Wellington
We spent the day in Wellington heading for the Te Papa museum, after enjoying a well deserved sleep in. It was a beautiful sunny day and less windy than usual, and we kind of hurried throught the museum to be able to enjoy the sun outside. We had company by an Italian guy from our hostelroom named Jan, and together we continued our day with hiking up to the mount Victoria viewpoint where we overlooked the whole city and the mountains beyond. Even if we had a gorgeous view, I can imagine it would have been better on the dark, having the whole city lightened up.
On our way down the Tongariro, and the clouds we just decend below
We saved our whole budget that day to be able to spend it all on drinks that night as we headed out to meet up with our friend Tom. We use to live together back in fruitshack doing our Australian farmwork but haven't seen him in 1,5 years as he's been making a living in Wellington. Being a bartender he hooked us up with free jugs as we waited for him to finish. As he knew all the bartenders in the area the night escalated with endless jugs of beer and free shots as we moved on between the bars catching up with our old friend. Obviously, we woke up with an horrendous hangover as we had to check out 4 hours after getting to bed. Giving our whole day to last night we realized that there was no way we could get into a car just yet without getting sick. After a few more hours sleep on the couches in our hostel lounge we eventually had to face the fact that we have to get moving and forced ourselves on to the road even thought our brains was ripped into pieces and we felt as if our stomachs had turned inside out.
Palmerston North
Stina was in a way more serious pain stage than I was as we struggled our way towards Palmy. It should only be a 2 hour drive, but given our late start and the fact that we headed off getting on the wrong road it took us what felt like an eternity with several different rides, whiny roads and vomits. We rocked up at the doorstep belonging to our lovely Brittish friend Arla, who we did the Mount fox trek with a couple of weeks prior. After living in Palmy for the past year working as a doctor she was about to head home in a few days and had her leaving drinks that very night. Stina and I felt sorry for being in our miserable stage, but was more than happy to come our for dinner. Her friends joined us one by one, mainly all doctors, to say goodbye to her over a few drinks.
Tongariro crossing
It was a good 45 minutes walk for us the next morning getting to the right end of the city, but whilst there we had an easy ride to Turangi. Our Italian friend Jan was waiting us at the hostel as we had agreed to do the tongariro crossing together the following day. A one day trek taking you between the mountains and volcanos where the famous movie 'lord of the rings' has been filmed.
At 6am, Stina, Jan and I got into the car together belonging a French couple from the hostel. We had been promised great weather, 25 + and sunshine, and Stina and I got talked into wearing shorts even If we usally always wear long clothing just in case. Even in this early hours, before the sunrise, I had a feeling that we had a beautiful day laying in front of us. I couldn't have been more wrong. For the first time since we got to this country, the weather surely turned us down. It got chilly as we started walking, and I was having second thoughts about leaving my jacket last second back home, but kept telling myself that it would clear up during the morning. We walked along an easy, comfortable pathway with designed steps taking us uphill. Getting deeper and deeper into the clouds, we got on a higher level having the wind growing stronger. Eventually we had face the truth - there would be no 25 degrees and sunshine. We were getting towards the highest point of the crossing, fighting the wind as the track got steeper and it started to rain. Very lightly rain, but constant. Fog was our only sight and the idea of doing the extra hike up the volcano suddenly felt quite pointless. Stina and I, being stupidly poorly dressed, had to leave our friends behind as it was simply to cold to stand still waiting them in. They were all clever enought to bring extra layers and rainproof. We were both in shorts, Stina with a hoodie while I was in a riddicously thin long sleeved shirt. With all my hiking experiences in the past you would think I should know better. The cold was biting, like thousands of needles attacking every inch of my body. I didn't know wether to cry or to laugh. It started to decend downhill, and the so enjoyable pathway turned into a hill of black sand that we slalomed down throught, struggling to keep the balance as the wind tried blowing us off. We finally got down to solid ground as we bumped into familiar faces.
'What a day for a good walk, ey?'
He had to screem to make himself heard throught the sound of the wind. It was 3 Israeli guys and one girl from our hostel that we had convinced into doing the trek today instead of the following day, not having a second thought that weather like this could appear. Still, they didn't seemed to upset and the girl kindly offered me a spare scarf to wrap around my neck as Stina and I hurried down as they kept going the other direction. We were running now, back at the wide comfortable walkway leading us downhill. Not even stopping for the famous lake as we passed. Soaking wet we finally made it or a hut, located about an hour from the end where we happily got inside to wait for our friends. The last bit back down wasn't as bad. It stopped raining, and I had borrowed a dry sweater from the French guy. As we finally got down to the end of the track we waited for about 2 hours for our French friend to hitch a ride to the start of the track where we had left the car. Tons of people where standing waiting for the shuffle bus. As it had been such bad weather most of the people had rushed down, just as we did, and finished the trek ours before expected and way before the first bus would be taking them back. We were happy to be in the car as we drove back to the hostel, enjoyed a hot well deserved shower and cuddled up under blankets for the rest of the day!
Lake Taepo
It was not even noon as we reached our hostel in Taepo where met up with Jan again, who got a lift from Turangi a couple of hours earlier. We walked to the hot pools just outside town, which is basically steaming hot water by the end of the river. Like spa made of nature. As I understand it, the water heats up under the grown by the volcanos and are still hot as it streams into the river. So we could chose what temperature we want based on how close we are to the waterfall, which obviously is the hottest point. Pretty sweet.
