Day 56: Visiting a Horse Vet — Heading Outbound

Tuesday, January 24

Gail and I started the day by hiking up Mount Maunganui. We started before 7 so the morning light was beautiful, but it was hard to believe how many people were on the trail that early. There were people running and walking and there were school kids hiking it too. They're all on summer break.

As we got higher and higher up the Mount, it was possible to see the cruise ships and both sides of the peninsula that make up the town. It was beautiful!

After our morning hike we went back to Jo's and said goodbye to her at work. We stopped at a few more shops and then went to get Gail's horses for the vet appointment.

The vet appointment was so interesting! They had the cleanest stable with stalls for the horses that I've ever seen. Some vets and technicians came to look at Gail's horse and shaved around his leg so they could better see and feel the muscles and tendons. After the initial look they moved him to another section of the stable to use what looked like a mobile ultrasound machine to look at his leg. It was so fascinating to watch. He behaved the entire time and they thought he was going to be back to normal eventually. Great news!

We got sorbet bars to celebrate on our way back to Gail's home. When we arrived I started packing up everything for Taumarunui and booked a bus ticket from Otorohanga to Taumarunui so Gail wouldn't need to spend a few hours driving there and back tomorrow.

Carol, Junior, Gail and I had one last delicious dinner together and I got to watch one last episode of The Block. They're still working on their living room spaces. And then it was time for bed. It's been so nice sleeping in such a wonderful bed here!