were fully attired, and looking like 2 beached whales.
We waded out to a certain spot in the ocean, and immediately were surrounded by 6 Kingfish, each around 2 feet long with beautiful colourful markings. Jake stated feeding these then came the stingrays. Again there were around half a dozen or so swimming right up to us. I always knew they were slender aquatic animals but didn’t realise they had a huge power of strength. They were very friendly and raising up our legs, right out of the water, what an experience. We then adorned our snorkels and masks and were soon swimming with them below the water. We had been told to keep our fingers away from the kingfish, but as i swam along one came right up to my mask and possibly saw the sun reflecting on my rings and as quick as a flash, bit my finger.
At one stage one of the stingrays actually bit my butt, (and i have scar to prove it), nippy little bugger, but all part of the experience i suppose.
On the whole a fantastic opportunity to get up close, (and i mean close) to stingrays in their natural environment.
Straight after “de-skinning” ourselves from the wetsuits, we then chose to take highway 2 through the Waioeka Gorge through to Whakatane. Again WOW what a journey that was, again, a truly wonderful experience. The sun shone all day long, the sky was a blazing blue colour, the flora were as many shades of green as you could imagine, and the river that runs through the gorge was stunning itself, the waters shimmering in the sunlight, with the occasional flash of white as the rapids picked up speed on the rocks.
We’re absolutely shattered, and were only on week 2 of the 18 month trip. Tonight we sit in our motel room, just had a takeaway, a bottle of baileys and the remote control for the TV not too far away. Total bliss after the day that was!