„Full-Adventure-Package“ or "Now I like Franco-German friendship again"

The room door opens, voices drift in. Sleepily, I squint against the light. What time is it? Those must be the others, just finished watching the movie and now going to bed. Man, can't they at least try to be a LITTLE quieter, people are trying to sleep here... Someone says something about an "earthquake". Suddenly I'm wide awake! "There has been an earthquake in Christchurch and now there is the warning of a tsunami". What? This is a bad joke, right? It becomes restless around me, people are climbing out of their beds in a hurry and gathering their things. "Holy shit, stop packing!" the hostel owner speaks up, "Just grab your passport and GET OUT OF HERE!". I am surrounded by worried faces, no one really knows what to do (well, most of the people here are from Europe and earthquakes are not exactly part of their daily lives). In the event of a tsunami warning, should you go to the highest point? But... "Excuse me, do you have a car? Can we drive with you?"

Well, as you can see (read), we survived the non-existent tsunami. After all, if I hadn't, I couldn't be writing this blog post, following all the laws of logic. I also couldn't be sitting in a cozy wooden hut by the Waikato River (or the accompanying lake) and listening to the evening birdsong, and I wouldn't want to miss that. So it's a good thing I survived the non-tsunami!

As you can see, the last few days have been a bit more eventful than planned (after all, we came to Whitianga to relax). But if there's one thing you can't do while traveling, it's planning. Travel fate (or whatever) is always one step (or two) ahead of the traveler. But otherwise, the relaxing part actually worked quite well. Whitianga is small (there isn't even an ANZ branch, hello???) and beautifully located (ocean, beach, green hills - what more could you want?). The only thing that could tempt some people to do something here is the "Hot Water Beach" (a beach heated by hot springs, a popular destination for tourists who dig a hole and take a hot bath) and the "Cathedral Cove" (a hole in a rock). Both are several kilometers away and can only be reached by car. Due to a lack of mobility, we decided to at least visit one attraction, just to have done something (after all, we can't disappoint our fans). And so we chose Cathedral Cove. So, what do you do if you don't have a car and don't want to spend $50 on a bus shuttle? Right, you hitchhike. So we took the ferry that brought us across the approximately 20m wide harbor entrance (honestly, we could have swum that small distance). On the other side, we stuck out our thumbs very professionally, and BAM, the first car stopped next to us. Our drivers turned out to be super nice Kiwis, who even took a little detour and drove us right to the proverbial front door (you know what I mean). This was followed by about a 1 ½ hour hike, which took us up high and offered great viewpoints of the turquoise sea and the surrounding rock landscape. Finally arrived, we visited the natural "cathedral" and other fascinatingly shaped stones (see pictures).

On the way back, we were picked up by a very cheerful and lovely older couple. She's a painter, he's an architect, and probably the only person in New Zealand (and as it looks right now, also in Germany) who has ever been to Weimar! We chatted and laughed the whole way... It's amazing who you meet in such situations. Ultimately, the conversations and encounters were the real highlights of our trip!

Due to the (apparent) lack of sights, most people only stay here for a day or two (the really crazy ones maybe three days). Not us! We actually booked the hostel for a whopping SIX nights (receptionist: "Are you REALLY going to do that?!?!?!"). I have to say, this decision was spot on! The hostel is a complex of several small houses/cottages in the "Villa Kunterbunt" style. Each of these cabins accommodates about 10 people who share a bathroom and kitchen. Unlike in the large anonymous hostels, here you have the opportunity to really get to know the people and not just stick to the usual "Where are you from? etc etc". During our time here, we saw all sorts of people come and go. There's the spacey ex-art history student/Buddhist from France (who unfortunately has a very complicated Japanese name that I've forgotten), who has just come from a hippie WWOOFing farm and is now seeing where life takes her next (she also willingly shared her wine with us, which definitely earned her some extra sympathy points). Quote Richard: "Now I like the Franco-German friendship again". Or the Canadian with Sri Lankan roots (also a complicated name), who is only on vacation in New Zealand for two weeks and whom we convinced to squeeze the "Hobbiton Movie Set Tour" into his packed schedule. Or the Welsh couple who quit their jobs as nurses and just want to do something different...

Gradually, a kind of routine developed for us. A little chat with the cleaning crew in the morning, a walk to the (ahem) "city center", the beach or the harbor at noon, cooking and conversations in the evening. You quickly forget that besides all the "work and travel", you also have to somehow "live". That's why these longer breaks are simply important. After a little detour to Hamilton, where we diligently handed out our resumes and also discovered a super cool board game store, we are now at Ann and Mike's, helping out in their garden. The two are incredibly busy, have their own B&B, also rent out kayaks and bicycles, offer kayak tours to glowworm spots, also have a shuttle service, and somehow find the time to do something in the garden and cater to all the B&B and WWOOFing guests on their own. Phew...

The location of the property can be described in three syllables: DREAM-Y BEAUTIFUL! Right by the lake and surrounded by lots of green.

Earlier, Ann came down to us and brought us a tray loaded with beef pie and other delights, accompanied by the words "If you are still hungry later, I will bring you some chocolate cake". Honestly, at that moment I probably felt like Harry did when he saw the fully set table at Hogwarts for the first time. Now, however, I feel more like Benno Breitkopp after devouring the house-sized chocolate cake (Mom, you know who I mean). Well, it's late and I should probably take my hands off the keyboard (according to "Word", I've already written 1160 words).

A quote to finish:

Maggi: "What if she's the witch from Hansel and Gretel and just wants to fatten us up to eat us later?"

Richard with a full mouth: "I could live with that."

Cheers,

Richi and Maggi, November 20, 2016, 9:45 pm