my last week...

so in the last couple of days weve done heaps and ive had such a great time!!!
its mainly small things that are really enjoyable and keep me distracted from the fact that im about to leave... like, the other day, i cooked pasta for 4 or 5 people and they all enjoyed it!!! julia style!!! =) i bought this REAL parmesan at countdown which was like 18 bucks for 250 grams - bloody expensive, but soooooo worth it! =)
another day we went out and played soccer which made all of us happy, since its a nice change to rugby... =) we had a game at the beach and it was fun, but unfortunately i cant say i kicked ass, cause i was out of breath in no time...
the next morning we got up really early to see the sun rise over the sea... wasnt the most spectacular thing ive seen, but beautiful all the while...
just yester 3 others and me went on a day trip... and i enjoyed the ride in my precious, of course... =) so drove for like 2 or more hours, on the way stopping at this 'museum'. at the museum we had to ring the bell to then have a 89-year-old man slowly coming to guide us through... its basically an exhibition of antiques... everything from old coins, to bed pans, to cars... apparently theyve got the oldest austin known in the world... the cute old man went on about the firstcar he bought, which we could see at the museum, the second world war, and how things have changed during his lifetime... it was really interesting. so after what should have been a rather short visit to the museum we sent on and drove to the hotsprings in the middle of nowhere... it was absolutely gorgeous! and bloody hot too. though the sand flies were freekin annoying, and thats basically why we just hopped in for like 15 minutes and then made our way back again - 2 hours...
often we would just play cards or watch movies...enjoying each others company... =) the other night 5 of us went to lazer force, which (i probably have to explain again) is kinda like paintball just with lazers and you feel like youre double 0 7 and youve got the licence to kill... =) was mean as! most of the time we didnt stand a chance because there were all these little buggers, the kids from town, who go there so often that theyre just unbeatable. anyways, it was still heaps of fun and we had our laugh!
so as you can see, in these last couple of days weve done heaps of small things like that and of course packing - nice! enjoying every second with good friends and trying not to think about leaving this place... =)
cheers

too many pics with precious, i know... but shes the star! =)
and, by the way, i know too that the selection of pics is a bit random, but since im leaving tomorrow i wont waste my time on the computer... the couple in one pic are the hosts of archies bunker backpacker - theyre the best!

auckland - tauranga - rotorua - napier

auckland:
last weekend (or think so) i was still in auckland... just for one night, though, before i would make my way to tauranga. stayed there with silke and we really had trouble finding accommodation since there were two concerts in auckland we had no idea of... in the end we were lucky - or thats what we thought... the hostel was absolutely incredibly revolting... first of all, we walked in there and there didnt seem to be anyone who was running the place, nice. we actually only met the staff (one person) the next morning just before we left...) so there was just this note saying 'your key is in yellow fridge, top'... after we had the key we had a short look around to see the gross kitchen: messy, dishes not done, unclean... and the rest of the hostel was the same... we didnt even dare take a shower there... but, anyways, thats a backpackers life, aye?! still loving it!!! =) so, as you can see, we just dumped our all our gear in our room and then left as soon as possible to have tea downtown and have a drink with the same people we had met in paihia... on the way catching a short glimpse of the sky tower (pic)... the next morning silke and i separated... she flew out two days later to aussie, where we said we should meet again... and then i was off to tauranga to stay with the cairns-nelsons for another four nights...

tauranga:
stayed with the cairns-nelsons and had an awesome time! first of all i arrived at their house and had the most beautiful view of whole tauranga and mt manganui and everything... those 3 full days i just enjoyed 'family dynamics' once again... small (sometimes bigger) quarrels, doing family stuff, having a mums cooking... =) went for a walk, played mini putt (where i kicked ass!), watched tv in the evenings... and also caught up with other people from tauranga: the french couple i was picking with in napier (who are now doing 14-hour night shifts packing kiwis) and a tim, a kiwi i did the queen charlotte track with on the south island...

rotorua:
didnt really stay in rotorua, it was just a stop in between tauranga and napier - plus i really wanted to see the wai-o tapu thermal park... arrived latish at night and got up early in the morning to continue... the thermal park was really cool, though its a shame that the camera never catches the true colours and the true look of things... it was beautiful - you should have been there! everything from the geyser to the hot pools to the gorgeous smell of brimstone - awesome! =) right next to the park where you actually have to pay admittance, there are the mud pools... which, i have to say, i think i liked the most! cant really tell why, but it was fascinating watching the bubbles burst and, in general, hearing all these funny noises it made... theres just no english word that could properly fit the situation cause all i could think about was 'chosle'... nice! =)

anyways, after having a look at the park (with two guys from my hostel) i basically drove right through to napier... my last ride in my precious!!! =( im gonna sell her here... gosh, i love my car! anyways, back in napier to spend my last week (!!!) in nz with what remains of my fruit picking crew and the staff of the hostel...


