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  • NüfNüfNüfNüf Go RoundPodróżnik

    Nelson

    25 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Our hostel in Picton looked like a (quoting the owner here) “third world train station“ on the outside and like a Greek painting on the inside. Everything also had an underlying marine theme. The owner even spoke a marine jargon that might have been popular 150 years ago, but she was so committed and seemed to genuinely have a great time being in charge of a hostel. What a kind lady! Since the website for the hostel said there would be free parking on the premises and we couldn‘t find it, we parked in a 60 minute free parking zone, went inside (past midnight!) and asked her. She responded: “Fear not, your chariot may stay there, it shall not be taken!“ She went on to mention that the government didn‘t have the capacity to pay anyone to check on people illegally extending their stay on limited parking spaces. Cool. After a glass of wine and a great conversation with Dan (a reflected, insightful guy from Israel), I went to bed at around 3am. I almost felt refreshed after 5 hours of sleep!
    Before we left the hostel, we collected Andrew, who wanted to hitchhike to Nelson. Since we were going in the same direction, and miraculously were able to fit him plus his luggage into my car, we let him join our quirky gang. (That also meant he wasn‘t able to make use of the little cardboard that the owner of the hostel had made for him so lovingly!) While we were tetrissing our luggage to make some room in the car, we saw an elegantly dressed parking warden scribbling a ticket for the car in front of us. What a great coincidence that we happened to be at the car at just the right moment to avoid getting her autograph… Andrew told us about a case of an overnight stay that cost the two cars they had 400 NZD each. Yikes…
    Before we arrived at Nelson, we had a pit stop at a beautiful river along the road, Rai River. We tried skipping stones and Maddie went for a swim. (No one can say she doesn‘t use every single opportunity for a wee dip, and no matter how cold the water is, she always says: “The water is lovely!“ (Only sometimes with a slightly higher voice than at other times…)
    When we arrived at Nelson (a truly cute town), my need for sushi prevailed, so we enjoyed a truly reasonably priced meal. Just next door, there was a 5 star rated coffee place that had the BEST iced matcha milkshake I‘ve ever had! I‘m still really happy about that.     Czytaj więcej

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    Jumperama - Wellington

    24 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    We drove on to Wellington and Maddie tried to book a ferry during the car ride. The only available slot was 8.30 pm with a duration of 3.5h - ETA around midnight. That meant we had almost 3.5 hours to kill until then and how extraordinarily convenient that I had very recently looked into trampoline parks in Wellington and knew what to do for a fairly reasonable price. I love trampolines! It‘s a fantastic workout, during which - if you wanna believe my watch - I burned 500+ cals in about an hour. And Maddie was so kind as to teach me the forward flip which I actually pulled off in about 30 min! My question is this: How did I learn something like this in less than an hour that 12 years of P.E. failed to teach me? (Not sure if I‘m in the mood to accept some of the responsibility here. :D)
    We were even able to enjoy a nice shower in the Jumperama and then hurried to grab an ice-cream (apple crumble/custard flavour: best ice-cream here so far!) to make it just in time to board the ferry to Picton, on the South Island.     Czytaj więcej

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    The Putangirua Pinnacles

    24 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Today we visited another location featured on LotR: The Putangirua Pinnacles. Maybe it was shown in the 3rd film where some kind of army of the dead is risen. I obviously know all about it. I was a nice hike with great weather. These Pinnacles are quite impressive! Deceptively tall. The hike back led us through an almost dry, but incredibly rocky riverbed. Another one of those occasions that reminded me that I should wear different shoes with a little more grip. ^^
    Since we still felt the thrill of discovering the Paūa Shells the previous day, we tried again on Whangaimoana Beach, but apart from finding amazing jade rocks (I wish I had my sandpaper with me to make them shiny and pretty (my precious!)), we didn’t have any luck with the shells in question.     Czytaj więcej

