DEPARTURE: Northland

Also: I get up with the sun in the morning and fall into bed in the evening - because traveling is so beautiful, it demands!

But after just under 6 months and 4 weeks in New Zealand, I'm still far from tired of it!

Especially because I can be an explorer every day.

From Auckland, my rough Northland route was as follows: Waipu Cave - Whangarei - Whangarei Heads - Tutukaka - Whananaki - Whangaruru - Russell Road - Russell - Paihia - Waitangi Treaty Grounds - Kerikeri - Whangaroa - Kaimaumau - Far North (Kaitaia - Ninety Mile Beach - Cape Reinga) - Waipoua Forest!

In addition, there are some small and large stops that I may have forgotten to list.

Actually, I've only seen a tiny part of New Zealand and yet a whole month has passed. But as always, I take my time!

My Northland highlights:

• Watching glow worms in the dark caves in Waipu (for that I had to venture into the "pitch black" with my little flashlight ... creepy!)
• Whangarei: The fancy (second hand) shops and the waterfall
• Beautiful, lonely beaches (watching the surfers is quite fascinating)
• My visit to a farm just before the Bay of Islands (lots of horses and cows)
• Driving along the beautiful Russell Road
• Strolling in Russell
• Immerse yourself in the history of New Zealand and attend a Maori event in Waitangi
• Buy fresh vegetables and fruit at the weekly market in Kerikeri
• Spotting the kiwi bird in the wild, which was a great success (for that I had to take a very long, initially quite intimidating night hike on a dark forest path)
• Wild horses
• Climbing sand dunes at the tip of New Zealand
• The sunset at Ninety Mile Beach !! (this 90km long beach is huge and serves as a highway ... crazy !!)
• Watching how two oceans meet at Cape Reinga
• Hugging huge kauri trees in the Waipoua Forest
• ... And so much more !!!!

So far, Albert is doing pretty well too! We had to venture on many and endlessly long gravel roads (sometimes no vehicle comes towards you for kilometers), but we also successfully managed that!

It's still summer in New Zealand and the sun is high during the day, but it gets really cold in the car at night or in the morning at four. Then I have the sweater on the left and the extra blanket on the right next to me ... to be really cozy and warm. That works and I love camping!

Showers, hot water, hot food ... are secondary!

The big low: In the Bay of Islands, someone stole my camping table or someone replaced it with a much less beautiful one ... thank you for that!

P.S .: All my pictures (unfortunately I only have a cellphone camera) definitely do not do justice to the beauty of nature here.