Our Christmas holidays

To celebrate our newfound mobility, we took various car trips to the surrounding areas in the following days. Our most beautiful excursions were our day at Shakespeare Regional Park and our first hike in the Okura Bush forest.

On the 24th of December, we set off for Shakespeare Regional Park, a nature reserve at the northernmost tip of a peninsula. On the "Lookout Track", a small circular walking trail, we had great views of the coast, sea, and inland. Due to the clear weather, we could even see Auckland's CBD, including the Sky Tower. After this short hike, we visited the beach in Te Haruhi Bay. The water was once again beautifully turquoise and clear, and the sand here was fine and white, with only a few other people in sight.

Similar to ebb and flow, there is low and high tide here, with the difference that the water does not recede enough for tidal walking. However, during low tide, interesting rock formations are exposed at beaches with cliffs, allowing for a walk along them.

We then spent Christmas evening comfortably on the couch with a self-cooked festive meal (including ice cream and wine), Christmas music, and later a movie. Our little Christmas tree, which Emma had set up for us before her departure, made an effort to spread some Christmas spirit.

Since New Zealanders celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December, we planned to go to Long Bay (a long beach with a coastal trail) on this day. We imagined a deserted beach while the New Zealanders unpacked their gifts at home. A drastic misconception, as it turned out. We couldn't move on the way there. Cars crowded the narrow roads towards the parking lot. Turn around? No chance! So we had to begrudgingly stay in the traffic jam and felt quite foolish for hoping for an empty beach on a public holiday with sunny weather. Plan B had to be put into action. When we finally reached the next intersection, we headed towards Okura Bush Scenic Reserve. The hike in a typical New Zealand kauri forest was already on our to-do list. Once we arrived there, we could breathe a sigh of relief: much emptier here!

Just before the "entrance" to the forest, we had to thoroughly clean and disinfect our shoes. Several information boards also explained why: New Zealand's original kauri trees are in danger. They are infected with certain fungal spores in many places, causing the huge trees to die. Since these fungal spores can be easily spread by hiking shoes, it is important to stop their spread through thorough shoe cleaning and only hiking on designated paths.

The route through the dense forest was truly impressive. The first step into the forest left us in awe. Huge trees and ferns gave us a glimpse of what New Zealand must have looked like before any human inhabitants. In the cool and humid silence of the forest, we heard many different bird sounds and tried to be very quiet in hopes of catching a glimpse of one, which we succeeded in later. This was definitely not our last forest hike!

On the 26th of December, the so-called "Boxing Day" is celebrated here. Almost all stores open on this day and attract customers with extreme discounts. Coincidentally, we also needed camping utensils. But get caught up in another Christmas crowd? We decided to go for it. The discounts piqued our curiosity, and we felt a bit like real New Zealanders when we did what most people do on Boxing Day here: shopping. Actually, we found this consumer frenzy rather repulsive. Unpacking Christmas gifts the day before, and now being in a shopping mood already the next day. For us, the only thing that mattered was being able to save a few dollars when buying our equipment, but the sight of the crowds in the department stores left an unpleasant taste. Buying, buying, buying. Even on Christmas, consumption determines the lives of many people.

Today, on the 27th of December, we are picking up Emma from the airport. We will spend one last evening together before heading towards the West Coast tomorrow. We will stay at campsites along the way and look for a job. We feel like doing WWOOFing: working on farms or small holdings according to ecological principles in exchange for food and lodging.

Let's see what happens and where we will be for the New Year's Eve. ;-)