Some fuel in the coffee?

After a long shower and a proper breakfast, we set off. Our next stop: Koutu Boulders.

For those of you who have not heard of it or cannot imagine it, feel free to take a look at the pictures. Our first impression was more like, "Oh, so rocks 🙄" But this quickly changed as we walked along the beach.

You can find these very impressive rocks in Opononi. On this particular beach, there are dozens, or almost hundreds, of pitch-black, round rocks. Different sizes, marked by time. Some already broken or in formations, as if they were intentionally placed there.

With these amazing impressions in mind, we continued. And that's the "Tane Mahuta". I can quote from Wikipedia: The tree is one of the largest living trees at 51.2 m (167 ft), and is the largest known kauri tree. Its girth at ground level is 13.77 m (45 ft 2 in), corresponding to a diameter of nearly 4.4 m (13 ft 9 in). The height of the trunk from the ground to the lowest branch is 17.68 m (58 ft), and the trunk volume is 244.5 m³ (8,640 cu ft).[1] It is not until a height of 18 m (59 ft) that the tree has branches.

In my own words: Damn, that thing is huge. I could hardly believe how majestic this giant "stands around" there. And above all, how small one feels next to it.

After this stop, we decided to check in at a campground a little earlier and end the evening there. At this point, I would like to highlight an exceptionally beautiful and well-maintained campground. It's called the "Holiday Park" in Dargavill. Super friendly staff or operators. Exceptionally clean amenities and great facilities. So, if you're looking for a place to stay in this area, you're in good hands there.

After a restful night, we set off again for Waiuku. The reason for this is that our campervan is no longer playing along properly. We have noticed for some time now that there is a rattling noise on uneven roads. This turned out to be a problem with the front axle. Furthermore, it seems that a previous renter of the vehicle mistook the filler cap of the fresh water tank for the fuel filler cap and "filled up" the fresh water tank with several liters of gasoline. This also explained the annoying slight smell of gasoline in the fresh water. At this point: Thank you very much to Kurt from travelcars.de! A great handling of the complaint, an immediate replacement vehicle, and a ton of good tips. Thank you very much.

With the "new" vehicle, we made our way to Port Waikato. Here, we had a wonderful beach walk and spent the night. Tomorrow, we will slowly head towards Wellington, where we will most likely take the ferry to the South Island on December 30th, 2017.