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    Castlepoint

    23 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Castlepoint was such a cool place that we spent most of our day there, hiking. That place basically consists of compressed seashells (very sharp and pointy) and from a geological perspective absolutely fascinating! But first my question to the audience: Who was it? (Picture 5 (and, btw, not at all the only one I‘ve seen here.)) :D Please come forward in the comment section. :D
    Castlepoint is another one of those places that had hiking trails that were closed down due to risk of landslides or unsecured, riskier paths. Take a guess what we did? Yep. We went for the view. I take it as a good sign, btw, that whenever there‘s a steep slope and I decide to go down in a reverse crawl, Maddie looks back and nods approvingly. As she often puts it: “You can either choose to go down on your butt, or the mountain will bring you to your butt.“
    When we were wandering around the beach, I suddenly saw two inconspicuous little objects that might have looked like rocks to most people. It was the only ones there, nothing of its kind anywhere else to be found around there: Paūa Shells. Aren‘t they pretty?
    BTW, the 14th pic shows what I assume to be the aforementioned "sea lice"; tiny nasty jellyfish that sting you. At least those won't anymore. :)     Czytaj więcej

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    Maraetotara Falls

    22 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    This gem of a waterfall was conveniently on the way to Pahiatua (just had to look up where I am online because it really is a blur!). Just a 5 minute walk and the reward was: about 25 Germans going for a swim there in a group. Maddie said I‘m not allowed to complain because apparently I was doing the exact same thing. But… something, something? Czytaj więcej

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    1

    Napier

    22 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Yesterday night, Maddie came to me and told me that something really bad had just happened and not to freak out. She put something into my hand that looked like my car keys. Or rather, half of them. The other half was stuck inside of the driver‘s door. Instead of getting some sleep, we were now meeting new people via telephone. A very nice locksmith who said that he doesn‘t do cars anymore but he would consider it if we had no luck getting hold of someone else. We kept calling him throughout and he called us to check and make sure we weren‘t stranded on our campsite. Luckily, we were able to reach a lady, who, we decided, wouldn‘t have to drive the 40 min to our campsite at night, but in the morning. And so she did. Very quick and efficient and now I‘m the proud owner of 2 new keys! (I had only been given one when I got the car and had meant to have another one made as soon as I had a little time for that. In a manner of speaking, this morning, I had that time…). While insurance has promised to cover “up to half the bill“, let‘s wait and see if they shall.
    After the car issue had been settled, we felt relieved enough to go for a swim in the ocean. The waves broke very close to the shore and were quite forceful. When I decided to get out of the water, a wave kindly felt obliged to give me a lift and washed me ashore with about the same amount of grace as a dead seal would have had in that situation. I‘ve still got sand everywhere. ^^
    We got ready to drive to Napier to explore the art deco capital of the world. On the side of the road, there was a lovely shop with fresh fruit and veggies! We went shopping there for a bit and, among other things, got peacherines (cross between peaches and nectarines) and a cross between a peacherine with a peach. 75 % peach and 25 % nectarine. I wanna know who came up with that and why. :D
    There was a beautiful waterfall in the Centennial Park! We almost thought we couldn‘t get in there because there was a wedding going on. Must be awesome photos with that kind of nature in the background.
    (The second to last picture shows a few major wine capitals in the world.)     Czytaj więcej

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    Waipatiki Beach

    21 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Our last night in Taupo was behind us and we embarked on our journey further south, near Napier. We found a scenic lookout point we could hike to on the road to our campsite. If only I remembered where it was... The road was closed for vehicles as large chunks of the road had broken off. It was such a cute hidden gem we stumbled upon to enjoy a little snack. There were a surprising amount of blackberry bushes! We seized the day and foraged. :) There was also a surprising amount of sandflies. They seized the day and foraged, too. :(
    Nasty buggers.
    As soon as we arrived at our campsite, it started to rain a lot! With the first rays of sunshine about 2 hours later, a vibrant rainbow came out and lasted surprisingly long. As if to make up for the bad weather, we got the best view of the Milky Way yet!     Czytaj więcej

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    Taranaki Falls

    20 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    My hike to Taranaki Falls offered a lot of scenic variety: hills, forests, streams, fields and quite a few smaller waterfalls along the way. Annoyingly, there was a fair amount of tourists there as well and about 75% of them were German. Not the travel experience I was hoping for. Though I always get a kick out of being mistaken for an Australian.

