In the morning we got on our way with CJ. The gas tank filled to a soothing level, we arrived at Cape Reinga after a little while. This is called New Zealand’s northernmost point, but actually is not the farthest point. That one lies a little to the east but is not as accessible, so we left it out…

In the north you find a sub-tropical climate, which really shows in nature. The area above Auckland differs substantially from the other North Island, in  landscape, climate and the sights you’ll find…

On our ‘way back’, we went over several beaches…

And suddenly you find yourself in the desert, when you visit the ‘Giant Sand Dunes’…

When the sun was almost gone, we said goodbye to CJ and went for the last long car ride. Destination: Auckland. There we wanted to hand over the car and go home by bus the next day.
We took a short rest in Kawakawa (Have I ever pointed out this multitude of different city names in New Zealand?) to marvel at the display of art of the famous artist ‘Hundertwasser’. See for yourself:

The late evening we arrived in Auckland. That is another world compared to the rest of New Zealand. From a city of millions you want to expect multilane streets and confuzzling traffic, but the hostel made for the biggest difference: It was CHOCKA! So we slept (in almost unbearable cold) inside a fully booked 6-bed room and were happy to be outside in the end. Our car we took to the rental station in the morning as it was closed the night before…
With all our stuff we went to the supermarket and went through Auckland to the bus station in the winterly Sunday morning.
Just outside of Taupo a traffic jam formed on the highway and so we had a longer break in this wonderful settlement. We used it for a picnic of reflection on a bench, looking out on the biggest lake of New Zealand.
The last of it all was a taxi ride home, as all connecting busses had left… Nevertheless I could answer all questions of ‘how the journey went’ like: Devastatingly wonderfully beautiful and a grand ol’ success! 🙂

On the last day we saw: Cape Reinga, beaches on the side of the road, the Giant Sand Dunes, Kawakawa and the Hunderwasser art on display and for the very end Auckland from within…

Bottom line: 3815 kilometres and about 4500 pictures (only by my camera). 🙂

I hope you had at least half of the fun we did, travelling with us via blog posts. 😉

In Paihia, we arrived in darkness once more and were only able to grasp all the splendour when it was morning… We put up a few destinations and soon stood in front of the first attraction, the Parrot Place in Kerikeri.
Yes, we saw many colourful and marvellous birds you could feed and let sit on your hands, which was a nice experience. Though all too soon Celine opened my eyes to a fact that didn’t get to me from the beginning: The cages were small and the birds didn’t look exactly happy… I made up for the admission shooting some more pictures, but this visit we didn’t book as a success. Thus, the pictures are not only to show their primary motive, but also make you aware and critical of the background in them.

Somewhat disillusioned we drove off to the Rainbow Falls. Though we couldn’t see a rainbow, but that could have been due to the position of the sun and clouds. Even so: Waterfall. 🙂

The next point on the agenda is, thinking back now, almost of magical beauty, as the place where the oldest buildings of New Zealand can be found is being cherished quite wondrously…

There are guided tours for both of the buildings, though we gapped those for today.

Our goal was to reach the far north and as we had booked no accomodation yet, our final destination was unknown. A roadtrip benefits from that, as anything is possible then…

On the peninsula Karikari we went down abandoned streets that led us to that gorgeous lonely beach in the end.

Part of our plan was to look at the sunset on the 90 Mile Beach in the west. It is not 90 miles long but 90 kilometres and is just an overly long beach in the end, which I hope the picture will show…

After a short stop on said beach we went on, as there is a rocky patch somewhere. As it was marked with a star and street name on our map and we followed it, just to look online for it and be taught a better lesson: That patch you can only reach driving down the beach. With a dodgy 2WD this wouldn’t be a good idea, as we don’t have any experience with the tide and possible hurldes of the beach.
In short: Turn around and go to the next access point to the beach. That one was that far back that the sun was almost gone when we got there.

Adding to that was the fact that our gas tank was virtually empty. Thus, we had to make our way to the next gas station using the pedal to the smallest extents. 65 kilometres with the gauge in the lowest position. We were relieved beyond measure, when the warning light (which existence we stopped believing in) lit up in the last quarter of the way…

In Kaitaia we just looked for a hostel and asked for accomodation on the spot. Contrary to the ratings on the internet, the place was all fine and here, again, our roommates were counting 0.
While taking our simple supper, CJ approached us. He is the American we quickly practiced card tricks, had a good talk, played table tennis until 1am with and agreed to take with us to Cape Reinga the next day…

A grand day: We saw the Parrot Place, the Rainbow Falls, the oldest buildings in New Zealand, incredible views on the side of the road (constantly), the Mangonui Fish Shop, the Karikari Peninsula, the 90 Mile Beach and the most beautiful gas station in all of New Zealand. 😀

