oatmeal

Oatmeal. Morning, noon, and night, nothing but oatmeal. Alternatively, half-burnt toast with a finger-width of peanut butter. As you can see, the life of a backpacker is not exactly the most balanced when it comes to nutrition. But that's okay, it's part of the charm.

Right now, I'm sitting in the dining hall of the Youth Hostel in Auckland with Richard (and a generous portion of cocoa oatmeal). Ah, Auckland. We thought we had left this gray chapter of our journey behind us, but nope... After four days of sun, beach, and mangroves, we have returned to reality and today we did something very grown-up: we opened a proper bank account, complete with signatures and all! To do so, we arrived at our meeting with Sadie at ANZ (we still don't know what the 'A' stands for) this morning AT EXACTLY 10:05AM (and completely out of breath). Oh, we could not have been luckier with this young lady, she was so patient with the two of us...

But enough about reality. Let's focus on the beautiful aspects of traveling... like sun, beach, and mangroves. On Friday, we headed to Paihia, a sunny beach town located in the Bay of Islands. But what makes this town so attractive to tourists? Well, we have swimming with dolphins, epic helicopter rides, boat trips through the bay, and a hole in a rock (which even has its own name: 'Hole in the Rock' - how original...). All for the unbeatable price of $120 each! If you don't feel like breaking the bank or if you're a poor backpacker like us, but still want to do something, there is only one option - hiking! It must be said that Paihia (and its surroundings) offers some truly beautiful hiking trails. Right through kiwi (the bird!) habitats and mangrove forests. We decided to hike to the 'Haruru Falls'. It was really beautiful and the view of the waterfalls was definitely worth it, but the WAY BACK! Two hours on the highway under the blazing sun and without a drop of water! It looked completely different on the map...

Just three words about the hostel: small, cozy, and only 5 minutes from the beach. We stayed in a cozy wooden hut, which we temporarily shared with three Brits and an Irish girl.

In the evening, we finally met our personal New Zealand gurus - Richard and Anton - and ended the day with pizza, beer, and chocolate (sponsored by Anton!). Ah, it was so great to finally eat chocolate again... oh yeah, and meeting the two of them wasn't so bad either. Just kidding! It was simply amazing to chat with them in person (you know, actually being able to touch them and stuff). We also made plans for the next day. Oh, those were beautiful plans: renting a car and driving up to Cape Reinga, the northernmost point of New Zealand. Unfortunately, about 3 seconds before we signed the rental agreement, the car rental company realized that you need to have a driver's license for at least three years, otherwise you could end up in prison. So, no car. Luckily, being the ex-gymnasium students that we are, we found a worthy solution: kayaks! Affordable and not so outlandish considering the amount of water there is. And we felt like real adventurers. So, we rowed against the surging sea and made our way to a nearby island. It was, to say the least... wet!

At noon the next day, we sadly had to say goodbye to Richard and Anton, as we had to return to 'the' city for the aforementioned bank appointment. We miss them so much that we will see them again soon. And by soon, I mean in Hamilton, where the hobbits live (again, 'The Lord of the Rings'). Just to avoid confusion: this blog entry was written over two days. And we are currently not in the dining hall of the Youth Hostel in Auckland, but in the dining hall of the 'Central Backpackers' in Hamilton, waiting for our part-time travel companions to arrive...

So, cheers! (that's what they always say here when saying goodbye...)

Richard & Maggi, Wednesday 11/09/2016, Hamilton 7:39 PM

P.S.: What have we learned about traveling? Traveling makes you resourceful: for example, when you are forced to use the two-meter cable of an earphone splitter as a clothesline...