• chantal mueller
mars – juil. 2017

Einisch um d Wäut

Une aventure de 113 jours par chantal En savoir plus
  • Friends: best thing -Wiedersehen Nr. 6

    19 avril 2017, Australie ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Fabienne, Marc and I met at 10 for breakfast. Since it started to rain we ended having an extended one. That's the beauty of traveling like that, you have time. We took the ferry to Manly beach and walked to Shellybeach, had lunch at the Boathouse and went to the beach. At the beach we had an important photosession: We wanted one of those jumping pictures. Now you need to know that our day was already filled with silly jokes and a lot of laughs the whole time. So trying to take such a pictures takes a bit of synchronization and stuff. We failed completely: It ended with pictures where we would all jump. Just one after another. We just didn't manage to be in the air together. At some point Marc was just jumping non stop like a Roo. It was so funny. We entertained the whole beach since we heard giggles from the bench at the other end. We were even able to miss the ferry because of our very succesful project. That was not a problem, we started then Apero right away. No need to mention that helped a lot for our silliness. We had then diner in a Italian Restaurant. We wanted to pay and get rid of coins. Suddenly there were two different sizes of 50c coins on the table. I was very confused and asked the poor waitress if there are two different ones in Australia (I think the red wine was a bit involved in this rather stupid question). She looked at me like i was a bit gaga. It's then I realized that one was a coin from Fidji, where Fabienne and Marc had been. Oh we couldn't hold back, we laughed tears at that. After that the next project was in front of us: Finding the bar of Matt. Matt was my divebuddy in Thailand a year ago and lives in Sydney. He texted me that it was The Rocks. Being there no one had heard of that bar. We ended up in another one and met him finally. So actually the area where the bar is, is called the Rocks, but he forgot to tell me the name of the bar. Anyway, it was nice catching up with him. Tomorrow we meet at 8am for breakfast, that will be a short night since the day ended at 3am. It was a wonderful one every single second. Or as Campino would say: "An Tagen wie diese wünscht man sich Unendlichkeit."En savoir plus

  • Bondi Beach: not the best thing

    20 avril 2017, Australie ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Mir si auso fasch nid usem Näscht cho hütt Morge, hei üs no usem Bett Sprachnachrichte gschickt, so dass mr dr Tag scho mit viu Glächter agfange hei. Leider hetts nachem z'Mörgele gheisse Abschied näh. Es hett so gfägt, die zwe Täg mit dr Fabienne u em Marc ds verbringe, miechi gad um so! När hani mi gad e chle ume as elei sii müesse gwöhne. I bi zur Coogee Beach glüffe u vo dett ar Küste entlang bis zum berüehmte Bondi Beach. Auso dä Bondi Beach isch nüt spektakulärs. Sisch haut eifach e Sandstrand. Mit viu Lüt u Wäue. Ha auso weder es Foto gmacht no schüsch öppis. Mou, d'Graffitis bewunderet ar Wang vom Wäg hani u bi de ume retour id Stadt. Am Abe bini id Bar vom Matt. Ha Glück gha, sisch Livemusig glüffe u i ha mit zwene Mädels, womi unger iri Fittiche gno hei, flissig ds Tanzbei gschwunge.En savoir plus

  • Zooooo!

    21 avril 2017, Australie ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Today I tried for the second time to visit the zoo - and I succeeded! I was most interested in Australian animals and wasn't disappointed. I especially appreciated the nocturne enclosure and the Platypus. My new favorite animal after Manatees. Such an amazing creature.
    As I was walking I heard some sobbing coming from a path where only staff can go. The sobbing came from a little 5 year old boy, Lucas. I asked him what was wrong and he answered: "I lost my people." So I promised him to find them again. I also offered him a carrot (since I was eating one myself) and he declined because "I am not supposed to take food from strangers." Good boy, no? We chatted a bit and he calmed down. We finally found his people again thank to a wristband with a phone number on it and everyone was happy again.
    Now I will spend the evening with Brooke who is staying at the same flat and call in an early night because tomorrow there is a flight to catch for New Zealand!
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  • Wiedersehen Nr. 7