    In the late afternoon, when we were both back at Lake Taupo, we admired the calm lake and just had to practise our kayaking skills again. Well, Maddie did. I already mastered the craft. But who was I to say no to a little fun?     Czytaj więcej

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    Gollum‘s Pool - Tawhai Falls

    20 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    While Maddie was conquering the Tongariro Crossing (a 20km hike up on volcanic landscapes), I went to see two waterfalls instead (my 9km cannot compete with 20km, of course). I really wanted to do the Crossing as well, but I lacked the necessary gear like a rainproof jacket and a few layers of clothing not made of cotton, to keep you warm up there. I considered buying it, but I didn‘t feel ready for a +400$ investment just yet. Luckily, the Tongariro National Park has more to offer, like Tawhai Falls (otherwise known as Gollum’s Pool, which featured in the second LotR film). Czytaj więcej

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    Craters of the Moon

    19 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    My first jog of the new year (I know it’s late to say this towards the end of February, but it’s better than December ^^) along the shore of Lake Taupo - at least a fraction of it. And what better way of cooling down than going for a swim directly afterwards in what felt like cold-plunge worthy, 10 degree cold water - but it was probably a fair deal warmer than that. Though it does get cold at night.
    The main attraction of the day would be a trip to Craters of the Moon - a geothermally active area near Taupo. In all fairness, the so-called Craters of the Moon looked like a successfully terraformed version of the actual moon - surprisingly green despite signs saying that not a lot would grow there. I beg to differ. The steam coming from the vents made our pants uncomfortably hot, funny enough.
    In other news, my arduous search for some matcha powder here in NZ was finally crowned with success. Then I drove us back swiftly to a) enjoy my matcha-vanilla ice-cream smoothie and b) to let Maddie make me a fresh batch of shortbread as a dessert for yesterday‘s lasagna.     Czytaj więcej

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    Lake Rotopounamu

    18 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    It was time for another hike! Rotopounamu is about 20 min away from Lake Taupo (properly pronounced as “toepaw“ as I’ve been told) and a 2h hike around a crater lake, surrounded by a lovely forest with spectacularly growing trees (see for yourself, though it really depends on what kind of growth patterns tickle your fancy), and most importantly, a lot of moss. Moss is awesome. We found a tree that was steaming in the sunlight after it had been raining for a while. It was tough to capture it on camera (Attempted with pic n°5 - The fuzzy areas on the left and right of the tree may give you a hint of the steam we saw rising from it. For a better effect I might suggest taking off your glasses. If you’re not normally wearing glasses, find some and put them on.)
    After a few days of rain and wind, the sky slowly cleared up in the late afternoon. Really slowly. That excited us because we wanted to stargaze at Lake Taupo after a delicious dinner that Maddie cooked upon my request (lasagna). The sunset tried its best to be spectacular. I gave it a solid C+. We enjoyed a bit of sparkling wine before we wanted to go stargazing. I was so excited at the prospect of seeing the Milky Way that I neglected to use the ideal exposure time. ^^
    The night sky was impressive but not better than what we had seen at campsites before. We identified the possible culprit that was hiding behind obscure clouds: The moon. We probably won’t get the chance to see the Milky Way as long as that little dickens is lurking about.     Czytaj więcej

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    Huka Falls

    17 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Equipped with some dry clothes (Maddie and I) Elizabeth drove us around Taupo for some more sightseeing. Apparently, there‘s a dam (Aratiatia Rapids) which let‘s water out a few times a day, so the riverbed beneath the dam suddenly gets flooded (having dried up a fair bit since the last flooding). Due to maintenance, however, it was continuously flooded - so we hurried there for nothing. The view was - as almost always here in NZ - worth it. We also went to Huka Falls and after that, to a cute honey shop where you could have a little honey tasting and try a few alcoholic beverages, most of them with honey. I started off with a gin with honey and sheep’s milk (odd combination, eh?) with a solid 42% but a surprisingly spicy, yet gentle taste. The mead I had after that with a mere 12% tasted like honey water in comparison. I couldn‘t leave without trying at least one of the many Irish creams they had there, the one with honey. Yum! I was certainly glad I didn‘t have to drive. :D Czytaj więcej

