Day Ten - January 11 - Westport to Lake Mahinapua

I started off the morning getting picked up by Buller Adventures for a solo morning horse trek. The rest of the bus went off to see the seal colony at Cape Foulwind, while I got to ride on a little sorrel Standardbred gelding named Joey, through some farmland and a creek on a sunny NZ morning.

I got a personal tour from Lisa, one of the owners of Buller Adventures. She has working on farms around Westport her entire life, and she told me a little bit about how the dairies in that area run. The farm she works at calves from August to November, then artificially inseminates all the cows from December to January. Bulls are released with the cows after AI'ing until the end of February.

Most of the cows in the area were either Jerseys or Fresians (Holsteins) and are rotational grazed in paddocks. The dairies are probably around 350-400 cows on average, and most dairies have rotary parlours. I was almost more excited to hear about the agriculture industry in the area than I was to be on a horse, riding through the stunning scenery.

After the ride, I was dropped off at the Kiwi Ex bus and we were off to our next stop: Punakaiki National Park along the coast, to see the famous pancake rocks and blow holes. Honestly, this entire tour around the pancake rocks felt like it was off of a postcard, and I can't even describe how beautiful it was. Pictures don't do it justice either.   Anyways, at around 1 pm, we got to see the high tide come in to burst through the blow holes, sending huge sprays of ocean water over the pancake rocks. I don't even know how to explain how neat it was.

After Punakaiki, we made it to our destination for the night - the Mahinapua Hotel (aka Poo Pub). The Mahinapua Pub is famous for having the oldest barkeeper in NZ. His name is Les, he is 87 years old, and he seemed like a complete beauty! He served us up a glorious meal or steak, potatoes and salads, and we enjoyed a few pitchers of beer in his pub after supper. The pub walls are covered in polaroids of past Kiwi Ex groups that have stayed at the pub, and the roof is covered in hats, and different mementos from past guests (including a few bras and pairs of gitch, haha). The pub has been doing exclusive Kiwi Experience functions almost every night for many years. Some of the pictures on the walls date back to the late nineties.  We dressed up that night for a "P" party - all the costumes had to begin with the letter P. Morgan and I were paper bag princesses, Judith was a Polynesian and Jackie was a party animal (quite fitting, I may add. Ha). It was a great night!