    23 avril 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Back in New Zealand! I spent 3 months here 5 years ago, I did an intership at the Hospital in New Plymouth and met a lot of wonderful people. So New Zealand had to be on my list since this whole around the world journey is about seeing friends again.
    Irit and her family live in Auckland and immigrated 6 years ago from Isreal. Irit had to confirm her diploma as a nurse in a 8 week course which she did at the same time and hospital I was back then, that's where we met. I had a very warm welcome back from her yesterday evening, a long catching up over cheese and wine and a lovely sunday morning including a swim session with her daughter.
    Auckland is very busy at the moment because of the Master's Games. More then 28'000 athletes from all over the world are here for all sorts of sports. A lady asked for the train station and from the accent I figured she had to be Swiss. Indeed, she is from Zurich, just finished her orienteering and wasn't very happy about her result. She told me that there are around 60 person representing Switzerland here. You have to be 35+ years old, only for swimming competition you can start at 25. I have no idea why.
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  • Palmy and Wiedersehen Nr. 8

    25 avril 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    One of the main reasons why to come back to New Zealand were Andrew and Yvonne. I did the internship with Andrew at Taranaki hospital in New Plymouth and got to know Yvonne She spent some days with me in Auckland before I left the first time. They got married in 2013 and I was invited, couldn't do the trip just for a wedding then. So I was so looking forward to seeing them again. I took the bus yesterday from Auckland to Palmy, a scenic journey throughout the Island, passing lake Taupo, the volcanos and finally arriving in Palmerston North. Andrew picked me up and Yvonne was home shortly after. Again, so lovely to meet them again.
    Today we woke up at 5:15 for the Anzac (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day. It's a day to remember those who served for those countries or lost their lives doing it. The date was the beginning of the battle of Gallipoli, Turkey, in 1915. The battle started before sunrise, that's why the service starts at dawn. After the service we had breakfast with friends of Andrew's and Yvonne's, played Settlers of Catan, went for lunch and for a walk and had another round of Settlers of Catan in the evening. So that was again a really nice day surrounded by wonderful people.
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  • Kapiti

    26 avril 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    What an adventure! I had to get up at 5 to drive to Paraparaumu. Driving means myself in Andrew's car, which he was so kind to lend me for this trip. I had some exercise the day before driving around Palmy with Andrew next to me. Being alone makes quite a difference even more if the car is manually. Well, I managed to get there without any problem and shortly after I was on a boat to Kapiti Island. Overnight guests were brought to a different beach then the day tour visitors. This was a bit delayed because of three guys. They were on their jetski the day before - and then they were not anymore, couldn't get on, so they swam onto the island, stayed the night there, lit a fire and went to the lodges in the morning. So that was a big thing since Kapiti is a Reserve and the idea of fire taking over is scary and they could accidentally introduced pests. So we were brought to the middle of the island where we could climb up a little hill. I did it with Frauke, a woman from Göttingen. Up there we saw nothing since there was mist from the ocean. That made it very magical and i liked it a lot. Later on we overnighters, a group of eight, were brought to our lodges. After a coffee I went to the Western lookout for sunset, it was stunning. Then we had some wine and nibbles, diner and some Kiwi-information from Manaakai, our guide. Shortly after that we started for a kiwi spotting night walk. Now let me introduce you to our group: There was Bird-Fan, 45-ish with his huge camera; a eldery couple around 70ish, he a typical Mr. know it all; an older woman, around 80 with her daughter and finally Misses and Mister Tipsy, having started already with apero right after we got to the cabin, she around 55ish he more 65ish. All very nice and lovely people, don't get me wrong and I enjoyed it heaps to spend this time with them. But that walk was just so hilarious I have to share it: So, to begin with, we should be as quiet as possible with minimum lighting to increase our chances to see those unique animals in the wild. You know the situation when people at a certain age just can't whisper anymore and just talk quite loudly? So that started right away between Mr. and Mrs. Tipsy. They were right behind me and it went on and on and on. I am sure all Kiwis were warned. Then when you are quiet you get to hear all sorts of sounds, heavy breathing (again, Mrs and Mr Tipsy) shuffling feet - also the ones your body produces, for example coming from Mr. Tipsy. Which was commented by Mrs. Tipsy with: "Well honey, that wasn't the call of a Kaka." Already at this point I thought, what a walk. But then there was another fart and Mr. Tipsy said that this time it wasn't him and so the eldery woman made her excuses. Oh dear. Some time later our guide had a look if there were still 8 of us. It was ment as a joke but actually only 6 of us were left. Mr. and Mrs. Tipsy had decided to go back. Without telling anyone. So our poor guide had a day which began with some stranded dudes on the beach, a fire and big worries about pests and ended with some missing person. So that was sorted out and the walk ended at some point. I was quite happy no one I knew was with me because I wouldn't have been able to keep myself from laughing the whole time. Oh and Kiwis? We haven't seen a single one 😊En savoir plus