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    Kayaking - Lake Taupo

    17 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    An early morning to make use of the calm lake and head out with the boat to circle the island. At least we made it a quarter of the way. Then it got too choppy. Shame, really, but you can‘t control the weather. Yet.
    Instead, we went out with the kayak. Maddie has a decent amount of experience under her belt, I don’t really (apart from that one time 15 years ago). So, after a short introduction to the basics of kayaking, I paddled away. I truly regret not having taken up kayaking when I was younger. That was such fun! Maddie and I had a little race to a buoy - which I won, so I‘m using this victory as a reliable measure to roughly calculate that I would have won the Olympics some time ago.     Czytaj więcej

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    Mt. Ruapehu

    16 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    A 2.5 hour drive later, we arrived at Lake Taupo where we were kindly invited to stay with Colin and Elizabeth who both made us feel incredibly welcome. Elizabeth was our tour guide for the day and let us see the Tongariro National Park Visitor Centre with a geological display (if you like rocks (and I do), check it out if you happen to be in the area). We drove on to Mt. Ruapehu - a desolate, rocky ski area (not so much of that going on in the summer, but there‘s also rock climbing). In spite of the barren terrain, it was cool to look at all of that rock. Oh yeah, we couldn‘t actually see the mountain because the clouds were hanging too low… Czytaj więcej

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    National Kiwi Hatchery Rotorua

    16 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    I kept insisting long enough and convinced Maddie that a trip to the Kiwi Hatchery in Rotorua was a grand idea. I mean, baby kiwis! What‘s not to love? Unfortunately, we weren‘t allowed to take pictures of any live animals. Only the stuffed ones. Enjoy.
    Our tour guide in training was a bit thrown off when he asked us what we knew about kiwis and I said, “They‘re pretty tasty.“ (Cheap joke, I know. :D) At least I followed it up by mentioning they‘re nocturnal. We learned about kiwi eggs being taken from the wilderness (because there they only have a 5% chance of survival) and brought to the hatchery (95% chance of survival). We saw eggs in the incubator and two newly hatched kiwis (Adorable! They even fit in my car! What? Nothing…). Also, there was a baby kiwi feeding in progress which we got to watch. Kiwis usually eat live insects but the hatchery doesn‘t have enough access to provide the kiwis with proper food, so they try to wiggle a special mixture of food purée in front of the little birdies. In our case, that didn‘t work. They just opened its beak and stuffed it in there. Put a cookie in front of me and it basically flies into my mouth. Kinda like what happens if you get too close to a black hole. The cookie gets spaghettified. But I digress.
    While I enjoyed looking at stuff in the gift store, I unfortunately didn‘t have access to my spare 1000 dollars (must have left them in my other pants), so I only got a tasty steak and cheese pie for brunch. That alone was expensive enough. ^^     Czytaj więcej

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    White Water Rafting 2 - Tutea Falls

    15 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    We wanted to do do something physical, enjoy nature and see the Okere Falls. So, White Water Rafting it was. This time, however, in comparison to Bali, the difficulty was a solid 5 out of 5. Tutea falls in the Kaituna River is - apparently - the highest commercially rafted waterfall worldwide with a difficulty grading of 5 out of 5. Had I known that little fact beforehand - I*m not sure I would have done it. Ok, maybe I would have. All I knew was that there was gonna be a 7m waterfall drop almost completely straight down. There was quite the extensive instruction about how strong the waterfall is in that spot, how to be careful, what to do if it goes wrong (in case the raft tilts over, stay beneath it in the air pockets for oxygen until it is turned over again. In case you fall out, get rid of your paddle, curl up and “go to your happy place“…). I will admit to being slightly worried, but honestly, I thought it would be much worse. I mean, I‘ve browsed through the pictures we were sent and I look decent in about 3 out of 77, in the other pictures - let‘s put it this way - my survival instinct was going haywire and it didn‘t know at the time that I could have relaxed a bit more. :D The other people in the boat (apart from Maddie and I and, of course, the instructor) were 4 men who are in a band together. Not sure if their genre was rock or some kind of metal (they certainly look the part), but they definitely had a cool vibe and great personalities.
    Rafting was a ton of fun - though the experience in Bali had more of a social component to it - whereas this one was more of a physical challenge (as my face wasn‘t shy of showing although I really wish it would have…).
    As for the pictures, the last two show the 7 meter drop waterfall. There‘s a tiny bit of paddle peeking through the white of the water on the last pic. Our raft was completely submerged for a bit.

