Family time Part 2 and the North Island of New Zealand

Hi dear family and friends,

Since the last blog, a lot has happened and as you can see from the title, I am now in New Zealand. But let's start from the beginning...

After the end of the last blog, I spent another eight days with my parents. First, we were in Noosa, a slightly larger town known primarily for the Noosa River and Hastings Street, which is the main shopping street with bars and restaurants. We had booked a really nice hotel there and stayed for 5 nights. Unfortunately, I caught a cold on the first night and was a bit weakened for the next few days. Nevertheless, we had a great time there and, among other things, took a ferry, which was actually a larger boat, to Hastings Street, passing many quite large villas. Fortunately, the shops were already closed in the evening, as I am not so enthusiastic about shopping. 😂👍

Noosa apparently also has unusual animals to offer, so we saw two pinecone lizards at the hotel pool and another huge spider near the hotel.

After five days, we continued to Tin Can Bay. It's a really small town known for its daily dolphin feeding. There's really not much else there, if you don't count the beautiful little harbor and a restaurant that was very delicious but more like a cafeteria... We spent three nights in a hotel with a great view of the harbor and, after I felt better, took a trip to Fraser Island.

Fraser Island is one of the most famous islands on the east coast of Australia. We booked a guided day tour for that, and when our travel bus arrived, which looked more like a tank, we still didn't think that the ride would be so bumpy. First, we drove on a beach to reach a ferry that took us to the island. Then we drove many kilometers along the beach, which serves as both a highway and a runway. The first stop was Eli Creek, a small stream that you can walk up and has enough current to float towards the sea. Unfortunately, we only had a very short time there, so we were able to admire it but had to postpone swimming to later.

After a brief stop at a very touristy shipwreck, we continued to Lake McKenzie, which is probably the most spectacular place on the island! The bus drove through a forest on a route with more bumps and holes than you can imagine. Luckily, we were sitting in the back row, which usually held us on the seat. 😂

The lake is a groundwater lake with no outlet and therefore has the clearest water I have ever seen. We had an hour to swim there, and then there was a delicious cold buffet for lunch.

Afterwards, we drove (unfortunately without air conditioning because it suddenly stopped working) on bumpy trails to a small hiking trail in the rainforest, where we saw the first snake of the vacation from a safe distance. As someone who hates snakes, I hope that was the last snake I see in Down Under...

After that, with the door open for cooling, we headed back to the hotel. The next morning, we went to the dolphin feeding early, and we fed the wild dolphins, which come to the same spot every morning to have breakfast, with a fish. That was pretty cool! We spent the rest of the day at the pool and packing our bags.

The next morning, it was time to say goodbye and take a Greyhound bus to Brisbane to meet Jonas and Louis again. The bus picked me up in Tin Can Bay, and four hours later, I was in Brisbane. At this point, I want to thank my parents again for the great time together in Australia. Who would have thought we would explore Australia together again...

Upon arriving in Brisbane, it was time to say "Hello Jonas and Louis" again, and after a quick, impromptu visit to the soccer game between Brisbane and Wellington and two nights in the hostel, we flew to Auckland, New Zealand, and our next adventure began.

After a pleasant flight with two bottles of Bacardi from the duty-free shop, we picked up our rental car for almost four weeks. A Nissan Tiida, which has more stone chips in the paint than is probably allowed. Nevertheless, the car has been taking us around the country without any problems for almost two weeks now!💪

With the car (only Jonas and Louis are registered as drivers), we drove to the largest city in New Zealand, Auckland, and spent the first night in the hostel. Auckland has a beautiful harbor and a fairly large skyline.

After spending the evening at the harbor, we went to bed quite early and tired due to the three-hour time difference, and the next day we set off north. Although Auckland is already in the north of the North Island, there are still the Bay of Islands and Whangarei that we wanted to see. So, we stopped at some beaches for swimming and spent the sunset and our first night in the tent with a great atmosphere, although it was colder than expected. In the following days, Jonas and Louis did a lot of driving, and we saw a huge flock of glowworms in a cave and admired several waterfalls, among other things.

South of Auckland, we made our first attempt to catch fresh fish in New Zealand, but it failed miserably. But we haven't given up on that yet.

The next few days, we continued driving down the east coast and made a stop at Hot Water Beach, among other places. At this section of the beach, we borrowed a shovel at low tide and dug holes to bathe in warm to hot thermal water. The first attempts failed, but then we continued digging in an already warm hole and finally found partially very hot water. For cooling off, the sea was right nearby. A worthwhile experience but also quite a tourist magnet!

We then continued to Tauranga, a slightly larger city known particularly for its view from Mount Maunganui. So, we became mountaineers and climbed uphill in 30-degree heat. 800 steps later, we had a great view of the city and were relieved that we were now going downhill again. To relax, we went swimming in the sea.

The next day, we visited Hobbiton, the filming location for the "Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" movies. Jonas and Louis, as dedicated Hobbit fans, were very excited and absorbed the atmosphere of the "city", while I, as a non-fan, simply enjoyed the beautiful nature there and the free beer at 9:15 am at the end of the tour. At least now I have a reason to watch the movies. 😂

The next few days, Jonas was unfortunately sick, so I spent a lot of time with Louis alone. We visited Taupo and the adjoining Lake Taupo and I tried to play golf again after two months without it, hoping to win $10,000 with a hole-in-one. The word "tried" indicates that I failed, and to be honest, it wasn't even a close failure...

South of Taupo, the next day Jonas dropped us off for a hike. Well, those who know me know that hiking and mountaineering are not necessarily my strengths or hobbies, but I gave it a chance and accepted the challenge of the 19.4 kilometers of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.

6.5 hours later, I could conclude that hiking and mountaineering are still not my strengths or hobbies. Man, that was exhausting... The first four kilometers only had small ascents, and I was making good progress and clearly ahead of Louis, but at some point, the mountain started to take away my joy. The next 30 minutes were just uphill, and as a result, not only did the quality of the hiking trail decrease, but also my good mood. Once I arrived at the top completely exhausted, I felt proud for about 3 seconds, then I looked ahead and it was clear that there was still a lot to come! Here's a photo of the moment of realization😅

The entire ascent is (in my opinion, a huge understatement) called Devil's Staircase. Once at the top, we had lunch and, of course, took a photo with the HSV flag!

But I didn't yet realize that the most difficult and, in retrospect, most painful part was still to come... From the top of the volcano, which has not erupted since around 1970, suddenly it went down extremely steeply for the next 300 meters, and a solid path turned into a rocky gravel path😳 Just the right thing for someone like me with my pronounced sense of body balance and elegant falling. After the first five meters, I felt pretty safe and slid down the slope with confidence, when suddenly my feet got faster than the rest of my body and I gave the nearest rock a bad kick with my shin! Strangely, it wasn't the stone that started bleeding, but my shin.🤔

After that, I lost my confidence and crept down the mountain like a miserable pile. 😂 The next kilometers can be summarized as follows: I fell two more times, but in the end, I just barely survived the hellish trip (during which I was even overtaken by 70-year-olds and toddlers). Of course, I had severe muscle soreness for the next two days, but then my body had to prepare for the next hikes. But more on that in the next blog. 😉

We then spent the evening at a beautiful campsite by a river, and the next day we continued the remaining way to Wellington. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and is the starting point from which the ferries take you to the South Island. From our point of view, the city doesn't offer much more, as it is very small. In the evening, we treated ourselves to one or two beers in a bar and then spent the night in a hostel. The next day, the ferry took us to Picton on the South Island, where the second part of the New Zealand adventure begins.

But more on that in the next blog.

Until then, greetings to home!

Your Max