  • Kapiti II

    27 avril 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Kapiti Island has a long history, being a tactical place for Maori for example. It has been a bird sanctuary already in the 1890ies. Then it was still a settlement for farmers with cows and sheep, many trees and bush chopped. Unfortunately with humans also pests are coming to an island. New Zealand was a mammal free country until the first Maori introduced rats. With 'white men' the situation got worse, many birds were extinct or on the verge of extinction because some of them can't really fly anymore and more important, their nests, eggs and chicken stay on ground. Very easy preys for rats, stoats and others. The possum, which is highly protected in Australia, is a pest in NZ. He eats heaps of indigene vegetation which also is a big problem. In the beginning of the 20th century they started to get rid of the mammals on the island. Cow and sheep are quite easy but with the others it's way more difficult. They killed 20'000 possums for example until 1980ies. The rats were the biggest challenge Getting rid of rats is a all-or-nothing thing. If one survives and is pregnant, you can start from all over again. In the 90ies they started a huge rat poisoning on the whole island. They had to protect one bird, the weka, since that one just eats everything and would have been at risk. No problem with the other birds. They were successful and in 1998 the Island was pest free. In 2010 a stoat was seen on the island. A huge stoat hunt was started and 3 animals were found and killed. How did they happen to be there in first place? Every person, unless you are struggeling with your jetski, is searched for anmials before entering the island. The distance to the mainland is 5km that none of these animal can swim this distance . What they think happened was that one female, pregnant stoat was on a piece of wood washed from a river into the sea by a storm and half by taxi, half by swimming she arrived on the island. They continued a intensive search for those animal for two years but haven't seen one since. Flora and fauna are coming back in large numbers and doing very well. It's actually where most of the brown spotted kiwi lives, 1200-1500 animals. Next week 32 birds will be caught and brought to other places on the mainland to establish new population or mix the genes with the ones already there. We got all those information from Manaakai, a young Maori whose family lives on the island. When the nature reserve was declared, his great-great-grandmother refused to leave the island so there is private property and that's were we slept in cabins. All in all a fascinating place, I would have loved to stay a bit longer.
    Those parokeet you see on the pictures are Kakas. Very curious and very intelligen. They open bags, steal food and do not believe you not having any. Beautiful little fellows. Unfortunately this is not natural behavior being that close to human that's why I tried to shush him away. Very unsuccessfully as you see...
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  • Welly

    28 avril 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    After showing Yvonne how to make cinnamon rolls we the night before we headed to Welly early on Saturday. They were inspecting their house. This is common in NZ to check every 3-4month your property and how the tenants are taking care of. After that we had lunch in a chinese restaurant à la yum cha. I never had it lime that: Waiter would pass with lot's of different food and you can take what you want. In the end you pay what you have eaten. Gäbig. And it was delicious. I wanted to see the exposition of Gallipoli in Wellington's museum Te Papa. This museum is free, you can spend ages in there and the exposition about this couple of month of New Zealanders in Gallipoli is just extraordinary. So if you happen to be in Welly before 2019, do not miss it. For diner we had malaisian food with one of the couple's friend, Pontus. He is Swedish, lives abroad already more then 12 years, married Carmen from Singapor last year. She is already back in her hometown, he will follow her end of June and their baby will be born in the beginning of August. So that was a very interesting evening.En savoir plus

