Fortunately, we survived our third night in the hostel in Hamilton. We enjoyed the free breakfast one last time, took a short walk through the nearby park, and finally made our way to the bus station. On the way there, we were amazed. From a distance, we noticed a huge dark cloud of smoke that seemed to be above the bus station. As we got closer, the smoke became more intense. Suddenly, we saw that the workshop next to the bus station was completely burnt out and a major operation with several fire engines was necessary. Crowds of people were milling about, police officers were redirecting traffic. Luckily, we easily caught the bus and set off to Tauranga on time. Today, we tried Couchsurfing for the first time. I was a bit skeptical, but of course, I was on board as always. We had to take a bus and do a short walk. Finally, we found our host. Shane, an IT bank manager, sports enthusiast. He greeted us quite friendly and we were just absolutely thrilled. The house was right by the beach. It was more like a villa by the sea. Wow. We had our own room with a huge double bed and our own bathroom. 'My home is your home,' said Shane. I couldn't quite come to terms with that and for safety, I googled 'how to do couchsurfing.' 'Have a conversation with the host, don't take 'your home is my home' literally.' Aha. I thought, that can be implemented. In the evening, we strolled to the beach and had avocado sandwiches. We couldn't believe we were here, almost living in a villa, and having our own access to the beach. And all for free. Just crazy :D Happily, we fell into our comfy bed - the best bed so far :)
We slept in and then prepared oatmeal and coffee. After that, we walked to the shopping center and strolled through the stores. At 2 p.m., we had our appointment at the bank to open a bank account. For this, we needed proof of our current residence. Since we didn't have that, we told Shane about it the day before and he decided without hesitation to accompany us to this bank appointment. 'Wow,' we thought. 'That's incredibly nice of him.' As a small thank you, we bought him a pack of Ferrero Rocher. In the late afternoon, we rode the mountain bikes that Shane provided us with to Mount Maunganui and hiked up the mountain. What nature showed us there, we couldn't believe it again. The mountain is located on a peninsula. The trail led directly next to the sea up the mountain. We enjoyed breathtaking views. Once at the top, we opened a Berry Cider that I still had in my backpack, sat on a bench, and admired the great view. The wind blew through our hair and individual raindrops stuck to our noses. It was just an incredible feeling of carefreeness and independence. When it started to rain harder, we hurried down the mountain and trudged back to our host, which proved to be quite difficult. One mountain bike was already in bad shape and whenever you stopped pedaling, the chain fell off. 'Never stop pedaling,' was the motto. Bibi took pity on the broken mountain bike and occasionally forgot to pedal continuously. Then she often stood in the middle of the intersection and almost fell with her own bike. It was just a comedy show and we couldn't stop laughing. At home, we jumped in the shower and hopped into our bed. What a day :D
Today we wanted to visit the Hot Water Pools overlooking the sea in the morning and in the afternoon, look for a hostel or other accommodation. But then everything changed. The day before, we told our host, Shane, that we planned to buy a car and possibly pick one up from Gisborne on Friday. 'Show me the car,' he said. So we did. 'Oh, that's pretty shitty,' he criticized our dream car. And then he said he would take us to a nearby car dealer. Said and done. He even went with us. We especially liked one car and took it for a test drive. Bibi's first drive. Our host sat in the passenger seat and covered his face with his hands. 'Your drive was pretty horrible,' he said afterwards. A comedy show :D Actually, we wanted to take the car. But Shane didn't seem completely convinced yet. So we drove back to him and he searched the internet again. He found an even better car for us. From the first moment, he was convinced that this was the right car for us. He called the woman selling the car, negotiated the price down by another 500 dollars, and checked our car for us. The only catch? It was in Rotorua. So off to Rotorua, was the plan. In the afternoon, we enjoyed the Hot Water Pools, truly very warm saltwater pools with a view of Mount Maunganui. We didn't want to leave the hot thermal pools. In the evening, our host picked us up and as a thank you, we treated him to fish n' chips. We talked about everything under the sun and joked around. He said we could stay another night at his place. When we drove back to his place, suddenly his flatmate's car was parked in front of his garage. Oh great. We thought. Now we might be homeless for the night. We trotted along behind him and first greeted his flatmate. Shane opened a bottle of wine and everyone except me, toasted. Luckily, his flatmate was willing to stay at her friend's house. So thankfully, the accommodation for the next night was checked :) Phew :)
