justtraveleh

[justtraveleh]

Swimming with dolphins and last day

We went on a cruise with EcoSeakers to find some friendly dolphins to swim with. They gave us some wetsuits (easier to put on than I thought, but freaking tight!). We found some quite quickly actually. It started off with maybe 5 dolphins but ended up being probably 20 mammals with is in the water. It was awesome! They swam between, around and under us and it’s just an all around amazing experience. I can definitely recommend doing this! The company sent us some pictures they managed to take:

Also finally saw a penguin. And got hot chocolate in a tiny little cove.

We got done sooner than we thought. Around 1.30 pm we left Akaroa to return to Christchurch and drop off the rental. Returned it without problems even though there was a noticeable dent in the windshield from when a little rock hit it. But there’s so many dents and scratches in that car, they probably don’t even notice one more.

Headed into the city and into a few souvenir shops. Had Pita Pit for one last time and some ice cream. Also got *some* stuff at Pak’nSave (99 Cent week! - so didn’t only get ‘some’ stuff. I left way too much money there) before returning to the hotel and reorganizing our luggage.

Feb 27th, 2020

(I’m pretty sure you’re not reading this but mom is so she’ll tell you; happy birthday dad! 🥳)

Last hours here in NZ. We’re taking the first flight at 1.45 pm to Melbourne, where if everything goes as planned we get on the next flight an hour and 10 minutes later, essentially directly to London but we have a quick technical stop in Perth. The Perth - London flight is around 17 hours...oh boy!

Anyway, the airport hotel was nice enough to let us check out a bit later. So while Gitte stayed in, already showering and having some muesli, I went across the street and had breakfast there.

Gonna head back in a bit, take a quick shower as well and then off we go in the hotel’s complimentary airport shuttle.

It’s been an amazing trip!!! So many great moments. In all honesty though, this time, I also ready to go home though.

[justtraveleh]

Dunedin to Akaroa

Feb 22nd, 2020 - Dunedin

- had breakfast at a vegetarian place, where I tried Eggs Benedict for the first time. I liked it.

- drove to Lanach castle only to realize you wouldnt even be able to get a glimpse without having to pay the entrance fee, so we left and headed towards Otago Peninsula - Nature’s Wonder. Didn’t stay that long, only watched some sea lions

- Walked up Baldwin street, which at that point we thought was the steepest street in the world, cause it said so on the sign. But turns out it is not.

- Signal Hill Lookout: glad we didn’t walk there. View was good but it’s not a must see

- went to a Chinese Buffet for dinner, where I absolutely got my money’s worth but if anyone had touched my stomach afterwards I would have exploded. The selection, to me at least, was really good and it was tasty too. Didn’t know I could eat that much food.

Feb 23rd, 2020 - En route to Mount Cook

- Shag Point and Katiki Point: Saw more sea lions. They can be quiet amusing.

- Moeraki Boulders: essentially, just rocks on a beach. They are round though. We stayed a bit at the cafe there.

- Arrived in Twizel, where we were supposed to spend two nights. Immediately, hated the accommodation. Tiny little cottage and there were black hairs everywhere. It’s one of the worst things that can happen to me in a hotel/motel, whatever room...a stranger’s (anyone’s really) hairs laying around. We quickly decided to try and find another place for the next night. We did find a new place - full house, 100 m². Wouldn’t get a refund for the second Twizel night, of course, but we said screw it and booked the house about 1 hour from Twizel in a small town called Fairlie

- checked out lake Pukaki, which is beautiful

Feb 24th, 2020

- it was fucking cold during the night in that cottage! We were both freezing in the morning

- drove to Mount Cook national reserve, which took longer than expected. Went on a hike there that took around 2 hours, but was pretty easy on a track that was mostly flat terrain - It’s called the Kea track. Gotta say though, the view at the end of the track was slightly disappointing

- Drove back to Twizel, got our stuff and headed to Lake Tekapo. Went for a quick swim. The water was freaking cold but it was so nice. 