  • Palmy

    28 avril 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    I had a night out with Yvonne and Andrew on thursday after coming back from Kapiti Island. We started having delicious pizza and then we went to a bar where there was a quiz night. I love them. I don't understand why we do not have them in Switzerland or I haven't got across one. They have been my backup plan in case being a doctor would not be my thing. I would start a quiz nights business back home. There are 8 categories with 10 questions in each. Sometimes it's riddles, sometimes general knowledge, it can b everything. We weren't exactly very good but we had heaps of fun (I might just open that business anyway).
    Today I finally bought new sunglasses and planed my next two weeks. I will rent a caravan and cruise on my own up the north island to Auckland. I am quite excited about that! But first I will spend the weekend with Yvonne and Andrew in Welly.
    En savoir plus

  • Me, myself and I - and Romeo

    30 avril 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ 🌬 10 °C

    The weather was supposed to be a bit better in the morning so we headed towards red rocks shortly after breakfast. As we were having a coffee on the terrace a woman pointed out dolphins! Again! I was so excited! We started the walk to those rocks where seals are living and almost the whole walk we had the dolphins swimming/jumping back and forth along the shore with us. Additionally the sun came out, we had stunning views and sharing this dolphin experience with Yvonne and Andrew was just great. That's actually the only downside of traveling alone, you can't really share those precious moments with someone.
    After burger the both of them dropped me at the renting place and after an hour, it was me, myself and I. And Romeo. I decided to call my van Romeo. The first stay was at Cape Palliser. The drive here was very lonesome after quitting Welly accompanied only by heavy rain and wind. Of course I passed the camping spot without seeing it, landed on a gravel road with some damage, on the right side a wall, on the left side the sea with waves splashing over. Puh. I had to drive through a small river and had to be careful not to kill a seal which were lying on the street. Not very comfortable, finally I could turn around and I found my spot. Now I had a improvised diner since it's just too much of a storm out there to open any doors and cook. Romeo is hopefully strong enough to get me safe through the night, he is shaking a bit but I think, I'll be fine!
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  • Castlepoint

    1 mai 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ 🌬 9 °C

    Oh that was a shaky night. I imagined Romeo and me sliding in the sea or a wave would drag us in the water, just two of those nice little scenarios that pop in your head when you're alone in a storm. Luckily I slept very well and woke up only once. So I think we're good now. Ready for our journey together. I headed to the lighthouse Nr. 1 after breakfast with the first of many rainbows. The gravel road from last night was not less scary to drive in daylight... There I met Tom, a English guy on holiday, he worked in summer up at Coromandel and is driving down to Wanaka for the winter ski season. We had a very interesting conversation about Brexit and co. so it was quite late when I left Cape Palliser. After a beautiful drive through green hills with those warm autumn colors I arrived in Castlepoint where the second lighthouse was. I checked in and went for a walk, again, incredible lighting and rainbows. And a 15min intense shower where I met a Katie and Mark with their four year old son Jago and their friend Dan. We had a nice chat and they invited me to their cottage for warming up since the temperature would drop to zero tonight. So after diner I took one of my last Swiss chocolate and got there. It was a night to remember with lot's of laughter, good conversation and me trying to teach them how to play Jass, a Swiss card game.En savoir plus

  • Somewhere

    2 mai 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    I had porridge with cinnamon and almonds for breakfast under blue sky with view of the lighthouse, perfect start in the day! It got even better since I met the guys of yesterday night again and I had a wonderful time with them climbing up and down dunes and enjoying the time. The ride here was a bit rough since almost 20km were on gravel road. That's what happens when you trust your gps. I decided to have my sleepover at Pongaroa, a place where there is not much to do but reading, letting the thoughts wandering around and making sure that the blog is up to date as soon as you are in a Wifi area again 😊En savoir plus

