Day 5 - Beach day without sun, until the afternoon.

The day started as feared, gloomy and completely rainy. I sat in the tent and noticed how it got warmer every half hour. Unfortunately, there was no wind, so it became unbearably warm in the tent, but outside it was pouring down. I tried to relax with some (Cologne) music when a motorcycle stopped next to my tent. The ranger understood my wish well and said it wouldn't be a problem for him. Just when it stopped raining and I wanted to make myself comfortable on the park bench, three big vans pulled up next to me in this small park and told me that they had booked the whole place with around 45 people. So I had to move after all, I waited until everything was dry, which you could really watch. White steam rose from the dense trees. In the meantime, we talked about Donald Trump. When I was packed, he gave me a beer for tonight, cool action!

So now I'm about 60 meters above the campsite and have a great view of the sea. Since Monday (06.02) is the national holiday of the New Zealanders (Waitangi Day), many people use this for a camping holiday. So I had to book in advance for the next 2 nights. So I can also plan to watch Super Bowl LI on Monday afternoon and hopefully not fall asleep in the middle like two years ago. Now I'm looking forward to the hopefully cold beer. Kia ora!

An anecdote to finish today's blog post: what the New Zealanders take with them when camping is unbelievable. My highlights so far: 1. Deep freezer with a self-connected and modified car battery, 2. Caravan + lounge tent + 2 huge sleeping tents for a family of 5 (!) people, 3. Trolley for serving and transporting between gas grill and seating area. (The couple is super nice and just invited me for a drink! ;)) So I seem a little backward with my small red tent and sleeping pad on the ground.

PS: as always: pictures will follow when WiFi is available ;-)