On this day, we had to leave at 8 a.m. - without having breakfast - to catch the Intercity Bus to Rotorua on time. Everything worked out perfectly. Arriving in Rotorua, our first goal was to quickly grab something to eat. We were almost starving. We crashed into the first café we saw and each ordered a big breakfast. Omelette with bacon, cheese, avocados, and baked beans. We passed the time until our appointment by writing in our diaries. At 12:30, we walked to the agreed location and a very friendly lady in a black car picked us up. She dropped us off at her friend's place, our car seller. The car looked really nice and perfect for us. The only catch was that we didn't have the agreed amount of cash with us. That meant we couldn't take the car, of course. Oh great... how would we get back to Rotorua now? The sales location was in the middle of nowhere, where normally no one goes. Our car seller still had childcare duties and we had to wait at her house for two hours until she could take us back to the city. But... it was never boring, as always. We played with the kids, their dogs Charlie and Daisy, and inspected the farm. Suddenly, an escaped pig drew attention to itself. The farmer jumped into her boots and rushed out. The kids followed her. Bibi and I didn't want to miss out on the action and piggybacked the kids. The farmer couldn't quite manage and so I jumped over the fence and half helped her catch the escaping pig. I waded through the pigsty and almost got stuck with my nice shoes. But... the farmer was very grateful and thanked me warmly for my commitment :D. She later drove us back to the city. For today, we had planned to do more Couchsurfing with a real Maori. 'I think we'll have a big surprise today,' said Bibi. And she was probably right. Grant, the Maori, picked us up in his golden 'sled,' showed us some really cool places, a Maori war canoe, the Maori Village, and the lake in Rotorua. Then we ate 'pat thai!' and 'spring rolls' at the food market. Grant was really a super likable Maori and we learned a lot about Maori culture. He was very proud to be Maori and he showed it. He also took us to the mud pool. What on earth was that? A pond with hot mud bubbling up. Imagine a pot of boiling water. This mud is 100 degrees hot. Just crazy. Finally, we drove to his Maori village. We weren't sure what to think when we arrived. And then we entered his 'house.' It looked more like a one-room hut. Seriously? What awaited us there, we couldn't believe ourselves. No running water. No electricity. No network. No bathroom. The toilet, by the way, was an outdoor pit latrine. Plus, it was a real mess in the house. Everything was messy, dirty, and full of bugs. We were allowed to sleep in the 'queen-size' bed, which, by the way, was right next to the Maori bed. 'Where's the hidden camera here?' whispered Bibi. This couldn't be serious, right? Grant left us at seven because he had a guitar lesson. When he was gone, Bibi and I sat silently opposite each other, not daring to look into each other's eyes. I took a glance and we started laughing loudly until tears came to our eyes. Where had we landed here? We already changed into our clothes for the next day, put on two extra layers, and went to bed at half past seven. There were bugs in bed too. We took out our neck pillows and made sure not to touch the sheets. 'Please let the night pass quickly,' we prayed.
We could hardly sleep. It was soooo cold at night. We almost froze, without exaggeration. Grant joined us in bed in the morning and taught us the Maori alphabet. Bibi was 'enthusiastic,' you could see it in her really sleepy 'don't bother me this early in the morning' look. :D. Then we went to brush our teeth. Yes, you read that right. A natural pool where all Maoris go to do their morning body care. Brushing teeth, washing, shaving. 'Oh, how disgusting.' We just freshened up a bit and didn't want to put a toe in the pool in any case. Grant was a bit disappointed, but we simply said that we didn't have bikinis. Then he took us to Wai-o-tapu Wonderland. What awaited us there was really just pure madness. Wai-o-tapu means 'sacred waters' in Maori. There are collapsed craters, hot lakes, mud puddles, and steaming fumaroles. Particularly impressive was the Champagne Pool with its orange-colored rim. The Devil's Bath, a bright yellow-green lake, was simply amazing. After that, we were mega hungry, as we hadn't had breakfast with Grant. Except for oranges and shells, there was nothing to eat at his place. So we treated ourselves to sandwiches and muffins at the Wai-o-tapu Café. In the afternoon, Grant took us back to Rotorua. Today, we finally wanted to get our car. We got the cash in cash and then met our car seller at Briscons, a homeware shop. She took us to her place and kindly helped us with the insurance and registration, which, by the way, all works online and was really convenient. And then I got to drive our baby for the first time. It wasn't easy to drive on the left. Bibi didn't feel completely safe at first. We dashed to the hostel, took a hot shower first, ate, and fell into bed, completely exhausted.
What a wonderful night. A warm bed. Everything clean and fresh. We felt wonderfully refreshed. We had cereal with fresh yellow kiwis, toast with Philadelphia and cucumber, and of course, our favorite hazelnut spread for breakfast. After that, we did the laundry. This time it went much better. We were almost laundry pros :D We even hung the laundry outside, which saved us 4 dollars for the dryer. Perfect. We grabbed a bite to eat, then went to a car wash to clean our new vehicle. We also vacuumed the inside. Unfortunately, the car was in pretty bad shape on the inside. So we had a major renovation ahead of us. But we postponed that to the next day. In the evening, we went to the Hot Water Pools. Thermal pools that are pleasantly warm due to volcanic activity. It feels like being in a spa, only it's free. We didn't want to leave there anymore. The thermal pools were also a tip from Grant. We were very grateful to him for that. The water is also very good for the skin.
Sunday, October 31, 2016
We slept in, prepared ourselves a delicious breakfast, and then started the general cleaning of our car. We cleaned together for two hours until the smell and dirt were removed from the car. After that, we dashed to the shopping center and bought a mattress, cushions, blankets, and curtains. We wanted to make the car comfortable enough to sleep in. That saves a lot of money, of course. It should become a really cozy sleeper van. We still had a lot of work ahead of us. In the evening, we wrote our overdue blogs and skyped with our families.