- in Fairlie, the house wasn’t as great as we had hoped - outdated, smelled old and not that clean - but still better than the cottage in Twizel

- got dinner at Four Square and ate at the house

Feb 25th, 2020

- had a great night’s sleep! probably the most comfortable beds on this trip

- went to an Alpaca farm, where we had prebooked a tour the night before. It went for only an hour but it was cool. Lots of cute Alpaca and Llamas and sheep - who went crazy for the treats we had for them. We were also witness to an Alpaca foursome (all female - yes, lesbian Alpaca exist)

- very looooong and boring drive to Akaroa (well, Duvauchelle, which is 10 minutes out of town) ensued - only about 10 minutes before arrival the views started getting better 

- our house here is amazing!! large living room and kitchen, 3 bedrooms. It doesn’t smell weird and is clean and modern, really nicely decorated too

- drove to Akaroa, walked around a bit and had burgers by the waterfront. Food was pretty good and the view was nice

- tomorrow we’ll be going swimming with dolphins (hopefully). Can’t wait!!! And then it’s gonna get a bit stressful cause we gotta get back to Christchurch and return the rental car by 4 pm

[justtraveleh]

Previously on...

I’m not really in the mood to write this so here’s a quick rundown of the past few days:

Feb 18th, 2020 - Queenstown 

- we did the Shotover Jet speedboating thingy and it was freaking awesome! Our driver, Jeremy, did a bunch of 360° turns and went straight for rocks and whatever else was in the water just to last minute pass them. Thrilling and lots of fun!

- We hiked up Queenstown Hill, all the way to the Summit, which was quite steep at times but the view was worth it!

- Went back into town and I got a Ferg Burger, which was really really good! Definitely better than Devil burger in my opinion. I recommend! So, if you’re ever in Queenstown don’t let the sometimes long lines put you off. I got my burger within 25 minutes and it is worth the wait

- Left beautiful Queenstown around 4 pm and drove to Te Anau, where we had a hotel booked already we weren’t able to cancel unfortunately - hotel really wasn’t all that great

Feb 19th, 2020 - Invercargill

- our reason for being in Te Anau wasn’t happening, which we had already know for over a week. Originally we had wanted to go to Milford Sound but because of the flooding the only road there was still closed. So we headed to Invercargill directly in the morning

- It was a day full of food you could say: 1. we were too early to check into the motel yet so we walked to a café Gitte had looked up, where she had a muffin and cappuccino  2. walked around the city after check-in and past a Domino’s that immediately got me in the mood for pizza...but we had already planned Pita Pit for dinner.... 3. Got Pita Pit around 4 pm and went back to the hotel 4. Ordered Domino’s to 7:30 pm (oh my gosh their garlic bread!!!! to die for it was that good!) and watched Hitman’s Bodyguard on Netflix 

Feb 20th, 2020 - Invercargill

- had a chill morning and went out for breakfast

- drove to Sterling Point, which “ is a landmark at the southern end of the New Zealand town of Bluff. It is notable as the southern end State Highway 1″ and to Bluff Hill Lookout. Next up was Oreti beach. You can drive your car along the beach, but we didn’t do that with our rental. It isn’t really for swimming either so we just walked along it a little

- Had burgers for dinner at the Lone Star, and they were a lot! Very tasty but just a lot of food

Feb 21th, 2020 - The Catlins

- Waipapa Point: Lighthouse and saw two huge sea lions

- Curio Bay: beautiful beach and immediately saw a dolphin upon arriving. Spontaneously decided to go for a swim and really enjoyed the waves. After getting out we saw 4 more dolphons riding the waves, where only minutes earlier we had been. It was really cool seeing them so close to the beach

- Stopped at two waterfalls: McLean and Purakaunui Falls

- Arrived in Dunedin; only checked into the hotel and went for dinner. On our way back we ran into Klaus Wowereit. Well, Gitte recognized him, I was too busy stopping in the middle of the crossroad to take a picture - which he laughed about

[justtraveleh]

Queenstown

The forecast looked amazing for the day so we decided to get up an hour earlier to make the most of it. Queenstown was on the agenda for the day with a quick stop in Arrowtown - that stop really only happened because of the name. Gosh, I’m in love with Queenstown. Such a beautiful city surrounded by mountains and water. It’s putting out great vibes. Wish we had more time here. We got to the hotel quite early so check-in was not possible yet but we parked the car on their lot and headed out on foot. We took the route along the waterfront and came across a feeding station for ducks. You had to put 2 dollars into a piggy bank and then took out a little baggy full of seeds - I did that cause why not and the ducks went nuts.