  • Dannevirke

    4 mai 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    The question yesterday morning was beach or wifi. Since it was so windy and the camp ground on sand right on the water, wifi, more civilization and the idea of a shower won. I decided to drive to Dannevirke, which was founded by Danish settlers. On my way I visited the Wahi falls. Again there were kilometers of gravel road, I really do not like them. The falls were nice, well, just water came down basically. That's what obviously waterfalls are. Should know that by now. So I arrived at the nice camp ground in Dannevirke and went to 'explore' the city. I headed to the information centre and chatted with the lovely lady who was 'born and bred here'. After I told her I've seen the falls she told me: 'Oh love, then you've seen it all.' So I decided to go for a swim and spent diner with a lovely couple, he from Britain and she German. We will soon have have breakfast together. And tonight, another quiz session is on in Palmy. Unfortunately Andrew and Yvonne can't join so I will just ask asylum in a team and bother everyone of them with my 'gefährlichen Halbwissen'. 😊En savoir plus

  • Playtime

    5 mai 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Being back in Palmy with Yvonne and Andrew was wonderful. We had diner in a vietnamese restaurant and then I headed to the pub by myself. I asked one of the guys who were organizing the quiz if he could find a team for me. Shortly after I was sitting on the table with Rob, British, Sheila from Simbabwe and Dianne, a local. We, I mean they made 77/90 points, the three were very smart. I was happy that at least one point went on my account in knowing where the anterior cruciate ligament was.
    I had planned to make my way up to Taranaki on Friday but stayed with Andrew and Yvonne since I have no idea when we will see each other again after my time in New Zealand and I enjoy it so much spending time with them. So for the evening a Catan-session with Lizzy and Dan was quickly set up and I baked two cake in the afternoon after lunch with Yvonne at her university campus: A glutenfree one for Lizzy and a cheesecake baked in a ricecooker. That was yummy and the evening even better.
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  • Mt. Taranaki, worlds prettiest volcano

    6 mai 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Andrew and Yvonne had planned a visit at a friends in Taranaki and i wanted to head to New Plymouth anyway so we did the journey together. I was looking forward visiting this place again, I had such a good time there five years ago and I just love this volcano which seems just being dropped there and forgotten. While driving we could see it in all its beauty with some snow on the top. In the Maori saying the volcanos were fighting over a female volcano and only one won so the others, as Taranaki, had to go as far away as possible from them. Poor volcano.
    I checked in at the Fitzroy holiday park. The beach there is known to be a very good surf spot. I walked all the way at the coast to rock Paritutu. The view is still beautiful as it was a couple of years ago. Mt. Taranaki was hidden behind clouds, but not this evening on my walk on the black sand beach during sunset. And i met a Saint Bernard. Big drooling dog of 70kg.
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  • Sunday (I need names for titles)

    8 mai 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Today I will head off to Hawke's Bay where Darran lives, looking forward seeing him again! Yesterday I spent the last day with Yvonne and Andrew, starting with a delicious breakfast at 'le petit Paris', owned by French and it was newly opened five years ago. Talia, Yvonnes best friend, Chris and their three month old daughter Arabelle were there, too. We had a walk in the surroundings of New Plymouth and then it was time to say au revoir to my two awesome friends, which made those days in New Zealand unforgettable. It's always a sad thing to say goodbye but at least with a goodbye, there is a hello again to come. I hope they will manage visit me in Europe. Otherwise I just have to fly back to New Zealand.
    On my way home i met Bob, a 66 year old. He was sitting in a wheelchair, we started to chat and had a long conversation. He had an accident 6 years ago and is incompletely paralized at Th12. He told me how he managed to deal with his handicap and I was very impressed. He told me that when he was in Rehab, there was a sign in the dining room which said: 'Don't let the thing you can't do stop you from the things you can do." He hated this quote from Ronald Reagan, he was so angry at this time but at the same time it became a bit his way of seeing life. It's all about compromising. He doesn't have problems anymore but challenges. And to the question if the glass is half full or half empty, he says, maybe the glass is just too small. What a wonderful man.
    In the evening Andrew (another one) cooked diner for me because he looked at my soup the evening before and said, he wouldn't feed that to his dog. I said then that I am better in making dessert, so then we had a deal. He cooked diner and we had mousse au chocolat for dessert. Charline, a french girl, joined and we had a wonderful evening.
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  • Wiedersehen Nr. 9

