Hello, New Zealand!

Hello New Zealand - I could say that for the first time on September 14th! Before that, I had to endure three flights. I will now tell you about my experiences during the first days of my trip ;)

Departure (12.9.) - Arrival (14.9.)

As mentioned in the last report, I left Frankfurt towards Auckland on the evening of September 12th. After already meeting some other backpackers from Germany there (including Annika from the AIFS group), we headed towards Dubai overnight. Since I tried to live in New Zealand time during the flight, I didn't sleep until our arrival and spent the time listening to music, eating (very important :D ), and watching various movies on my well-equipped window seat. In Dubai, we had to change planes and had to cover a long distance to the next terminal. In the waiting area for the next flight, I stocked up on food - by the way, a croissant cost about 3.50€ - and waited for the next flight together with Annika. From the UAE, we continued to Sydney, where a refueling stop had to be made. On this flight, I managed to sleep a few hours, otherwise it was all about movies, movies, movies ;) At the refueling stop, I met Michelle from Saarland, who also flew to New Zealand with AIFS but is working as an au pair there. Her sister is studying at the University of Trier like me (even English for teaching) and I have several mutual acquaintances with her. It's a small world after all :) Finally, after three hours, we arrived in Auckland.

Wednesday, 14.9. (from the arrival)

After going through the immigration process, we as the AIFS group finally came together for the first time. Unfortunately, the trip to the hostel was delayed a bit because we had to wait for a straggler. When the time came, we were divided into two small buses. Mine had a very funny driver. Our hostel, the Attic Backpackers, was on the 5th floor of a building. Since the elevator was very old and small, we had to go up in several small groups, and it took a while until we were all upstairs. Then we could finally move into our rooms. They were typical hostel rooms with four beds and nothing else, but there was a relatively large space in the room. After a short period of getting used to it, I went with Henriette from my room - the rooms at the Attic are mixed - to get a rough overview of the neighborhood and find something to eat for dinner. After that was done, we went back to the hostel together, where it became apparent that I had only slept four hours out of the last 49. So, like the others in the room, I fell asleep at 20:00.

Thursday, 15.9.

The next morning, after a small breakfast, the introductory workshop at IEP was on the program. We received a lot of information, e.g. about possible jobs, means of transportation, the lifestyle of New Zealanders, and our bank account. By the way, this led me to decide that I probably won't be buying a car after all, but will most likely buy a Stray bus ticket, which allows me to travel anywhere unlimited for a year. Compared to a car, it's much safer because the backpacker cars are often very old and susceptible to breakdowns. Even if, like many do, you don't buy a "piece of junk" from the beginning. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain outside, so we couldn't really do much in the city after the workshop. So, after desperately searching for a supermarket with Henriette (it later turned out that a very large one was less than 5 minutes from our hostel), we just grabbed a small lunch before heading back to the hostel. That's when I suddenly became very sleepy and felt like I was about to fall asleep ten times, but my roommate Justin kept telling me stories and kept me awake. Good thing, because that's how I finally defeated the jet lag :D But in the evening, I was relatively alert again, and we went on a pub crawl specifically for backpackers. You have to pay 10 NZD and then get a free drink in four different pubs. After about an hour, we move on together, so we change the venue. There were about 150 people, of which about 80% were German. One of them was an old acquaintance of mine, Yannik. He went to the same school as me and lives about 20 km away from me. And then I have to travel all the way around the world just to see him again :D Things happen. He just finished a year of work and travel in Australia and then continued on to the next working holiday in New Zealand. I had a lot of fun with him and a few of his friends - the others from the AIFS group had somehow lost interest earlier in the evening.

Friday, 16.9.

On Friday, the weather was finally nice and we could do what we wanted. I decided to take a trip to Rangitoto Island. It is an uninhabited volcanic island that is about a half hour ferry ride from Auckland. The island mainly consists of a volcano. There is a lot of lava rock to see and a very diverse plant life. After crossing from the Auckland harbor and a steep climb to the summit, which was rewarded with a great view, I went down on a different path and saw some lava caves along the way. On the last kilometers, I encountered some German backpackers who had gotten lost. So, we walked the last kilometers together. When I arrived in Auckland, I went directly to Mount Eden after a small snack for lunch. It is the highest point in the city and, like from the volcano summit, offers a great view of Auckland and the surrounding landscape. This mountain is also a volcano and has left a quite large crater, which can be seen directly at the summit. Quite impressive. Unfortunately, it was already quite late, so the lighting conditions were not so good in the end. But you could still see enough :) From there, I went back to the hostel. Since I had done a lot of hiking that day, I fell asleep early.

Saturday, 17.9.

Saturday was my last day in New Zealand for now, as my flight to Samoa was scheduled for the afternoon. I had initially wanted to go to the South Seas and thought it would be best to fly there now, as it is not yet so warm in New Zealand in September and this is the best time to travel there. Unfortunately, it was constantly pouring rain outside, so I stayed in the hostel as long as possible and just surfed the internet. I spent the afternoon at the airport, which took longer than planned because my flight was delayed.

In the next report, which hopefully follows very quickly, you will find out how things went for me in Samoa! I hope you enjoyed reading this report :)

See you soon!

Your Max