Once across the North Island

Hello dear ones,

Today I want to tell you about the past few days. Since my trip to Abel Tasman National Park, some things have changed. I now have a travel mate. Lina and I have decided to travel together for the next few weeks and so far it's going really well. After we drove to Nelson together after the Great Walk on October 1st, we ended the evening with pizza and chocolate pudding with ice cream. An evening just to my taste.

The next morning (October 2nd) we set off towards Picton where we wanted to take the ferry to the North Island. After we had to do a few things in the morning, we unfortunately left later than planned and had to drive quickly across Queen Charlotte Drive. Despite the tight time window, we didn't want to miss it, as Lina hadn't seen it yet and I loved it so much the last time I drove it with Mama that I wanted to do it again. When we arrived at the ferry, we were quickly loaded and were able to enjoy the ride through the Sounds in glorious sunshine. When we headed out to the open sea, it became a bit windy, so we went downstairs. By chance, we passed the cinema room and saw that they were showing "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," the prequel to Harry Potter. Of course, we couldn't miss that. When we arrived in Wellington, we fought our way through the rush hour traffic to our accommodation. Lina found a nice and cheap room on AirBnb, which was to serve as our accommodation for that night. It was a bit strange, as we slept on a folding sofa in the living room and our host retired to his bedroom after our arrival, but it was okay for one night.

The next morning (October 3rd) we met Irene, from the Great Walk, and two other girls at the Te Papa Museum in Wellington. After exploring it in detail, we strolled around the harbor area for a bit before our paths separated. The girls wanted to explore the city and I wanted to take care of some things in the library. After I had finished, I enjoyed the sun and strolled around the harbor area a bit. In the afternoon, Lina and I met again and made our way to our campsite. It was a free campsite called Waikawa Reserve Camp Ground, which was very basic. But it was free and on the way to our next destination. After we arrived, we had to tackle our first big problem, rearranging the car so that we could both sleep on the sleeping surface inside. But to my surprise, we managed to completely rearrange the car. Then we used my camping stove for the first time and cooked pasta with tomato sauce. My camping chairs were also inaugurated for the first time. All in all, a very exciting first evening. After we had finished eating and washing up, it was time to go to sleep. Two people fit well in my car, so it was relatively early to say goodnight.

We started the next morning (October 4th) with a delicious but quick breakfast. Since it was raining lightly, we quickly rearranged the car and drove to the next town with a public toilet to rinse the dishes thoroughly and brush our teeth there. Then we continued towards New Plymouth and Mt. Taranaki. And what can I say, the closer we got, the better the weather got and we could even admire the mountain in all its glory. When Mama and I were here in March, the mountain was still shy and wrapped itself in a blanket of clouds, but this time we could look at it undisturbed. A truly impressive mountain. After we had half circled it, we drove to the Dawson Falls and the Wilkie Pools. Some of you may remember that Mama and I have been here before. After Lina and I had both explored the hiking trails again and enjoyed our view of the mountain every time, we went to the city of New Plymouth and our accommodation. Once again, we slept in an AirBnb, which was much better than the last one we stayed in. We had our own room with a super comfortable double bed and towels and hot water bottles. The added bonus were the two dogs running around there, who were happy about every petting. After a delicious dinner, we spent the evening with further planning. Lina will be leaving New Zealand on October 25th, so we have to carefully consider what we want to see together. That evening, we decided to tackle the Tongariro Crossing on Friday (October 6th).

Because of this decision, we also set off towards Tongariro National Park on Thursday (October 5th) morning. We had decided to follow the Forgotten World Highway, a wise decision because the road was simply wonderful and we enjoyed many great views. When we were near the National Park and drove through a larger town, we stopped at the iSite there to book transport for the Tongariro Crossing the next day. At the same time, we also checked the weather forecast again - cloudy but dry with some showers. After we had booked, we made our way to another free campsite where we were going to spend the night. It was again a relatively simple campsite, but it was enough for one night.

That's it for today. The Tongariro Crossing deserves its own blog entry, as it is also part of a Great Walk and probably the most famous hike in New Zealand. I wish you a nice day.

See you soon, your Jessi