Our ride between Taepo and coromandel gave us a fairly rare but amazing experience. The first guy picking us up was a local man probably in his forties. He mentioned that he had a boat back at his place and offered to take us out on the lake, to bring us or the hot springs located in the middle of the bush only reachable by boat.
- 'Hell yeah'. Stina and I shared the same thoughts as we got change and left our bags at his place. We got into his motorboat and put ourselves in a floating wetsuit as we crossed the lake. The water was warm as we got out of the boat. He took along the river into what was like a tiny roofless cave, where we had to squeeze through in between the walls. Floating, as the water was to deep to reach with our feet. It was so quiet, and such an amazing feeling. Following the river throught the bush we found ourselves in front of a waterfall and natural hotpools. We sat enjoying the heated water and the quietness of the nature. Without a single tourist around. Being in that very moment, we could not stop smiling. Tryi to be as thankful as we could. It is amazing really, the people you meet, the stories you hear, the things you see and the experience you gain travelling the way we are!
Coromandel
We got to Coromandel town quite, feeling exhausted due to our days adventures and a bit sick after all the windy roads. I collapsed on top of me bed almost immediately, as Stina stayed up chatting away with German Max and Daniel. We continued to Whiteanga first thing the next morning, at the east cost of Coromandel bay and only an hour away. Dropping our stuff off we hitched a ride straight to the renown 'hot water beach' where you during low tide can dig your own hot pool right on the beach. Apparently, it turned out to be high tide as we got there and no hot pools to be seen. We changed direction and hitch another ride to the cathedral cove instead. A 45 minutes walk along the bay brought us down to a big cave in between 2 beaches. It was a lovely sight. Reminded me a bit of the hidden beaches there was to be seen while island hopping in the philllipines. As we got back up we got ourselves in a car heading back to the 'hot water beach' for the low tide. It was not at all what we had expected. A ridiculous amount of people trying to dig themselves into the sand on top of eachother as Stina and I tried to squeeze throught the crowdness. It was insane, and we didn't bother staying much longer.
Bay of island
It took us 8.5 hours and 13 different cars or get us from Coromandel to Paihia, Northland. We had woken up to great wether in Whiteanga that morning deciding to extend our stay with one more night. To our great luck we faced the fact that they where fully booked and we had about 5 minutes to check out. We decided to hit the road instead. The hard part was getting in and out of Auckland, as the motorway throught the city is the only road leading up north. Even if we never had to wait longer than 10 minutes for a ride, having to wait 13 times adds up. After being on a constant every day move since we left Wellington we were excited of having a couple of relaxing restdays in front of us. Sleep as long as we want, spending hours on the beach and what not. We took the ferry over to Russel, which is a tiny touristy community. It didn't have to much to offer other than a gorgeous beach which served us well for the day. As we walked back to hostel in the afternoon, a car pulled over next do us showing us the familiar faces of Max and Daniel. They had been driving from Coromandel town a few days ago and was currently staying with a friend in Kerkeri. The came over to our hostel for a few drinks before heading back, mentioning that they'll be driving down to Auckland in a few days if we wanted a lift. We hitched an easy ride to Kerikeri the next morning, where we met our friends at our hostel as they was about to sell their car. They was leaving the country the same day as Stina and I, and had to get rid of if before then. It was a lovely day in Kerikeri, and together with Max and Daniel we walked into town to have a look at the carshow. Neither Stina nor I have a passion for cars but came for the company dancing to Elvis Presley. As the cars drove away we seated ourselves in the park outside the designed area of the food&winenfestival, listening to their music and cheering in celebration for Daniels success of selling his car.
Auckland
Everyone has been telling us how not too waste to many days in Auckland, as it supposedly is a terrible city. As Daniel manage to sell his car up in Kerkeri, he was no longer able to give us (or themselves) a lift to Auckland. Still feeling tired of our intense days of hitchhiking we was pleased to meet Adrian at the hostel, who was heading down south the following morning. As he was driving a 2 seater, I was lying in the back, on top of mattress which supply him as a bed, and slept the whole way. Adrian was heading for lake Taupo and still had a fair bit to go as he dropped us off in Auckland, where we met Max and Daniel in our hostel. We had made plans to head out dancing as it was our last night. Almost. Stina and I had decided to spend our very last night at the airport to save us a nights accommodation. Full of excitement we occupied the streets of Auckland that night just to discover what a disappointed city we had got ourselves to. Not a single place was open for clubbing or dancing, and even to find a bar was a struggle. Even if it did was a Sunday night, we expected more than that from the big city. In a basement of a backstreet we finally found a decent pub that satified us with beers and free pool tables for a few hours.
Sadly, it was time to face the fact that our time in New Zealand was about do end. 5 weeks went past too quickly. After spending all day at the beach we headed our for a brilliant Indian dinner and bottles of wines together with our German companions. Followed by several games of pool and It wasn't until 4 in the morning that when we left for the airport. With sadness and excitement. We couldn't have wished for a better trip in New Zealand, challenging ourselves with Hitchhiking and trekking, meet and interact with all kinds of persons, all with their own story or tell. With our minds full of great memories and inspiration, Stina and I hugged eachother goodbye as we boarded different planes, taking each of us towards our own destiny.
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