Currently traveling
  • Georg Hellmann

Newzealand with family

One more time to discover familiar and unfamiliar places and people with my parents and my best friend Lukas. Read more
  • Last seen in
    🇳🇿 Taumarunui, Neuseeland

    Highlight after highlight

    November 19 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    Hamilton Gardens: a huge garden area divided into small theme gardens. Starting with a japanese garden, we went through the classic garden typs from different cultures and eras. Followed by some more practical gardens like a herb garden or a kitchen garden. The last gardens were more fantasy like, with surrealism, egyptian, tudor and a tropical garden in a non tropical region. The best thing, I went in for free. But even for 20 NZ dollar (10 €) it's so worth it.

    Hot Water Beach Kawhia: A beautiful black sand beach with a hot spring right underneath. We went close to the water edge where the steam was coming from and startet to dig a hole. Warm water was coming from below and after a while the hole was big enough to lay in it. At some spots it was really hot. In between we jumped into the cold tasman sea and then back into the hot tub. After a while I built a tower and a big wall for protection against the rising tide. Though it took quit a long time for the first wave to rouch the outer wall. In the end I only saw the first wall breached, but we wanted to continue, because we still had a long way to drive.

    Timber Trail / Ongarue Spiral: a part of the Te Araroa, I did 2 years ago, where you can see thousands of glowworms for free. Only a bit of walking is necessary and best at night. We parked as close as possible 2,5 km away and had to go through a closed gate, which is quite easy. On the way up to the spiral we still had daylight, but once we got there it was already really dark and the high walls before the tunnel were already shining with hundreds of glowworms. Entering the tunnel it looked like a clear night sky. It's not easy to take a picture with the phone cameras, but the athmosphere is mystical. On the whole way back I saw blue lights in the steep mountain side like eyes watching us.
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  • Taking it slow today

    November 18 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    Stanmore Bay: going for a morning walk up and down the beach while the waves continuesly crash onto the shore.

    Mount Eden: a beautiful view of the Auckland skyline and harbour aswell as the urban area around. A lot of tourist buses with groups from different countries.Read more

  • Are we to late for Hobbiton?

    November 17 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 20 °C

    Today in the afternoon Lukas checked online for the guided tours and realised for the next week every day is fully booked. We got a bit nervous, because this was one of the main reasons to come. Because of limited connection, we wanted to check in the evening again and maybe call someone. Lukas looked for the days, before we take the flight and there he found an available tome slot, which he booked immediately. I asked my parents if they wanted to join, but decided not to. Because we took to much time, the booking process was canceled and Lukas had to do it again. In the end he somehow booked for 3 people, even though I saw him entering 2. To tired to fix it today we will fix it the next day.

    Whangarei Quarry Gardens: a beautiful maintained garden in an old quarry with a small lake and waterfall.

    Hundertwasser Art Center: an interesting artist / architekt, trying to break up the sharp edges and corners of a usual building and forming a more fluent texture.

    Waipu Caves: a beautiful glowworm cave with a stream running deep into the mountain. Got my shoes wet, but enjoyed following as far as possible.
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  • Kauri everywhere

    November 16 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Rawene Mangrove Boardwalk: a beautiful little boardwalk through a mangrove forest, where they talk about the time of the timber mill, which was built over this area.

    Tane Mahuta: the largest kauri tree in New Zealand, estimated over 2000 years old. A fascinating giant in the forest, which depends on the others to withstand strong winds. A sureal

    Te Matua Ngahere: the oldest kauri tree, around 3500 years old. Not as tall but a bigger stem, which looks astonishing. A beautiful walk to get there with many younger kauri trees lining the path.
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  • Bathing in the Pacific

    November 15 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Lukas and I were starting the day with a stop at the Remarkable Café in Mangonui enjoying a mochaccino.

    Omiru Trig Path: following a narrow path on top of a headland, a lot of stairs combined with strong winds make it extra challenging, great view of the bay and cliffs.

    Matauri Bay: a beautiful long beach limited by cliffs on both sides, we played in the waves and enjoyed the sun.

    Rainbow Falls Kerikeri: huge waterfall with a frightening force but also stunning. We followed the stream further down through a diverse forest with some Kauri trees.
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  • Where the spirits leave NZ

    November 14 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 20 °C

    Cape Reinga: walking to the lighthouse with a great view of the cliffs, while a strong wind built up the waves

    Giant Sand Dunes: walking up a dune for half an hour to run it down in 5 minutes, a dessert like landscape with a subtropical forest and the tasman sea surrounded

    Maitai Bay: a bay, where the waves almost create a perfect half circle and the water is clear light blue

    Lake Rotopokaka: also know as Coca Cola lake, a moor lake with a red and brown colour, I had a half bath in there
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  • Driving on the left side

    November 13 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    The day before we got to know driving on the left side of the road. Worst part was driving through Auckland, where even with navigation it was really confusing. Turning on the windshield wiper instead of the direction indicator is one thing that happened a lot yesterday. At each turn checking on which side to drive on the next road. Crossing a lane on the right turn.

    Highlights:
    My parents got pulled over by the police, driving to slow on the highway, but at least on the right side

    Whangārei Falls: small beautiful loop
    Hundertwasser memorial park: a spontaneous stop in Kawakawa to see this colourful and unusual building design.

    Bay of Islands: drinking a beer in the oldest Pub of New Zealand. A short walk to a beautiful lookout.

    An amazing dinner with my host family I stayed with 2 years ago.
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  • The NZeTA issue

    November 10 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    The day before I called the united airlines customer support, waiting in line for an hour, because I couldn't check In Lukas for the flights. They told me, if it's not approved by tomorrow, we can also do it at the airport.

    We arrived at the counter and the woman there had the same issue. For some reason, they were not allowed to check him in. Multiple worker were talking about it, because they also had issues to check In the luggage of my parents, even though my parents were already checked In online. After a while they figured out, it had something to do with the New Zealand electronic Travel Athority (NZeTA). We checked the document and realised, that it was only meant for a transit but not for staying. So we asked them, how we can change it. After another few moments they gave me a number to call the border controll support of New Zealand. The man then told me to do the application again and call this number back, so they can override it immediately. We left the counter for now to do the application. We did the application first on the browser, where it told me to pay 189 american dollar, which was way to much. So we downloaded an App, where I had to add his old one first and than adding him again, I was able to do a new one. We realised, that one out of 6 yes or no questions has to be yes, because "NO" means transit.

    After paying the usual price I called back the number. First I really struggled to spell the passport number in english, but he found the NZeTA and was able to override it. He now told me that he has a code I have to enter and I was really confused. I asked him, where I have to enter it and he told me, that I should know where to enter the code in the system, because he doesn't know the system. Next question was, with which airline he is speaking and once I told him, I was a customer of the United Airlines, he got really angry. He told me I was not allowed to have this number and asked how I got it. He immediately wanted to speak with airline, so I hurried back to the counter, where there was a new woman. I told her all about it and gave my phone to her. They were talking for a while and she also asked coworker. She was able to find where to enter the code. In between she said at the phone it is her first week at this airline, so she had to figure out how to do it. I finally got the bording passes and happily went back to Lukas and my parents. After high intense situation we calmed down and went to the gate.

    The reason I got the number: The first woman who gave me the number told me, that the customer should call and in her perspective I am the customer, but for the border security the airlines are the customer.
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    Trip start
    November 10, 2025