The first holidays

Meanwhile, the first term that we have been here is over, and with that, the first holidays were also due.
The first Monday was still a 'makeup day' for the one Monday in August that was canceled due to strong winds. But on Tuesday, we had the day off and set off early in the morning for Auckland, where I was dropped off at the airport. Since we made better progress than expected and had no traffic jams, I arrived a bit too early and had to wait until my flight took off. With a delay, we left around half-past two for Dunedin on the South Island. The flight was very pleasant and went by relatively quickly. My personal highlight was that I could see the Southern Alps out of the window!
When I landed in Dunedin, Josi picked me up, and on the way to her house, she showed me a bit of the city. The next day, we drove together to the Otago Peninsula, which was beautiful! We had a fantastic view over Dunedin and the harbor.
We also stopped at a beach and walked along there, where I saw sea lions, and a little seal crawled across the beach, which was super cute!
Later, we went to the Royal Albatross Centre and had a tour there. I saw a few albatross chicks, which were already quite large and about to fledge. The next day, we went to Tunnel Beach, which was really cool, you had to walk a bit to get to the beach and the last part went through a tunnel in the rock. The beach was then surrounded by steep cliffs, which seemed very surreal. There I saw another sea lion right behind the tunnel exit. On the way back, I was dropped off in the city and visited the Otago Museum, which was about the history of New Zealand. After that, I checked out the university and visited the Botanical Garden, where not much was blooming yet because it was still winter. In the evening, there was an event at Josi's daughter's school, which I got to attend.

On Friday morning, I went for a walk in the woods, where I saw many Tuis, which are very beautiful blue-black birds with a white tuft in front. Later, I went with Josi's husband Eric to the Moeraki Boulders, which are round stones that jut out of the ground at a beach. On the way back, we stopped at Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world!

Saturday afternoon, I was already heading back to Tauranga after a relaxing morning at the Farmers Market and op shopping (secondhand shops).

The next day, we were invited for lunch by a volunteer from the RDA, and in the morning, I baked a Black Forest cherry roll for that. :)

We also spent Monday very relaxed, just walking at the Mount, where I saw seals in the wild for the first time, they were incredibly cute!
The rest of the week was quite calm, on Tuesday we went to a beach on the Coromandel Peninsula, and in the following three days, we got to ride horses. Santa got a bit too excited and bucked occasionally, but it was still very nice. ;)
Additionally, we visited the movie 'Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice' and the Wairere Falls, where the path was strenuous but beautiful, and the waterfalls were really tall! To conclude the week, we walked to a small beach about 15 minutes away, which was also very nice because it was very warm.

So, the holidays were unfortunately already over, and the holiday program began, about which I will write a bit in the next report... :)