p.s.
it's really starting to get bloody freezing down here! the other night we had like 2 deg!!! brrr... so aussie will definitely be a welcome change of temperature... =)

northland with silke

so yesterday i picked up silke from rotorua, so were traveling together again - just for a few days, though... drove all the way up here, passed auckland (which i got my first glimpse of) and spent the night in another randomly chosen bbh hostel... only to start again this morning... having a stop in kawakawa, where there were public toilets constructed by hundertwasser (he lived in nz for 25 years!)... and gave this guy from israel a lift... now were here in paihia (bay of islands) and tomorrow were going for a day trip up to cape reinga, ninety mile beach and other places... so really just a full programme... =)

the trip to cape reinga and ninety mile beach was wicked... though the weather was a bit shitty the whole trip was still enjoyable... we started off driving up on the ninety-mile beach, which was gorgeous! it stretches all the way up to the horizon and the weather was pretty dramatic as well, so the atmosphere was amazing... =) really windy, though! after a short stop at ninety-mile beach we went on to duneboarding - wicked! but bloody scary! it sounds like pure fun, but first of all because your head is so bloody near to the ground when you lie on that board your whole face, mouth ears and more are full of nasty sand, and secondly, the dune we rode down was so freekin steep that it was actually pretty scary going down there! you have to dig in your feet to make yourself go slower, so what i did was stuck my feet into the ground (sand) as hard as possible (and it was still going too fast!) which then made my feet all sore because of the sand... nice! i can do skydiving, bungy and the canyon swing too, but duneboarding is too scary!!! =) anyways, after that we continued and finally got to cape reinga, which technically isnt even the most northern point of nz... had lunch after that... and eventually got back to paihia, with a stop at the (apparently) best fish'chips shop ever... was gooooood! in the evening i went out with silke and another girl from our dorm to go to a swiss restaurant and i had schnitzel - REAL schnitzel - nice. later on we went out big time and had a few drinks... so just a really fun, but looooong day. =)

the cairns-nelsons

day 1:
you might remember the kiwi family i met on the rakiura track on stewart island like 2,5 months ago?! well, anyways, they are the cairns-nelsons and i spent this weekend (easter) with them at their bach at lake rotoiti... it was AWESOME!!! that family rocks! the boys and both parents are just the best example for kiwi generosity and were so hospitable and friendly!!! we did sooooo much stuff in just 4 days, i dont even know where to start... well, first of all, the boys and jim (the dad) took me to a local rugby game just after we met at the information centre in rotorua... and it was such a brutal game!!! so many guys got badly injured - ouch!!! really dont fancy playing that game, im too a wuss!!! =) so right after lunch and rugby we went off to a golf course and i didnt even do that bad! my putting needs some work, though... then, (like i said, the programme comtinues!) after tea we went on their boat and went to the hot pools (only accessible by boat)... so there were some gorgeous, really hot pools and the lake with a slide just beside it, so you could cool off every once in a while...

day 2:
i cant even really remember what we did on which day, but doesnt really matter anyways... so on the second day we went fishing in the moring, but didnt really catch anything... in the afternoon jim and one of the boys went golfing again, but i enjoyed staying at the bach, just chilling for a change... in the evening we had a nice barbie and were so exhausted very early on, so we went to bed... good day, though...

day 3 & 4:
more golf, watched a rugby leage game on tv (but basically just enjoyed some beers while the others were cheering or crying out desperately...), had some more barbies and even more beers (=), played pictionary (the whole family), played monopoly and rummy-kub with the boys, another visit to the hot pools, bodyboarding and i even got a chocolate easter bunny on sunday... =)

thats about it... 4 awesome days with the cairns-nelson family!!!

east cape and bay of plenty

so after i left napier on the 2nd of april i headed north, up the east cape, with a german girl and a french guy... was a complete random mix, and coincidence that that we were all heading the same way, but anyways... we had a great time and you should have seen my precious: with the three of us, three huge, stuffed backpacks and even more junk my car was so bloody bulging! =) on the first day we drove up all the way to tokomaru bay... with small stops in mahia peninsula (class 1b: it was a beautiful day at the beach and the french guy looked just like tadzio, so i pretty much felt like aschenbach=), gisborne and other places... there we stayed at this nice and cosy bbh hostel, kind of a cottagy feeling... there i had the most random revelation of all: i was looking through the guest book and i saw an entrance by sanna, a girl who was in my parallel class in the kirchenfeld gymnasium!!! wicked, aye???!!! =) anyways... the next morning we woke up to this beautiful sunrise... we didnt even have to get out of bed to watch it!!! gorgeous!!! after two nights in tokomaru bay the three of us continued up the coast... and made a samll detour to have a look at the east cape and its light house... those four days driving along the coast were awesome, cos we listened to great museic, had awesome company and had a nice little road trip in nz - what more could you want?! =) (plus it was nice, for a change, to just chill on the passenger seat and just enjoy hte ride and scenery...=) on the way we just stopped at different places... we went to see a church that is half christian and kinda mixed with the moari culture, so that was pretty interesting (fyi: inside the church it smelt just like ruemligen!?)... since the east coast and cape are more of a maori territory we saw heaps of marais (hopw i spelt it the right way...) too... the next night we stayed in te kaha... where the kiwi experience bus stopped - but, thank god, they were only five people, cos the magic and kiwi bus dont go there too often... phew! =) that night wsa gorgeous! having a few beers, watching the sunset and singing songs, accompanied by the guitar... =)the next day we continued (still driving and chilling in the car with awesome music...=) to whakatane... where we had trouble finding any accomodation because it was the easter weekend... were lucky in the end, though... in the evening silke (the german girl) and i went to see miss potter (good one!) at the movies, and it was probably good that jonas didnt come as well, because it probably was a bit of a girly movie...
and that was it for the three of us... the next morning silke went on a daytrip to white island, jonas went dolphin swimming and i headed south, towards rotorua, to meet the cairns-nelsons...