Nelson and Coromandel put an end to the first journey

Hello dear ones,

as announced, this report will be the last for a few weeks in which I describe travel experiences. After changing islands, my first job started right away. Now you will find out what happened before. So have fun :)

Sunday, November 6th

Actually, it should have started on Thursday, but due to my backpack mishap, I could only go with Stray to Hahei on the Coromandel Coast on Sunday. I hadn't been there before because Hahei had only been added to the route on November 1st. In the morning, the start was made from the Stray main building. The journey was relatively short. After a shopping break in Thames, we arrived at the path leading to the world-famous Cathedral Cove at lunchtime. The view from the starting point was a dream. You could see far out to sea and several cliffs, all under a blue sky. The path was about 45 minutes long and mainly downhill, as we had to come down to sea level to see the Cove. And then the destination was finally reached. After a few first photos of this truly unique phenomenon, I walked through the Cove and the water (it was high tide) to the other side, where a lonely rock stands in the middle of the sea. But since we didn't have much time, I had to quickly start the way back. We then immediately continued to the campground in Hahei, where we were supposed to spend two nights. Our facility was great. The rooms were really good and big, there was a large covered pavilion outside and a spacious kitchen. After lunch, I went straight to the beach, which is right next to the campground. Afterwards, I let myself fall into one of the XXL cushions in front of our room before the second excursion was on the agenda: the trip to Hot Water Beach. The special thing about this beach is that you can dig your own hot pool, which is partly heated by volcanic activity. However, our whole group didn't have shovels to dig with :D So we just stood in the hot pools that were already there. At first, we were all skeptical whether the water really was warm because none of us had found a warm spot for a long time. But that soon changed. In fact, the volcanic influence is very high in some places. The closer you get to the epicenter, the hotter it gets - and at a certain point, it even gets boiling hot! I experienced this when I walked around a bit in a hot pool. Suddenly my feet were really hot and I had to run a few meters away to cool them down again :D After that, nobody went back to that spot. Back at the accommodation, there was a big barbecue for everyone. There were sausages, chicken, and steaks, along with my beloved sweet potatoes and salad. I think everyone really enjoyed it and it was a nice end to the day. Not to forget that I also met a lot of nice people: Lisa (NOR), Roger (SUI), Raphael (DEN), Geraint (WAL), Leonie, Julia, Henry, Andreas (all GER). We mainly talked about travel experiences or our professions, but also about our plans for New Zealand. Raphael was especially funny because he recorded and filmed EVERYTHING with his Go-Pro that was happening at the time ;)

Monday, November 7th

The day was completely free for us. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain in the morning, so everyone thought: we can probably spend the day in the room/the pavilion. It won't stop raining anytime soon. But in New Zealand, different laws apply. The sun suddenly came out in the late morning, so I, like many others, decided to go hiking, specifically to the Te-Pare lookout. On the way, I met Daan (NED) and we continued the hike together. Unfortunately, the sunshine wasn't very stable either, and shortly before we reached the summit, it started raining again. While most of the others quickly turned back, we took the risk and continued hiking up to the summit. There we were able to take shelter under a tree and lo and behold, the sun came out again after five minutes. Just like April weather in Germany ;) The view from up there was really beautiful and it was definitely worth continuing the hike to the top. On the way back, we saw that a narrow footpath led up another mountain from the main path, which we also decided to tackle. We were rewarded with a breathtaking cliff panorama, and we also stood on a cliff ourselves, and it went steeply downhill right in front of us. It was really impressive. When we finally reached the beach again, we met Mary (MEX), who was just swinging. Of course, I also sat on the swing and had myself photographed extensively :D After lunch, it started raining again, but later it got really hot. I think Hahei has been my warmest stop in New Zealand so far. I then talked to Roger and Lisa outside, both of whom had already been to Australia. I also want to go there at some point, preferably for a few weeks along the East Coast. But they scared me a bit with their stories about Australian spiders and crocodiles ;) Well, I will survive. Provided I earn enough to afford a longer vacation there. After dinner, I sat with Leonie, Julia - both of whom also want to study teaching by the way - and Mirjam (also from Germany), but I didn't stay up too late.