Google maps is a fucking dick so we took the worst track possible up to the Queenstown gondola. Though judging by the track we took down, the Tiki Trail, that didn’t look much better either. But the view from the top of Bob’s peak is amazing. We got some ice cream to treat ourselves and cool down.

We walked around town after getting off the mountain; got some souvenirs and a donut.

Before heading for dinner we checked into the hotel and freshened up. Our room is great! We don’t have the lake view but the room and bathroom are so spacious and we got two beds again. We went to Devil’s burger for dinner cause the line at the famous Ferg Burger was too long and some people say it’s even better than Ferg. The burger I had was okay, the garlic fries with cheese and aioli though were amazing! Tomorrow, however, before we leave Queenstown I wanna try a burger from Ferg’s. After dinner we walked along the waterfront some more and got enticed by all the people sitting there with their beverages to grab some as well and come back. So we got a 4-pack of vodka cruiser ice and settled by the lake front watching the sun disappear behind the mountain. I also used the time to write this blog post. It was just such a chill moment and we couldn’t have found a better place to hang out.

On a side note; my body isn’t agreeing with New Zealand. First of; I’m shedding skin like a snake (for the first time ever in my life!) and my legs are full of sandfly and/or mosquito bites. It’s hell! edit: I got new bites and I dont even know how. Make it stop!!!! (okay, whining over)

[justtraveleh]

Mount Aspiring National Park

When we got up that morning in Haast the weather wasn’t looking too promising. It was windy as hell and raining. The west coast had already reached its end for us and we were headed back inland towards Wanaka. As the rain was pelting down on our windshield, we saw a sign for the Fantail Falls and decided to stop and check them out. It was only a quick two minute walk to the falls so we didn’t get too wet, thankfully.

Our next planned stop were the Blue Pools. 45 minutes through the forest and over a swinging bridge we reached them. Originally, we thought we could maybe get into the water there (as seen on TV) but with the wind and the rain we really didn’t feel like it anymore. The blue pools itself, honestly, weren’t all that impressing.

As we were slowly approaching Wanaka the rain started to wind down. We weren’t able to check into our motel yet, as it was just before 2 pm, so I spent those 20 or so minutes till then on the trampoline that’s on the premises. Lots of fun feeling like a little kid again!

2 pm on the the dot McCutie arrived at the office. No clue what his real name is but he was darn cute so that’s what we called him. Our room was also better than expected and we finally had two beds. Wanaka has this ‘famous’ tree, that is supposedly on par with the Eifel tower and the Statue of Liberty as far as famous landmarks are concerned, if you ask some people at least. So first thing we did before it was supposed to start raining again was head there. Unfortunately, it did start drizzling on our way there but we did snap a few pics.

After we walked around the small town a little but there wasn’t much to do since a lot of the shops closed already at 3 or 4 pm. But towards the evening the sun was coming out and it got really nice.

We had Mexican for dinner and then went back to the motel for the evening. And a curious thing happened while watching TV...it switched to YouTube a few times without one of us doing anything. I guess one of the neighbors tried to connect their phone to their TV and chose the wrong one.

[justtraveleh]

Glacier County

Feb 15th, 2020

We left Hokitika at 10 am after a nice breakfast at a cafe in the town center. I tried a bacon & egg pie, cause a coworker of mine had highly recommended it and it was pretty good indeed.

