The scenic route....

 We had a district meeting in Wairoa on Tuesday.

Wairoa is a town about an hour south of us.  

The road was closed due to some mud slides, so we took a back road through the mountains.  

As we left Gisborne, we could see snow in the mountains.

Snow is RARE on this part of the island.

It has been very cold this week! It rained for three days straight!

Above is a picture we took as we left Gisborne....

 When we got up a little higher, we hit the snow!

We also saw our first signs of spring...some blossoms, and some baby lambs!

I am so mad that I didn't get a picture of the lambs! They were so cute!!

The snow on the ferns and palm trees just looked strange!!

 As we got a little closer to Wairoa, the snow had melted.

The whole trip was absolutely beautiful!

It's so green and lush even in the middle of winter!

 On our way home, we took another little scenic trip to another town in our stake, Mahia.

Mahia is in between Wairoa and Gisborne on the coast to the south. 

I loved the scene above....cattle grazing right on the beach!

They live in paradise, and they don't even appreciate it!

 Just another picture of a farm right on the coast.

You can barely see the silver barns by the beach...

We think this is the Bishop's farm, but we aren't sure.....

 We just had to stop to snap a picture of the cows on the horizon above the sea....

just a common thing here...but so awesome for us!!

 One of the MANY water falls!!

There are water falls everywhere! Another treat for us!

These people just don't understand how lucky they are!

Cattle ranching would be sooooo easy over here!!

 The east coast by the town of Mahia...

They say this town is hopping in the summer, 

but it was like a ghost town when we drove through it.

It's always fun when we get the chance to take a little scenic tour along our travels...

We try to take a different route every time we travel, so we can see more of the country.

Believe it or not, we actually saw a place today, that was kind of ugly!

I didn't think ugly even existed in New Zealand! 

It's always enlightening to see a beautiful coastal community with beach houses...

But their beach houses aren't quite the same as they are back home....

it's refreshing to see old shacks, & trailers overlooking the most beautiful beach you've ever seen!

As trashy as it may seem,

It's nice to know there are still places like this in the world.