Curly and Shiny go their separate ways

'I would like to go horse riding' said Curly when we were planning our visit last October. 
'I wouldn't!' said Shiny in his usual grumpy fashion, 'I would like to canoe down a river'. 
'Well maybe we could do both' said Curly. 

And that is what they decided to do ladies and gentlemen.

It must be 30 plus years since Curly last sat on a horse. The recent models seem to be somewhat more difficult to mount and dismount and don't seem quite as comfy as I remember them - although trotting, cantering and the basic methods of control have remained the same.

My mount was a beautiful mare called Jess (thankfully a name pronounced more or less the same in NZ and UK English ) a chestnut aged 17 and about 15hh. She was beautifully behaved, responsive to instruction and not fussy about her position in the trek of 5 horses as long as she wasn't last. She had great fun seemingly washing a mouthful of grass in a trough at lunchtime but not actually drinking. 

An extra hour meant we could reach a summit of a local mountain with stunning views and despite a slow very hot walk up, the horses all enjoyed a canter on the grassy flower meadow at the summit.

Throughout the trek we were accompanied by huge dragonflies and often stunning scenery - including glimpses of a fast flowing, turquoise river far below.

As it turned out, this was Shiny's river...

Shiny had donned a natty wetsuit and was canoeing down the river (with a guide).

It was indeed a fast flowing river in a deep limestone gorge. Think of Dovedale on steroids. The NZ river was more twisty, with ferns and sub tropical vegetation, kingfishers and swallows, no roads or paths and no people apart from two canoeists. Apparently there are eels in the river, some as much as 2 metres in length and thicker than a mans thigh.

The river was at least twice the width and many times deeper than the river Dove in Derbyshire. It was mostly well behaved, but with occasional bumpy bits that helped to quicken the pulse. I wouldn't want you to think it was white water canoeing - it wasn't, but a delightful way to see a beautiful river. We canoed downstream. It was impossible to paddle against the current. 

When Curly and Shiny reunited after their separate adventures they drove to the delightful coastal town of Napier - a seaside resort on the Pacific east coast of NZ. 

Napier is one of the Art Deco capitals of the world, much of it having been rebuilt in that style after it was flattened by a 7.8 earthquake in 1931. Many of the buildings, especially those in the town centre, are very beautiful.

We found yet another Dutch expat, this time running an excellent Indonesian restaurant. We decided to eat there as it was rated number 1 in Napier by TripAdvisor.

Our meal (rijsttafel) was excellent and we were able to ask for our bill in Dutch.