Kia Ora New Zealand

I have made it to New Zealand, continent number 4 on this trip, where I will be spending a total of 5 weeks. Leaving Asia behind was not easy, as I had such a great time there with lots of incredible adventures and people. The Philippines have indeed become my most favorite country (replacing New Zealand of all places).

Anyway, the plan for New Zealand is to travel with Kiwi Experience and their hop-on hop-off passes from Auckland on the North Island to Queenstown on the South Island. There, I will hire a car to drive to Christchurch and do some hikes, and other adventures en route.

Once I arrived in Auckland, I met up with Yasmin, who lives in Hamilton and who I met in Pai (Thailand). Together, we spent the day on Muriwai Beach near Auckland, caught up over Pie and L&P and re-lived the amazing time we had in Pai together.

The next day, I hopped on the Kiwi Experience bus, as we drove east to the Coromandel Peninsula. After a brief stop by the beach, we headed to our first accommodation that was near Hot Water Beach. Hot Water Beach during low tide allows you to dig your own hot tub right on the beach, as the water is heated by geothermal activity from the ground. It is super hot, though, so we had to mix it with colder sea water. As low tide wasn't until 10pm, we basically had to dig in the dark with lights from our torches/phones.

That evening was also the first time I actually had to cook a meal in 6 months. Weird feeling.

After a quiet night, we were up early, as we headed towards the Waitomo Caves. They are renowned for having glowing worms on their ceiling and doing Black Water Rafting (essentially tubing through the cave) there was on my 'must-do' list for New Zealand. It was a cool experience, but the water was freezing cold (the thick wetsuits only helped a little). I am happy that I did it, as it is a nice way to see the glow worms (they glow in a turquoise colour), but I probably will not do it again.

The following day would be one that I was looking most forward to on this trip. I was going to revisit the movie set of the Shire. In other words, I was going to Middle Earth in Lord of the Rings! And I can tell you, I was like a kid in a candy store. Pure joy!Read more