After an almost 2 hour drive we reached Franz Josef glacier. There we embarked on the 1.5 hour hike through a river bed to get as close to the glacier as possible. The hike was pretty moderate and it was cool to see the glacier. What’s horrifying to realize, however, is where the glacier still reached into the valley only 10 years ago. Climate change, y’all.

Since it was still early in the day we went on another little hike to Peter‘s Pool which was supposed to take 25 minutes. Little tip; it’s absolutely not worth it and we only needed 15 minutes. It’s just a tiny little pond we didn’t think was worth seeing.

Next we reached Lake Matheson, which is only 30 minutes south of Franz Josef. It’s supposed to be a beautiful lake where the mountains reflect in the water. There was no reflection and the lake wasn’t all that either, on our opinion. But it was still good to stretch our feet on the 45 Minute hike and made the piece of Mud cake I bought at the cafe nearby more of a treat.

On our way to our final destination for the day; Haast, we stopped at lake Paringa and that one was really quite nice. Haast we really only chose cause it didn’t have us driving for too long today, but is also close enough to our destination for tomorrow, Wanaka.

We had dinner at one of the very few restaurants in the area, only 5 minutes from our accommodation. My meal was delicious; spinach and mozzarella stuffed chicken breast with mashed potatoes and veggies and Gitte had kingfish with fries. and salad.

Our motel is slightly better than expected, with the beach pretty much right across the street but I’m still glad we’re only staying here for a night.

Before settling in for the night I tried to catch another sunset, seeing it’s our last on the west coast but the clouds hid the sun all too well. However, just sitting there for a while and watching the waves come in was quite calming as well. I just love the ocean and I could absolutely just sit for ours watching the waves crash.

P.s. Today, we also had our first encounter with sandflies and they are terribly beasts!

[justtraveleh]

Hokitika

Feb 14th, 2020

Not too much to say about today. We had a slow start into, and an altogether chill day.

I was up a bit past 7 am and did laundry before video calling my parents for a bit.

Gitte got up around 9 and since we both felt like having something a little different for breakfast we quickly drove to New World and got some juice and pastries.

After breakfast on our front porch we went to Hokitika gorge, which is only a 30 minute drive from town. It‘s quite nice there and some people even went into the water.

It was still early in the day when we were done at the gorge, so we walked around the town center for a bit but that was a bust. The few shops really aren’t all that great and we didn’t find anything of interest. Before heading back to our cottage however we took a stroll along the beach, feet in the cold water.

Dinner was had at the cottage since we didn’t feel like going out for it and we just hung out there for a while. For sunset, however, I went back to Sunset Point, where Gitte and I had already gone to the day before.

The sky wasn’t as clear but it was still absolutely beautiful. It was a nice and peaceful moment just sitting there watching the red sky and hearing and seeing the waves crash into the shore.

[justtraveleh]

En route to Hokitika

Feb 13th, 2020

It was quite the long (and boring; there wasn’t much to see) drive from Motueka as we arrived a bit before 2 pm. We spent around an hour at the pancake rocks. The tide wasn’t high enough yet so we didn’t get to see the water shooting through the blowholes but it’s still a nice spot. It’s also where I got bitten by mosquitoes or something a couple of times, despite having put on repellant.

Before leaving Gitte got a coffee and brownie and I a strawberry-banana smoothie for a little energy boost.

After another 45 minute drive we reached the Point Elizabeth walkway. Honestly a bit underwhelming but a good 45 minutes hike after a long day of driving. There were caution signs for penguins but unfortunately we didn’t see any.

Arriving in Hokitika around 5 pm the first thing on the agenda was a load of laundry. We have a little cottage here and it’s honestly amazing. Two bedrooms and a living room and kitchen. It’s clean and lovely.

After the laundry was hung up on our front porch we went out for burgers and fries for dinner and took a walk along the beach for sunset. Ending up at a spot suitably named Sunset Point. From there we watched the sun go down. It’s a beautiful spot.

Just before the sun kissed the ocean, while we were standing there with a German couple watching at a respectable distance for everyone wanting to take pictures, another 2 German girls walked right past us and planted there asses on the stone edge basically putting themselves in everyone’s photo. Rude ****

So we moved spots to watch the last of the sunset before heading home...Gitte almost frozen to death wrapped up on my hoodie.