    9 mai 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    The journey to Havelock North was scenic and with little traffic only. When I arrived I decided to have another swim after this 5.5h drive. I landed in the Ocean Spa, where you can swim in a 25m pool outside. It was beautiful with the stars and the moon coming out as it was getting dark. In the changing room I saw this girl again who was so fast so I told her that I was pretty impressed. Turns out she was part of the NZ-swimteam until last year. Her parents emigrated from the Netherlands 20 year ago. Her cousin lives in Switzerland and is married to Claudia, a nurse with whom I worked in Zweisimmen with! How small can the world be!
    After that I drove to Darran's house. He is a doctor aswell, met him in New Plymouth five years ago. I had a wonderful welcome and a lovely diner with him and his partner Bevan.
    Today I walked to Cap Kidnapper. I had to start early because of tides since the walk is only possible when low tide. It is a nesting point for gannets and some of them where still there before heading to warmer places in winter. On my way I met a Maori couple which went free diving. They caught some big crayfishes, Paua and Kina, a sea urchin and I could taste the last one. You can eat it raw in just opening it. The Maori eat everything, he gave me just the orange thing to eat. It has a spongy, glibbery texture, tastes at the same time a bit sweet, salty and milky. I think I like it.
    Now I will take a shower and go for a coffee with Lara, the swimmer, looking forward to that.
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  • Te Mata

    10 mai 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Lara picked me up at 11 after having breakfast with Darran this morning. He and Bevan are so kind and I enjoy spending time with them.
    So Lara and me went to the Te Mata Park, had a wonderful walk up there, a gorgeous view and a tasty coffee with brownie at a lovely café. In between, before and after a lot of girls talk. Of course. What else. It was wonderful. I notice that I use this word a lot. Anyway, now I am looking forward to another evening with Darran and Bevan before heading north tomorrowEn savoir plus

  • Hamilton

    11 mai 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Two days of heavy rain for the whole country were announced. I decided to drive to Hamilton instead and leave the Coromandel for my next visit. After breakfast and goodbye hugs from Darran and Bevan, me and Romeo were ready to go. I love cruising around, driving through unknown landscape, listening to music, doing whatever i want (within the laws of course). This short road trip really gave me a new feeling of freedom. Very cool. Music plays a big role in the whole thing. Nothing better then to sing along loudly and badly with silly songs. There is a radio station called 'The Breeze' which offers the perfect mix: From Lambada to Britney Spears you should expect everything. You think there can't be a worse one? Don't worry, the Breeze will prove you wrong. There are advertisements, too, of course. For example Vodafone has one where they pretend to fulfill the different needs in different life situation. It says if you have a girlfriend you need more minutes because girlfriends want calls from you all the time and if you don't have a girlfriend, you need more data for dating sites. Aha. Makes perfectly sense.
    I arrived at the holiday park and decided to go to the cinema. When I bought the ticket I asked if it was crowded because there was no seat number on the ticket. Turned out it was a private movie session for me. I watched Handsome devil, an Irish movie, funny, heartwarming with a good message and a happy end. Exactly what I needed. Later on I found a pub with another quiz night on and the guys that 'adopted' me were not only very cool but also very smart. They won! It was a wonderful evening and I will miss those nights out. I can't believe that my time in New Zealand is soon coming to an end and that the next destination will be Tahiti. Tahiti! And #borabora! Finally!
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  • Auckland und Wiedersehen Nr. 10

