New Zealand

Auckland - Cape Reinga

So here we are again. After a short round of flying, 16 hours with two layovers, we finally made it to this Auenland, also known as New Zealand. We booked our first night in Auckland through Airbnb. At the airport, we asked a taxi driver how much the ride to our accommodation would cost. We decided to wait an hour for the bus instead. After a short wait, we got on the bus, but unfortunately, the bus driver couldn't sell us a ticket because he couldn't change our 50 dollar bill. If only we had bought the small bottle of water for 6 dollars at the airport. Okay, off to the taxi. By the way, the taxi driver was very happy about our 50 dollar bill. After a 10-minute drive, we finally arrived at a small house where super nice Asian immigrants had a little flatshare. That was a great experience, as we felt like we were spending every evening with the guys and girls in the living room after just a few minutes. Unfortunately, the evening didn't last very long as we were pretty exhausted and the guys and girls said something about going to work????

The next day, picking up our campervan at the airport was on the agenda. Since we want to do a lot of hiking in New Zealand, we decided, as model Swabians should, to walk to the airport to save taxi money. It's only 12 km, after all. After a successful hike along the Highway-Graben Trail, the time had finally come to greet our campervan. This will be our mobile home for the next eight weeks.

Quick check and off we go through Auckland's rush hour traffic on the left side of the road.

After a two-hour drive, we headed to a seaside campsite and rested, did some shopping, and so on.

We also had to cure our pretty intense jet lag.

Then we continued to Waipu. A drive along the coast, the sea so infinitely blue, the sand bright white, then meadows in a green green like we had never seen before, then through forests that remind us of the Black Forest combined with tropical rainforest. And all of this constantly alternating, sea, forests, meadows, hills...all packed under a sky that couldn't be bluer. We have the feeling that the origin of everything is here in New Zealand, everything seems more intense and perfect than anything we have seen in our previous lives. Endless distances and occasionally a small village or just individual houses. New Zealand has a total of 4,500,000 inhabitants on an area that makes up about 2/3 of Germany. And of these 4,500,000, 1.4 million alone live in Auckland.

We kind of had a tremendous culture shock, even though we are in the Western world.

With amazed eyes and pretty speechless and also pretty confused, thanks to jet lag, we enjoyed the first days in this Auenland.

We spent two more nights in Waipu and set off for our big goal, Cape Reinga. The next stage was supposed to be Russell. Supposed to...we didn't quite make it because the winding roads make everything take a bit longer. In the evening, we followed a campsite sign. After 10 km, the road ended and we arrived at a bay opposite green meadows and small Auenland hills, our campsite! A dream, and there were only five other campers in this idyll besides us.

The starry sky was indescribably beautiful; we have never seen the stars shine so brightly.

In the morning, the cows grazed on the hill, rabbits, ducks, seagulls, and all sorts of birds kept us company during breakfast.

We spontaneously decided to stay for 2 more nights and went on a beautiful hike over green hills, through varied forests, and along the coast.

Then we continued to Russell. A pretty little polished little town that looks quite English. Everywhere there were small pretty cottages, each house had a porch... We felt like we were in a movie set. The next day we set off for Cape Reinga.

The area became more sparsely populated, nature became more rugged. Although Cape Reinga is a tourist hotspot, there are no restaurants and only a few campsites without service. This means you can simply camp at the designated place and throw a small amount into a mailbox. In return, you get pit toilets and cold showers.

We found a beautiful spot in a bay far away from the road. Many other campers were also there.

The next day, we set off on the 10 km hiking trail to Cape Reinga. It went up and down the wooded cliffs covered with meadows and shrubs. Unbelievable views took our breath away all day.

There were many tourists at Cape Reinga after all, because you can also drive there by car.

This place is very significant for the Maori because this is where their dead go into the sea, and there is a tree at the cliffs that has never bloomed and is also sacred.

For us, it was very impressive to see how the South Pacific with its waves from the east and the Abel Tasman Sea from the west meet each other. We stood at the almost northernmost end of New Zealand, and it felt like the end of the world.

The next morning, there was still some fun on the program. 20 kilometers below Cape Reinga is an impressive dune landscape. Dunes up to 190 meters high, we felt like we were in the desert.

Armed with a small surfboard, we climbed these unreal desert landscape. When we reached the top, we noticed that it takes quite a bit of courage to slide down these steep dunes, but what the heck, we had already struggled up the mountain, and we can also go sledding! It was fun! After a few rides, we were pretty tired, and sand was everywhere imaginable on our bodies.

With plenty of sand in our luggage, a red nose, and good spirits, it's time to rack up the kilometers heading south......