    After the rafting we hiked, explored the river from dry land and we even discovered some caves around there. Another contrast to the experience in Bali was the lack of pollution here. So far, this applies to all of New Zealand. I thoroughly enjoy how they handle this around here.

    In the late evening, upon arriving at our new campsite next to Rotorua Lake, we tried to waterproof our tent by covering it with our newly acquired tarp. The campsite, though, was mainly gravel with a thin layer of grass on top, so all the pegs we tried to put in not only got badly bent, but also we didn‘t have nearly enough pegs to secure the tarp. Our plan was: Maddie makes dinner and I head to The Warehouse to get a few pegs. I only had 20 minutes until the shop would close and a 15 minute drive. I drove off with a terrible sense of geolocation and a navigation system on my phone that spontaneously decided not to be able to connect to GPS. I swore a decent amount. It was dark, I only had a rough idea of the general direction - but somehow I did make it to The Warehouse. I got the pegs and went back. At least I tried. This time I got lost on a deserted road in the darkness, no one else around to ask for direction. I think at this point I tried yelling at Google Maps. But that only encouraged its pouting. I figured, I‘d simply try all of the directions of the roundabout where I went wrong until something looked familiar. Luckily, the first choice was the correct one and I arrived back at the camptsite only 15 minutes later than my original ETA. I feel like I shouldn‘t have. But I made it. :D
    With a bit of pent up aggression, I jammed the pegs into the ground. I really tried. But even these sturdier ones got bent and wouldn’t go in. We had a second idea: The two pegs that had actually made it in were supposed to hold the tarp on one side and the other side would be secured by my car’s doors. I loved the simultaneously unconventional but efficient nature of that idea. Credit where credit is due, it was Maddie‘s. Only problem: Way too loud! It was extraordinarily windy! So we took down the tarp and settled for duct-taping all the seams in the hopes of it keeping the rain out. Spoiler alert: apparently it did (it also didn‘t rain too much after that…).     Czytaj więcej

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    Redwood Forest

    14 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Next stop: Redwood Forest. A quick hike (for free (of course there‘s a paid option)) let us enjoy a bit of green for 3.5 km. I would have loved to stay there longer, but we had also booked a session in the Polynesian Springs - a spa with both acidic and alkaline pools with lots of minerals from the geothermal vents nearby. The pools have a range of about 38°C to 41°C. Turns out, it was way too hot for me. While I tried almost all of the pools, it wasn‘t only the heat that wasn‘t for me, but also the water felt incredibly heavy - like I was getting squashed by it. While I fled after a few minutes, Maddie certainly experienced the advertised positive impacts on her body and mind of the waters there. Though I had a similar experience after a glass of rosé later on. Czytaj więcej

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    Kuirau Park

    14 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    We left our last Coromandel campsite (Opoutere) rather late in the day. It was such a cool, relaxed location and with the people there it almost felt like a hostel. We met two very kind German girls and a Dutch girl - it was a shame to leave after only one night and not to get to do anything together. There was also an elderly woman wo seemed to be travelling on her own - maybe she was in her 70s. Wow, she had such a great vibe about her. Chatty, easy-going, active and just camping all over NZ. She was so positive and humorous in her overall demeanour. I would be lucky to be in such a great spirit when I reach that age.

    We left for Rotorua in the late afternoon and arrived at our new lake-side campsite. The rain throughout the night and a wet tent (inside and outside) didn‘t exactly help with getting a good night‘s sleep. But the ducks I saw in the morning kinda made up for it. I had a little photoshoot with one of them. She really was a natural in front of the camera. I wanted to keep it but Maddie said no. :(
    With our semi-dry stuff in the boot, we set off for Kuirau Park in Rotorua - a park with geothermal activity. This seems to be a good time to mention that in most parts of Rotorua, your olfactory senses are treated to varying degrees of the refreshing smell of rotten eggs.
    We met a really nice lady from Sydney in the park and chatted away for a bit and kept on admiring the steaming pools of acidic water.     Czytaj więcej