[justtraveleh]

Abel Tasman National Park

Feb 12th, 2020

Originally, we had so much more planned for this day but we quickly realized that that just wouldn’t be possible timewise. We wanted to do Abel Tasman, a short hike there and then drive up to Farewell spit – we ended up only doing a bit of the Abel Tasman national park.

There was this hike we wanted to do in Wainui Bay but after a few minutes we encountered a flooded pathway so had to turn around. We tried another track but turned around after a while, as well, cause we didn’t feel like hiking through the forest for hours.

Instead we went to Wainui Falls, which is maybe a 20 minute walk from the parking lot. The falls where alright and some people took full advantage and got into the water there. If we would have had our bikinis with us, I’d totally have jumped in too.

There was another chance for a swim though. After Wainui Falls we went to Tata beach and cooled down there. It was a cooldown alright since the water was quite cold. We didn’t stay that long before driving back to Motueka, where we had booked a B&B for the night.

The B&B is lovely! Spacious and clean, quiet neighbourhood, fast wifi and it’ll be nice to have something a little different for breakfast in the morning.

As we were about to settle down for the night, we looked behind the curtains and found a huge cockroach! Seeing as we didn’t want to ruin their walls by smashing it with one of our shows, we went downstairs where the hosts live and walked into a packed living room full of relaxed people. We told them about our situation and the hosts reaction was like o.O “you’re joking!” Then he ran around like a headless chicken looking for something to kill it with. And so he did and apologized profusely.

[justtraveleh]

Drive up to Nelson

Feb 11th, 2020

Another beautiful, sunny day.

We left Kaikoura around 10 am and headed towards Picton, which is on the north coast. Picton is the gateway between South and North Island, unless you wanna take a plane that is, since the ferry going between both islands leaves from here. We spent quite a bit of time by the harbor since the area is so so beautiful. We each got an iced coffee and sat down by the water, where we were shortly joined by a few ducks that had no issues settling right next to our feet.

Iced coffees finished, we got back on the road and went along the Queen Charlotte drive to reach our final destination for the day; Nelson. The Queen Charlotte drive is a scenic route along the coastline of Marlborough sounds and we probably stopped at every lookout along the way.

Especially amazing was Ngakuta bay, where we stayed a while to jump in the water and do some sun bathing. Just absolutely beautiful scenery for a swim and also a quick yoga lesson I got from Gitte.

In Nelson we arrived around dinner time and we already knew what we wanted; Pita Pit. We adored Pita Pit last year and we couldn’t wait having it again. It didn’t disappoint.

After a quick Countdown stop to stock up on water and fruit we drove back to our accommodation, Kings Gate Motel. That was absolutely not like what it looked like online. The room was okay but so small with barely any room to put our stuff. There was also no A/C so we had to leave the window open all night.

[justtraveleh]

Christchurch to Kaikoura

Feb 9th & 10th, 2020

It was time for our first hike of the trip. We had decided to do the Bridle path at Christchurch gondola up to the Pioneer Women Lookout – and then we went even further along to the gondola café.

The track was on the difficult side as it was quite steep. I’m so out of shape generally - add to that the sunny, quite warm weather and also my blistered feet which were hurting like hell - and it made for an even more difficult and longer than necessary hike. But it was all worth it! The view of Lyttelton from the top was beautiful and on the other side Christchurch with coastline, as well.

After that we drove up the coast to Kaikoura, where we were gonna stay for two nights. We didn’t do much anymore that evening. Just went to Subway for some dinner. The Meatball Melt I had wasn’t all that great and was pretty small too. Thinking I might get hungry again later on with just that in my stomach, we stopped by a café on the walk back to the motel, where I got a hot dog. Or more like, where I wanted to get a hot dog cause that is what it said on the menu but what I actually got was more something like a corndog. It didn’t taste good at all.

