The drive up to Motu had been pre planned by Andy and Sally so that we might visit a Kiwi crèche and so after a leisurely breakfast we set our sails and headed North into the highlands. The drive was windy and beautiful taking about an hour through  some spectacular upland scenery. I am not sure you could call it mountainous but there were certainly some very high hills. The whole place is green and the countryside reeks of extinct volcanoes, small triangular peaks nestling beside each other, dotted with sheep or cattle, creating a picture that strikes a chord with the view of New Zealand we had when were at primary school.
I drove us up to Motu on the main north highway and we must have seen a total of about six cars in the whole hour. New Zealand is a joy to drive in and I have  to say I enjoyed driving.
At Motu, the cafe was shut, but as apart of our pre planning we had telephoned and Andy found the owner in her house. She was preparing the school dinners for the day and couldn't talk to us until these were out of the way. So we decided to drive a further five kilometres up a dirt road to go and look at Motu waterfalls.
The waterfalls were beautiful, a largish river in a narrow gorge dropping nine metres. It would have been more spectacular had there been a little more water in the river. It appears that Spring has been very dry here. The access to view the waterfalls was over a rickety suspension bridge about twenty metres above the river, the bridge moved so much that Sally had to persuade herself that she really wanted to cross.
Once across the bridge there was a section of u spoils New Zealand bush, which was worth seeing and Sally being something of a plant expert was able to name several species for us.
We the returned to Motu to the cafe where the owner opened up especially for us and made us coffee and a toasted cheese sandwich, normally the cafe is only open Friday Saturday and Sunday, so she made a special effort for us. Lunch over the owner then gave us a twenty minute talk on the habits of the Kiwi, which was very interesting before walking us about quarter of a mile to look at ten Kiwi crèche.
This little bird has so many predators that it is seriously under threat and suffers from the attentions of possums, stoats,rats, weasels and hedgehogs. All of these were species introduced to New Zealand by Europeans, so clearly we did Kiwis a great favour there.
The crèche is surrounded by a seven foot mental fence with a cat proof top, the fence is dug a metre into the ground and a metre out at ninety degrees to stop burrowing predators, the result is something like Guantanemo Bay prison without the guard towers and the searchlights. The door we entered by was a security type door with two doorways opening at ninety degree angles. We walked around the crèche which is full of native NZ plants and were impress d by the work the conservators have put in.
I had expected to see a Kiwi in a Kiwi Crèche but had of course forgotten entirely that these are nocturnal birds, so the nearest I came to a Kiwi was a stuffed one in the restaurant.
All of us agreed it was areal,y interesting trip and we made a contribution to Kiwi conservancy which made us feel all better.
The drive home was uneventful apart from a trip to the Sunshine brewery in Gisborne where we sampled ten beers an interesting experience and one that made us all laugh. I enjoyed three or four of the beers but the others in the party were not so keen.
We retired home for a pleasant meal and an early bedtime.