Posting by Barb:
We left Hick’s s Bay and stopped at a Maori church advertised as being the most decorated church in New Zealand. It was another marathon of tripod-camera pictures for Bill and Dennis as they focused their attention on the dark, intricate and elaborate wood carvings.I liked the simplicity of the individually sewn decorative pillows covering all the church pews in a myriad of colours, textures and personal themes. I spent some time outside taking some macro pictures of the butterflies, bees and flowers just outside the church. From there we made our way to Tokumaru Bay, a quiet deserted place that showed some vibrant, economic history in a distant past. Of course some of the old buildings needed to be photographed as well.
We drove through Gisborne where there was no room at the Inn due to the fact that they were hosting an all NZ school triathlon.
We drove all the way to Mahia and spent a night at a hotel on a beach where the wind howled all night.