The next day we didn’t have all that much planned so it was all quite chill. We had breakfast in the room and then drove to the Kaikoura lookout. It’s a great spot from where you can see the Kaikoura coastline. The sun was shining and it was just so nice there. There was also an elderly couple that gave us their binoculars because they had spotted some dolphins and wanted us to be able to see them too. That was pretty awesome!

After spending some time at the lookout we went to see some more wildlife. A short drive along the coast brought us to Kean Point, where a seal colony settled down. There were so many baby seals! It was amazing.

Following that we had some ice cream by the water and then went into the city center, which is only one small street with some shops and restaurants lining each side. We didn’t spend too much time there.

Despite not having had many destinations that day, we had taken our time and therefore it had already gotten late enough for dinner time. We went back to the café, where the day before I had gotten the ‘hot dog’. I got lasagna this time, which was decent, and Gitte chose the “super healthy sandwich”.

By the end of the day I had serious sunburn! I never ever get sunburned, only here in NZ. Last year it happened already but here on the South Island the sun seems to be getting to my skin even more. It’s painful and I don’t like it.

[justtraveleh]

Christchurch

Feb 8th, 2020

I think we went to bed around 3 am and were up by 8:30 am. Probably would have slept way longer but that was to what our alarm was set since we only had one day in Christchurch and wanted to make some use of it. The weather wasn’t the greatest once again but at least it only started drizzling here and there throughout the morning and afternoon.

First thing on the agenda was for me to get a NZ SIM card. I chose Warehouse mobile, cause they are pretty cheap with their data package. Got 5 GB for 30 dollars and also have some credit left in case we need to make a call or something.

Next we had breakfast at Denny’s, where I had an omelet with cheese and bacon and Gitte had scones with salmon and egg.

Afterwards we walked around “The Square”, which is basically just the city center. There are still a few buildings where you can see the damage of the 2011 earthquake. To be honest, Christchurch wasn’t all that great. Wouldn’t need more than a day to see things.

We picked up the rental car at 4 pm and boy, both of us are quite disappointed with what we got. It’s an old Toyota Vitz – already got some dents, has a mileage of 145.000 and it’s interior smells terribly. Here’s to hoping it’ll bring us around the island in one piece.

The pick-up process went super quickly though and then we were on our way to Countdown for some grocery shopping. We mostly got things for breakfast; which is gonna consist of oats with various fruits and we got some milk powder for that.

For dinner we had already planned in advance to go to this American diner “Diner 66” and though it was packed, we thankfully managed to get two seats at the bar. The food was really good – I had a chicken burger and curly fries and Gitte the vegetarian option.

Around 8 pm we got back to the hotel and settled in for the evening – both already quite tired.

[justtraveleh]

Travel day(s) with Sydney layover

We were gonna give it try again. After we weren’t so lucky with our last Sydney layover, we chose to fly with Qantas this time to get another chance. On Wednesday, Feb 5th, British Airways took us from Berlin to London, which was about a 1.5 hour flight. With 3 hours to kill at Heathrow airport we were wandering around and then I just so happened to find a little Union Jack wallet on the ground. No one claimed it (after I asked one person) so it was mine now. We boarded the first Qantas flight at 19:25 pm, our first ride with a A380, which was gonna take us to Singapore for a quick layover. I really wasn’t feeling so well at the beginning of that flight. I was so hungry that I started getting a headache and when the food finally arrived it was too little too late. The food wasn’t that great either; it was some type of noodle salad with chicken. I was feeling so sick after a few bites. Didn’t finish the meal, popped some pills and tried to sleep it off. That first flight was around 12 hours and I slept a good portion of it. Just before landing they served breakfast, which was better than dinner had been; we chose the fruit platter and muesli. Oh also, they had a snack bar where you could get soda and muesli bars, and also Tim Tams throughout the flight. In Singapore we freshened up a little before getting back on that same plane for the next 7 hours it would take us to get to Sydney, Australia. They served dinner again; this time I got the linguine with mushrooms and broccoli, which was cold but better than the salad on the last flight had been. Watched some movies, slept some more and before landing we got breakfast again; fruit salad and a lemon muffin.

