Countries i will visit on my journey

Countries i will visit on my journey

Flags of all countries

Flags of all countries

Sunday 31 May 2015

On the northern Kiwi island

Auckand:
Arrived well in Auckland and had a warm welcome by my brother Simon and my father Ewald.
(Simon already spent almost a year in New Zealand doing landscaping and Ewald arrived 2 weeks earlier in New Zealand than me, enjoying his retirement...).
We spent a few days in the biggest city in New Zealand because we had to wait that our car gets the Warranty of fitness certificate you need to drive the car in NZ.


North coast:
We headed north first to the most northern point of New Zealand (Cape Reinga) where the Tasmanian ocean and the Pacific ocean meet each other (called the "Meeting of the oceans"). There we also went swimming in the ocean because the weather was very sunny and hot and we visited the memorial of the Rainbow warrior (sunken Greenpeace-flag-ship).

 

East coast:
On the east coast we visited the Coromandel peninsular, where you can find gigantic old gum-trees (Kauri-trees) and lots of hot springs and pools. Went also buddy-surfing one day in the ocean at a place called hot water beach. But the waves crashing to the shore were to high and strong. I almost broke my neck when a big wave pushed me down to the ground of the beach-shore... But it was great fun!! :-)
  

Central island:
When you are in New Zealand, a visit to one of the places where the Lord of the rings (or Hobbit) were filmed is a must. So we visited Hobbingen (where all the Hobbits are chillin...) alias Hobbiton somewhere in the center of the North Island.
It was pretty cool to walk to the whole areal, visit the Hobbit-holes, stand in front of Bilbo Baggins house and drink a cold beer at the "Green Dragon"... :-)

 
 
 


West coast:
On our way to the west coast we had very bad weather, but that made one of the most abandoned highways I have ever seen even more spectacular. We had to go over several passes, always watching out for broken twigs or whole trees and rocks lying on the street due to the bad weather...
We passed so much scenic landscapes where nobody lives, just nature that I stopped counting them. We simply felt like being in another world (maybe Middle-Earth? :-) ).
And that's why I think the name of this highway could not be better chosen by the Kiwis: "The forgotten world highway".  


Adventure outdoor activities 
We also did some adventurous outdoor activities. I tried the first time in my life the "Zorb". Which is an gigantic inflate able ball, filled with a little bit of water inside. You have to get inside the ball and then roll down a hill with high speed. While inside the ball you are shaken like crazy. Imagine the laundry in a washing machine, then you know what I mean... :-)
 
Another day we did "Black water rafting". Where you go down a river in a cave with an inflate able tube, a helmet and headlamps. Was pretty cool, as when you turn of the lamps in the cave, it was completely dark and you can see millions of glow-worms on the ceiling. Looked like the night sky full of stars on a clear night, pretty amazing!!
 
Hiking to a waterfall during very cold weather and pouring rain, with our swimsuits and flip-flops only or sliding down a crazy tunnel-water-slide in a bath in New Plymoth are just a few more to mention...


South coast:
The more we got to the south coast the better the weather got. When we reached finally Wellington it was pretty sunny and we could hike up Mt Victoria, where you have a nice view of this very cool city, the coast and surrounding hills and forests.
We also visited the WETA-cave, a workshop that is specialised for making figures, ropes and weapons for different fantasy film characters.
 Before we took the ferry to the South Island we hiked along the harbour of Wellington, watching people doing different outdoor activities like paddling, sailing, climbing, inline-skating or just relaxing... The possibilities of doing outdoor stuff in this city seems never ending!
Wellington was in my opinion the most relaxed and coolest city on the north island I have been.

Thursday 21 May 2015

Tahiti... a backpackers paradise?

Is Tahiti a backpackers paradise? I do not think so, because everything on Tahiti is expensive. The accommodations, the food, the tours and sights and there is barely no public transport system on the island except super expensive taxis.
The main city Papeete is very expensive as well, super busy and really no place to stay longer for a backpacker trying to save some money.

 After my first night on Tahiti I took the ferry to Moorea, which is the neighbour island and spent 4 days there. These island is much more nicer than Tahiti in all belongings. Stayed on a camp side next to a very beautiful beach. Beside the beaches there are rainforests, volcanoes, pineapple plantations and reefs to explore,...


Moorea is not that big, so I made a round-trip by a rented bike (~60km) in one day.
Except for the round trip I relaxed most of the time on the beach as I had four very stress full days on the Easter island to recover.
On the last day there was quite much wind, so I rented a Kite and did some Kite-surfing in the lagoons, which have cystal-clear and warm water but lots of corals. Slowly I got used to this relaxing way of life and started liking it, as it was already over and I had to catch my flight to New Zealand.

Before I left the Kite-beach of Moorea's west coast to catch the ferry to Papeete, I saw three very beautiful girls (holy sh..!! They must have been models!!) sunbathing on the beach, wearing nothing than their bikini-slips...
I stopped, took a deep breath and enjoyed the view for a moment while I was thinking: There is no better way to say goodbye to me, French Polynesia!! :-)


I think holidays on French Polynesia`s island can be very very nice if you have the money to spend. As I saw lots of very luxury good looking hotels and bungalows as well as cool activities to do. But it is definitely nothing for poor backpackers, trying to save money... Or was I just used to the cheaper life I lived in South America? ;-)