    13 mai 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    I had a lazy day on Friday with a long sleep under the rain and soaked windows in and outside with everything a bit moist. I went for a swim in Hamilton and had a nice evening with Marie-Sophie and Sylvain from Lyon. We will meet again for a coffee at the airport on Monday, they heading to New Caledonia and me to French Polynesia. Have I mentioned that I am really excited about going to Tahiti! Tahiti! And #borabora!!! Yes? Ok, sorry 😊
    The last night in Romeo was over quickly and I headed for Auckland. I gave it back, a bit sad but also grateful that I haven't hurt/crashed/bumped/destroyed either Romeo nor me. I will spend my two last nights at Esther's. She is an O&G doctor and again, it was really nice to see her again and meet her fiancé Jeremy. Tomorrow I will spend the sunday morning with Irit and Mayaan for a swim and coffee; and climbing up Mt. Eden.
    And funny thing, I will fly to Papeete on Monday and arrive there on Sunday again which makes me spending two times a night from 14th to 15th of May in 2017. I will tell you which night was better. I know already which one will be warmer.
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  • See you again, New Zealand

    14 mai 2017, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    My last day (at least for this time) in New Zealand was again, really, really good. After the swim we went to Irit's favorite café. Her daughter is delightful. I asked her how her swimming lessons was and she answered: 'It was reasonable.' She also recommended me some youtube channel to watch. So young and already so cool. And very smart. I promised her that we will see eachother again. Either they will visit me or I have to come back. I went on a walk up to Mt. Eden and had a gorgeous view over Auckland. With a glass of wine and a nice chat with Esther and Jeremy I went for the first sunday nights sleep.
    New Zealand was a bit like coming home with all the friends could visit. That's what I think life is about. Spending time with friends, with those people who are good for you.
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  • Sunday Night reloaded

    14 mai 2017, Polynésie française ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Tahiti! I chas chuum gloube. Hocke aktuell uf dr Terrasse, sisch schön warm, ha e tolle Blick uf d Stadt Papeete u paar Carameltäfeli zum z'Nacht. Nid ganz dr ideau Ässensplan für hütt Abe, abr das muess länge bis morn. Ha im Flugzüg tatsächlech guet gässe u scho Bekanntschaft gmacht: Am Mittwuch Abe bini bi mire Sitznachbarin zum z'Nacht iglade. Mega cool. Si isch vo hie u hett e Franzos ghürate. Aso e europäische Franzos.
    Tina isch mi de vom Flughafe cho abhole, mega lustigi Frou, hett mr scho ganz vili Tipps gä. Morn gahni mitem Scooter ga d Insle erkundige. Mau luege, wie ig u dr Scooter ds schlagchäme, muess ja ume uf dr angere Site fahre. Iz, woni mi dra gwöhnt ha, dasi sogar bim Schwümme elei uf dr Bahn dr Linksverchehr beachtet ha.
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  • Moorea

    16 mai 2017, Polynésie française ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Sunday night me and my hungry state were rescued by Teui, my host, and a pizza. Monday morning I woke up very early. The days lasts around 12h with the sun out from 6 to 6. For me as a morning person this is perfect. I had to get on the scooter to get food since my room is on a hill. I've never driven a scooter before. Teui showed me how it worked. I think he was a bit worried by my driving skills (mängisch bini ächt e depp) but I made it into town. I went on the market first to buy some fruits and had a coffee and une galette de poissons for breakfast. I didn't really know what to do next even more because there were some threatening grey clouds coming in. I decided to get some information about diving and drove to the Intercontinental, where the dive company is. I bought ten dives, so I can also dive at some places when I am on my cruise. They figured out that I needed a refresher and could not do that on Wednesday while diving with the sharks. So they ask me if I wanted to do it now? As in half an hour? Yup. I was all in, literally. So I had a nice wreck dive with two ships and a plane and lot's of fishes. I am way more interested in living things. So I am very looking forward for the dives to come. The water temperature is 28 degree. I was nevertheless freezing when I got out of the water at 3:30h, no wonder with no food in me. I was so hungry I could have eaten a whole buffet. I restricted myself to two chocolate éclairs right away.
    The last picture is from the place I am at the very moment, enjoying a fresh pineapple juice after a first bath at Temae beach and watching the fishes. The beauty of this island can't be put in words. It's right as it is in the catalogue, just better because I am actually there. Tina recommended to take the first ferry at 6:30 which I did. With the scooter. So now I am driving around the island grinning like a fool because it's just marvelous.
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  • Requin!