Tuesday, November 8th

In the early morning, the rest of the group headed towards Raglan, while my bus to Auckland was scheduled for noon. So I was alone at the campground for a while. When it started to warm up outside, I decided to go back to Cathedral Cove, which is only about an hour away from the campground, after it was already very crowded there the first time and it was too crowded for me to really enjoy it. I thought maybe there wouldn't be as many people in the morning, and it turned out to be true. In fact, there were hardly any people at the cove at the same time as me, maybe 10. That was definitely advantageous for taking nice photos ;) It is truly a special and unique place, and it's no wonder that it is world-famous. By the way, those who are familiar with The Chronicles of Narnia will recognize that some scenes were filmed exactly here. Over time, more and more visitors arrived, and I made my way back. In between, I went out onto a cliff, where a small, narrow ledge at the end of the footpath reaches over the cliff. That's where the photo was taken of me lying on my back with the sea beneath me ;) At exactly 12:00, I was back at the hostel, and after almost 5 hours of traveling, I arrived in Auckland in the late afternoon. There I had dinner and later went to Cassette 9, where Peter Pan's hosted a party with a raffle of travel prizes. Unfortunately, I didn't win anything again. This last day was initially the last one on the North Island, as the next morning we headed towards the South Island. But I will definitely come back to the North Island later :)

Wednesday, November 9th

I had to get up early at 4:30 in the morning because my flight to Nelson was very early. Actually, I wanted to take the Skybus, but since a taxi driver offered to take me to the airport at the same price, which surprised me, I gladly accepted. Everything went smoothly at the airport, although surprisingly, I didn't have to have my carry-on luggage checked. So theoretically, I could have taken everything on the plane. The flight was short and I had some great views because the weather was very good. After arriving at the hostel with the SuperShuttle, I headed into town at noon and got myself a portion of fish and chips that the hostel highly recommended, and it was really delicious :) After that, I went on a long walk along several different hiking trails. First, I walked along the local river, the Nelson River, then to the Queens Gardens, a beautiful park, then to the site of the first rugby match on New Zealand soil, which took place in 1870, and finally up the steep climb to the viewpoint called 'Centre of New Zealand', which was really exhausting. From there, you have a really good view. In the west, you can see the city area with the harbor (Nelson is located right on the coast), and in the east, you can see the neighboring mountains, which strongly reminded me of the Eifel region because, for New Zealand standards, they were densely forested with an unusually large number of trees. By the way, Nelson only has about 46,000 inhabitants, so you could see almost the entire city from above. Just when I was about to continue, I unexpectedly met Sarah from Ireland, who had done the East Coaster with me and now jumped off the Stray bus for a few days in Nelson. After a while, I continued on the hiking trail and slowly walked into the forest, passing flocks of sheep, with the sea view being really good the whole time, especially since the weather cooperated. In the end, I descended very steep switchbacks before coming out on a road that led me to the next park, the Miyazu Gardens. The name already gives away that this garden is influenced by Japan. Along the railway, I then went back towards the center and ultimately back to the hostel, where I got a vegetable soup, which the hostel offers for free, just like breakfast.

Note: From the next day onwards, I was in Blenheim to start my first job, already on November 10th. Since I will probably be busy with work during this time (about 10 hours a day including transportation) and not traveling around, there will be no more detailed reports for now. I don't think it would interest you much if I were to talk in great detail about my work in viticulture, especially since it is rather monotonous. I will probably write a brief update every now and then, but there will be no daily reports. But shortly before Christmas, my travels will continue, and then there will be detailed articles to read again. Anyway, I would like to thank everyone who has been regularly reading my reports so far, and I hope that I have entertained you well and maybe even inspired you to come to New Zealand ;) Of course, I'm also looking forward to the trip around the South Island :)

See you then,

yours Max