Ninth and Tenth Stop: Taupo and New Plymouth

Taupo - VACATION! Now you might be thinking, 'huh? She's in New Zealand. Is she taking a vacation from her vacation?' No, don't worry. I worked for a month before this and now I'm going to Taupo to plan the rest of my trip with Elli, but also to relax because the work was really exhausting at times. 

As it usually happens, you tend to get sick on vacation. I also got a cold, but I couldn't do anything despite it being just a cold. After a day of complete rest, I felt better the next day and we took a little stroll around the city.
Taupo is a really beautiful city located right at Lake Taupo. And there, we also laid down in the sun and just relaxed! I even took a quick dip, the lake was really cold.
Apart from the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, we didn't do anything else because this was our break from work. I will write more about the Tongariro Alpine Crossing!

And on Thursday, we already went to New Plymouth, which means: we're finally traveling again.
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New Plymouth - On Thursdays, we didn't do anything except go shopping and make our own 'Sushi Bowl'.
On Fridays, we had a cozy breakfast, which we do almost every morning. And then we took a little stroll around the city. Since New Plymouth is right by the ocean, we went there and laid down on the grass. It was so nice to hear the sound of the ocean and just close our eyes!

The next day, we did the 'Coastal Walkway'. It was a whole 13 km along the coast. And that was also great. 

Originally, we planned to climb Mount Taranaki, but after a short internet research, we realized that we are too inexperienced hikers for that.

And now, I'm heading to my last stop on the North Island: Wellington. I'm really excited about that!

By the way, the official start of summer here in New Zealand was at the beginning of December. Except for a few rainy days, the weather here is really great!