    18 mai 2017, South Pacific Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Après avoir bu mon jus j'ai pris la route des ananas pour aller à un endroit avec le nom bel'vedere. Alors la vue, c'était magnifique. L'île Moorea a la forme d'un coeur (avec un peu de phantésie) et cette place et au milieu du coeur plus au moins. J'y suis restée qu'une heure et j'ai pris plein de touristes en photo qui eux, partaient déjà après quelques minutes. Ensuite j'ai continué de faire le tour de l'île et je me suis arrêté à une plage où je me suis baigné et j'ai vu mon premier black tip reef shark. Très belle bête.
    En embarquant le matin j'ai parlé avec Maoi qui travaille pour la ferry. Je ne savais pas trop comment ça marche alors il m'a aidé. Au retour j'ai revu un couple allemend déjà d'un certain age, ils étaient les deuzieme dans la queue pour rentrer dans le bateau. Un moment donné le mec me demande si c'est bien pour le ferry blanc. Ben non, alors on a tous du se deplacer pour faire sortir le couple de la filée. Ce qui fait que j'ai du avancer mon scooter où je je devais pas et en ce moment la beatau arrive et j'etends une voie connue qui crie: "Non, p'tite suisse, ne va pas là!" Haha, au moins tous savait d'où j'étais. Aujourd'hui j'ai fait une plongée avec des requins. Alors en fait c'était une plongée ou ils allaient nourrir les bêtes. Je ne vais pas discuter si cela est bien ou non, car j'étais déjà sur le bateau quand j'ai vraiment réaliser. Patricia nous a donné des consignes a respecter pour ne pas se faire bouffer: Les têtes de thon seront liberés d'une cage et les requins vont venir les bouffer. Ils y aura un peu la foule. Alors faut rester calme, les bras au corps. Si un requin d'aprroche regarde lui dans les yeux. Ne le quitte pas des yeux car autrement il va croire que tu es peutêtre son petit dessert. Bon, ben happy dive, right? C'était impréssionant, je n'ai pas eu peur. Il y avait des dizianes de requins, de reef sharks, de gris, des citrons et surtout, le incroyablement joli et gros requin tigre.
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  • La vie est belle

    19 mai 2017, Polynésie française ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    The last two days were just wonderful: Wednesday I dived with Sébastien and Jean-Pierre, two Air France pilots and with Patricia, all French. We decided to meet again in the evening for Apéro and the show of the Marquase at the Intercontinental. So I went home, had a nap and a long walk with the host's dog before cruising to the hotel again. The show was impressive, you have to imagine a bit the Maori haka and that's how the men there 'dance'. Very raw and very masculine. We went to a Roulotte for diner, those are trucks along the street where you can eat almost everything. We had some grilled fish, it was delicious. On my way home I accidentally landed on the R5. This street is my new gravel road. It's some sort of a highway and scooter are not allowed. It is not well indicated or maybe I am a bit slow but well, I managed to get off the next exit without a fine. Yesterday we went diving at the source, a site where fresh water comes out of the ground. Very cool. Visibility wasn't good but we saw lot's of turtles. After the dive me and Sébastien went to Papeete to buy pearls. There are different qualities and if you've seen the better ones, you do not want the others. They are beautiful. We had some raw fish with coconut milk for lunch, a local specialty, very tasty. After a successful pearl hunt we went to the Merdien, it's where Air France pilots get to stay. Not bad, I can tell you. We went kayaking in the lagoon under the sun, corals and turquoise water around us, it couldn't be better. Jean-Pierre joined for diner and I cruised home on my scooter - and was worried to land again on this R5. It's not that easy in the dark without street lights when you don't really know the way. So I stopped twice to ask how I can avoid it. The people here are incredibly friendly so I finally managed to get home without any wrong turns.En savoir plus