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    Hot Water Beach

    12 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Back to Hot Water Beach! This time not for surfing, but the activity the beach is famous for: digging your own spa. The hot water from the underground hot springs that bubbles up when you dig your hole can get incredibly hot - apparently up to 64°C, but it felt a lot hotter at times. The best time to dig is when it’s two hours either side of the low tide. When we arrived, a lot of people were already there, waiting. And then the digging commenced. Funny enough, because it got so hot - too hot in some pools, people couldn‘t actually make full use of their pools but did they leave them behind? Absolutely not. People seemed quite protective of their own work. ^^ We had brought two tiny shovels (you can always rent a shovel for 10 bucks) and shovelled away. What a nice workout. My arms were still hurting from trying to get up from the surfboard the previous day. ^^
    After a little sandy spa time, we jumped into the ocean (strong current!!) to cool off. I swear, I put on a lot of sunscreen. Still got a bit of a sunburn… I think Maddie got it a wee bit worse. The midday sun is rather unforgiving, even with SPF 50 everywhere. At least - so far - no sunstroke symptoms (admittedly, in comparison to last time, this one is mild).     Czytaj więcej

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    Cathedral Cove

    12 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Fun fact: Our tent is NOT waterproof. The fabric itself is waterproof. But someone thought they‘d have to cheap out on the zipper areas when designing the tent and make them let in all the water. We rolled out toilet paper to cover the edges of the tent, slept in the middle of it and we were hoping for the best. Luckily, it soon stopped raining. We should probably get another tarp.

    The early birds within made us rise at 5am after a late night to hike to Cathedral Cove in time for the sunrise there. A hike we managed in about 1 hour instead of 1.5+ hours it was supposed to take. The track we used was officially closed - danger of landslides. Taking a safe route with my travel companion is not an option, I‘m afraid. In all fairness, we saw quite a few people on that very track. Still. It actually didn‘t look all that safe in some places with the cracks and the brittle rocks. Anyway, we made it safely and enjoyed the sunrise - together with about 15 other people. We had hoped we‘d be alone or at least with fewer people at this time of day. No such luck. It‘s supposed to be a lot more crowded at other times, though, so we were better off.
    On the walk back, now in daylight, we saw cute little birds with a little thingy on top of their heads. Adorable. :D
    We strolled along Hahei Beach again and left for our next destination.     Czytaj więcej

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    First Surfing Lesson

    11 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    We were looking forward to going kayaking today. We made the booking and arrived in time to collect our kayaks at the rental place when the shop owner asked us: “Did you look at the waves?“ We had not. Apparently, the waves were high - way too high for kayaking. There were a few rocky areas around Hahei Beach in the kayaking area and with such strong waves, it was gonna be quite dangerous. That didn‘t stop Maddie, however. She kept insisting that we for sure knew what we‘re doing on a kayak and both have quite the experience to look back on. I was a bit puzzled because I was certain I mentioned that my kayaking experience was limited to one time about 15 years ago, in a calm lake, not an angry sea. What do you do when the waves are too high for kayaking? You go surfing. Maybe that prospect let Maddie agree to let go of the kayaking dream. It was pretty lucky that it worked out with our private surfing lesson. They had just packed up for the day when we expressed our interest. Our coach, Lydia, gave us the equipment, a lovely wetsuit that would protect us from both cold temperatures and “sea lice“ which are nasty little jellyfish that sting you just a wee bit but enough to get irritated. (That had happened to me before, I just assumed I was paranoid. :D)
    Lydia was very patient and a great instructor. I actually managed to stand up on my third wave and a few times more (maybe 3 or 4). But wow, it was a lot harder than I thought just to push yourself off the board, to maintain your balance etc. And I was pushed off the board by waves quite a few times. There was water running out of my nose for hours to come… Being pushed off is no fun, I will say that. But, on the whole, the surfing lesson was great fun and I‘m grateful for the experience. And for not colliding with my surfboard.