The night before we drove through Coromandel in darkness, but in the morning we saw the peninsula in all of its glory. Not long did we stay at the hostel and went straight off to those famous beaches…
First stop was Hahei Beach. It is praised New Zealand’s most beautiful beach and does right by that award…

Though one of the most famous beaches is the on at the Cathedral Cove. Behold yourself the wonders of nature:

Many don’t fear this walk, as you are to be rewarded most handsomely:

We had quite a long way ahead of us, as the next stay in Paihia had been booked beforehand and thus, we spent more time of the day inside our car than on those stunning beaches. Well, some photo stops we couldn’t say No to. 😉

A little way south of Coromandel you find the birthplace of the national beverage of New Zealanders: Paeroa.
After a long search (online you find but little information about the exact location) we found the main attraction of the city: The great L&P bottle. L stands for Lemon and P for the city name, of course. That one, again, stands for the source of the water for the drink. To whom it may be of question: It tastes like Sprite, only a tad sweeter… 🙂

As the light said its last goodbye for that day, we still had some way ahead of us, as Paihia lies way north of Auckland…
A short halt at Subway, much music and a colourful palette of topics to talk about helped us get there in the end. This accomodation we had booked using an online voucher and happily made use of the attached bathroom, the own kitchenette and much space at our disposal… 🙂

We saw: Hahei Beach, Cathedral Cove, the L&P landmark in Paeroa, several beaches on the side of the road and the Auckland skyline at night.

We left our hostel in Te Kuiti under the blazing sun and decided to follow the nice weather, as it was going to grace New Plymouth that day.

We didn’t know more about New Plymouth than that it was a fine city with a view of Mount Taranaki, a vast and lonely mountain. An architectually impressive bridge a friend recommended, was on the menu, too.

We left the car by the sea and just walked down the promenade…

As we had booked the stay on the Coromandel Peninsula already, we spent the rest of the day driving. Of course we took many opportunities for photo stops, as you don’t pass that many nice areas every day…

This day was made by the stop by beautiful New Plymouth and the ride to Coromandel.
Having arrived there, we were greeted warmly and were surprised with the kitchen equipment, supplying us with all sorts of spices, cling wrap and decent cooking gear. No other hostel gave us such joy in that department… 🙂

This day was rainy. But that didn’t worry us, as we had a plan not involving activity beneath the sky.
More like beneath the ground. 😉

On our way to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves we (as planned) passed the famous landmark of Te Puke, the Kiwi360. 🙂 The rain gave us a benevolent pause of its doings for our photoshoot…

Having arrived in Waitomo, we booked tickets for the Black Water Rafting and the famous Waitomo Cave.
Those who still haven’t googled for Waitomo, please do that now or think of the first scenes of ‘Planet Earth: Caves’. 🙂
Inside these caves, you wouldn’t guess they exist looking from the outside, live those small larvae, who lure insects with their blueish torquoiseish light into their sticky silk strings and slowly pull them up and suck out their guts. Most cute, they are. 🙂

Unfortunately you can’t take decent pictures in there, plus it is forbidden, so there won’t be any of those in the following…
The tour around the cave involves, next to general information about it, some decent views of the ‘glowworms’ (which actually are none, just some larvae with a light in the butt) and a boat trip through the dark cave under the starry sky. So you float through darkness underneath thousands of light, which is unbelievably beautiful. A little surreal, though awsome!

The next part of our cave experience was the rafting. For both parts you pay quite some money, but you are compensated handsomely…
In a group of 12 we slipped into our wetsuits (they are not only called like that, they ARE already soaking wet), gumboots and torch helmets and went to a creek nearby by shuttle bus. Our guide showed us there how to use our means of transportation inside the cave, a rubber tube.
So it is winter, it is raining and you are inside a wet, though thick wetsuit. And now you jump into a river with a rubber tube, facing backwards. It began to dawn on me what was to come…

After that we went to the actual cave. After some entertaining instructions by our German guide, we slipped away into the ground…

My advise for you all: Leave the glasses if you can, as you cannot do anything about the fog on them. And go to the toilet beforehand, as only the sound of splashing water can introduce people to a raging need… 😉
We went, we waded and we swam on our tubes through the cave, which was pretty much flooded thanks to the rain and saw things and did things.
We saw those hungry light-up-larvae up close (I even dared to touch their sticks strings, which wasn’t as spectacular, BUT I did it.) and looked at bizarre stalactites and jumped down small waterfalls backwards multiple times. Wet to the bone we stepped outside in the end and faced the next challenge: Getting out of the wetsuit. 😀

Though the hot shower and even hotter soup next to bagels made us forget the struggle quite quickly…
Today I think back and can only say that the dreamlike memories are all true…
All exhausted we went back to our stay in Te Kuiti and rewarded ourselves with a healthy night’s sleep…

We saw: Kiwi360 in Te Puke, the Glowworm Caves and another cave from the very up closest…