Christmas with a twist

On Friday the 16th, the thinning season came to an end for us, and on Saturday we had our Christmas and farewell party from work. Since we had decided to continue living on the plantation until after Christmas, we had a week to do some more activities (such as hiking to Cape Kidnappers at low tide) and prepare our car for the road trip.

Since we all wanted to have a dinner together on Christmas, we started cooking on the 23rd and made so much food that we ended up having way too much. There was guacamole, onion rings, garlic bread, nachos, lasagna, sandwiches, crepes, and plenty of cake. Before we ate, Linda and Rafi prepared a scavenger hunt for us, which was incredibly fun. At midnight, we exchanged Secret Santa gifts and everyone had something to be excited about. The next morning, we finished the leftovers and Bella and I went to the beach and then played tennis with a few others on our boss's court.

The next day, it was already time for us and our travel group (consisting of the 4 German guys Johannes, Niklas, Kevin & Jan, and Linda & Rafi) to leave and we headed to Tongariro National Park. However, the free camp there was closed, so we slept in a parking lot right by a river. When we set off the next day, the weather was unfortunately not so good, but it got better as we hiked and we decided to climb Mt Ngauruhoe (Mount Doom). The ascent on volcanic rock was anything but easy, and when 60 km/h winds came into play, it became really uncomfortable. When we started to descend or rather slide down, the weather got worse again, so we decided to go back the 6 kilometers we had already completed instead of the remaining 14 kilometers of the Tongariro Crossing. As soon as we reached the car, the weather turned sunny again - typical New Zealand. Yesterday, the weather was incredibly good and we were very envious of Quentin and Max, who had decided to do the track a day after us, but we still had a nice day at the lake in Taupo and I even randomly ran into Phil, a friend from Frankfurt. Unfortunately, it was time to say goodbye to our travel group for now, as we all have different plans for New Year's Eve.

Currently, Bella and I are in Rotorua, but we will be heading back to Taupo the day after tomorrow as we want to spend New Year's Eve there. So far, we really like the road trip, even though it can be a bit challenging to only sleep in free camps where there is no water, electricity, and usually not even a toilet, but luckily, all libraries in New Zealand have free Wi-Fi and usually also have power outlets, and you can always find a river or lake to shower in.