    In the evening, we took a stroll along the Hahei beach and enjoyed the scenery.     Czytaj więcej

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    Fletcher Bay

    10 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Before we left our beautiful campsite at the beach in Port Jackson, we went for an extended swim. At one point, however, we had to pack up and move on to Fletcher Bay, where we had a little stop. It‘s a rocky, rough beach and well worth the stop. Since we had to charge a few devices, we then went to a sports bar of all places. We had our first taste - at least for me it was a first - of oysters there. They‘re pretty salty! But together with a yummy dressing of vinegar and onions it was a magical moment for my taste buds. At night, instead of another camping food experience, we enjoyed a pizza (I enjoyed Maddie‘s more than mine (food envy is a terrible thing :D)) at Luke‘s Kitchen where we had a beautiful post-sunset view and went on to set our tent up at a campsite that would have excited us if it had been our first stop, but after the amazing ones we‘ve been to, it was rather boring. But! No children there. Maybe it wasn’t that bad after all! Czytaj więcej

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    Port Jackson

    9 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Later, we arrived with plenty of time to spare in Port Jackson. Another beach-side campsite and this times unlike last night: no children who wake you up at 7am and no parents who are incapable of telling them to be quiet. In all fairness, after I kindly complained (they were unbelievably loud and there were quite a few people at the campsite to consider - not asleep anymore, I reckon), the parents almost managed to keep their kids quiet for the better part of 3 minutes.
    As we hadn’t enjoyed a swim at the other beach, we did this time. To our surprise, we saw either a dolphin or a whale in the distance, jumping out of the water twice. What a sight!
    We were having our first camping dinner in daylight and caught an amazing sunset over the beach and the green hills surrounding it - a sight that reminded us very much of Scotland.
    I had quickly set down my dinner tray to take a picture of the sunset and then continued eating what I thought to be pepper, but a lot of the “pepper“ was actually more than a dozen of tiny bugs. So. More protein again?

    We had very loyal ducks around us at all times. Needless to say I didn't leave the place willingly. I also spent some time collecting seashells and a cool fish skeleton. Don't ask how heavy my backpack is. Though, I didn't take the skeleton. I might have put it in Maddie's backpack. But shush, don't tell her. I'll wait for her to find out if this is true. ^^     Czytaj więcej

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    Big Kauri Tree and Waiau Falls

    9 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Close to our campsite, there was a quick 30 min hike to a few Kauri trees, especially one huge individual with at least 3m in diameter. A bit further south, we saw my favourite waterfall yet, Waiau Falls with a little natural pool.
    We drove on and saw a sign on the side of the road saying to watch out for penguins. We had a litte stop in a slow vehicle bay to climb a cool tree when we spotted them. I ran to fetch my camera, got into position, zoomed in and saw: It wasn‘t penguins. It was shags, probably. Though, I maintain. They look like a penguin and a seagull had a lovechild.     Czytaj więcej

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    The Pinnacles

    8 lutego 2025, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    A relatively early morning for us - The Pinnacles are not an easy hike and a bit of a longer one: 16 km in total (8 km each way), and we didn’t want the burning midday sun to be an obstacle. The path there is simply stunning. Quite a few streams of water (as one ranger said, it’s not drinking water, but he’s been drinking it for as long as he’s been working as a ranger—let’s hope that wasn’t his first day), a very lush forest, and many, many stairs.
    At one point—one hour from the summit (I think we took about six hours for the whole hike)—there were no more stairs, only rocks and your potentially questionable ability to climb them safely. Maddie’s ability was well-founded in her extensive rock-climbing career, and she moved about the Pinnacles with an ease that would have put any alpine goat to shame. I didn’t do badly myself, though the heavy backpack was an unwelcome hindrance.
    The view from the summit was breathtaking and, I think, worth the effort. I’m almost certain.
    It was one of the few days during which I burned more than 3,000 calories—at least according to my watch. ^^
    In the evening, we arrived at our new campsite in Long Bay, overlooking the ocean.
    We had a bunch of fresh mussels for dinner with garlic bread and some corn on the cob—one of the best meals since I came to NZ. I was wondering, though, why my mussels were so crunchy. It couldn’t have been the barnacles. Soon after this question arose, Maddie found two tiny crabs inside her mussels. I then found three in my remaining ones. I had already eaten two crunchy ones. So, a wee bit more protein.
    We even got some fish from a family there who bonded with Maddie over Scottish ancestry. They also gave us a homegrown avocado from their orchard. Apparently, every second person here has some Scottish ancestry (I’m basing that purely on the fact that people are a lot more engaged in conversations with a Scot than a German, and because we’ve met quite a few people who mentioned some connection to Scotland).

    BTW. Isn‘t the second to last picture the coolest moss you‘ve ever seen?

    The last picture shows the view from our campsite. :)     Czytaj więcej

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