30|09|2018, Kauri Forest, St. Paul's Rock, Taupo Bay, Coca-Cola Lake

Hello everyone,

today I'm checking in with a little more battery and hope to tell you a bit more precisely what happened to me!😊

The day started again with sunshine, squinted eyes, a steaming coffee and "fried egg-avocado toast".

Since avocados grow directly here in New Zealand, they taste really great and are comparatively cheap compared to Germany!

Well-fed, we then went on a hiking track through the forest near our campsite.

The forest was full of "Kauri trees", a tree species that only exists in New Zealand. The trees grow really huge and also have an enormous diameter. On our track, we were able to admire the second largest Kauri in the world. It was proud 1200 years old and I would estimate its height at 30 meters.

Here in New Zealand, I'm really thrilled every day with how incredibly beautiful our nature is!

In addition, there is such a variety of nature!

Just on the route we have now covered from Auckland towards the north, you would probably have had to spend 3 months to see everything, but New Zealand is really too big for that and there is too much to see to see everything!

After our track, we drove on to "St. Paul's Rock".

A mountain near a tidal inlet, which was easy to reach and climb on foot.

Although we already thought we needed an oxygen tent halfway, we ultimately climbed the mountain and I can only say "Wow"!

We were rewarded with a truly fantastic view that was really worth taking the path!

After the ascent, we drove to "Taupo Bay", a really beautiful beach, and stayed there for a while until we arrived at a campsite on "Coca-Cola Lake". The water in the lake actually has the color of cola and, although it doesn't look like it, it is supposed to be really healthy to swim in it.

I will try it out tomorrow morning!

Tomorrow we will probably take the remaining way to the North Cape, "Cape Reinga", and spend the night there. I'm really curious to see if it's really as beautiful as most people say it is!😊

But as beautiful as everything has been here so far, I assume it is!

By the way, there was a time change here to daylight saving time, so we are now 11 hours ahead of Germany!😳

See you tomorrow!😊

Greetings from Coca-Cola Lake, New Zealand!🇳🇿

Yours, Tim!😊