Friday, Feb 7th at 6:30 am local time we arrived in Sydney. We didn’t have any issues getting through immigration this time, thankfully. After freshening up, putting Gitte’s carry-on in storage and getting our Opal cards (metro tickets) we got on the subway, which would take us to the Opera house in just 20 minutes. So it was only around 8 am by the time we got our first glimpse of the famous landmark. 

It also only took about 5-10 minutes for my shoes to be completely soaked through, as it was raining heavily. 

We didn’t let that stop us though and walked from Opera house to Mrs Macquarie's Chair and back and then on towards the neighbourhood The Rocks, where we had breakfast at Pancakes on the Rocks.

By the time we arrived more than just our shoes were soaked, my hoodies and pants were as well. But with only a few hours left in Sydney we kept on going and walked to Darling harbour.

It was around 2.30 pm when we got on the subway back to the airport. There, we changed into some dry clothes and that was also the time I realized how fucked my feet were; blisters and scraped off skin all from walking in those wet shoes for so long. I was in pain!

 Anyway, we got on our final flight at 9:25 pm and were en route to Christchurch. We got dinner again; I got some type of salad with chicken, then they brought ice cream and chocolate. Gitte was ecstatic!

We landed on time in Christchurch at 0:30 am and everything went just smoothly. Since we had this late arrival and there was no more public transport we booked a shuttle through booking.com beforehand. This was absolutely awesome! The driver was waiting for us in the arrival hall with a sign with my name on it, took us to his car and off we went. He even had some complimentary water for us. This was such a convenient and quick way to get to our hotel and it wasn’t all that expensive either. Can totally recommend doing that!

[justtraveleh]

Our time here is coming to an end

Hello, I am taking over this post of the blog. I'm the often mentioned Gitte, the Travel Companion.

We got up a bit after 8am, as in me cause of my alarm, Anika as always around 7-ish. Had breakfast in the room, which consisted of the complimentary milk (awesome feature all the hotels provide here), fruit and the left over oats we still had.

We left Pukenui a bit after ten and headed to Apihara, where we had found a place to rent Quads to drive along Ninety Mile Beach. We found the rental place pretty easily and got quick instructions on how the quad works and then off we went. After a bit of driving around, we finally found the entrance to the beach.

Being on a quad and driving it, especially on a beach is such a wild experience. It was so awesome. We were going about 60 km/h at full throttle.

We switched up who did the driving, stopped to take some pictures and videos and just enjoyed the whole thing.

We rented the quad for two hours because we thought one wouldn't be enough. Turns out, two hours can be pretty long when all you do is drive straight along a beach. So once we went one direction of the beach and then back to the entrance, we still had about 40 minutes left. So, we went the other way for a bit, where it was a more rocky.

There was also a small stream that went from the beach to the shoreline and we had to get through it, SLOWLY, which worked out fine the first time but on the way back, I was a bit too fast and completely splashed us with mud; we were soaked and dirty but it was actually a lot of fun.

After we returned the quad, we were on our way to Opononi, a small town by the interstate with a lovely beach, where we stayed for the night. After having a bit of trouble finding the hotel, we finally got there. It's right by the beach, with an awesome view of the ocean, sand dunes and mountains.

The hotel itself was, sadly, not all that great. The room was super hot and stuffy, no A/C, so we left the fan on the whole time (yes, even the whole night) and even worse, we shared the room with about 10 spiders, that we were aware of. For two people who are terrified of them, it was a nightmare! Anika, being her heroic self, took care of it though.

After dropping off our stuff, we went back to a place where we wanted to have dinner, but since it was still too early for that, we went to the beach right across from the restaurant. Walked along the water (which was unfortunately a bit too cold to swim in) and just enjoyed our time there. Soaked up some sun, took pictures; it was a fantastic way to spend the time until dinner.

For the first time on that vacation we actually sat down and had dinner, which sadly wasn't as great as we had hoped, but it was ok. Went back to the hotel and out back cause we wanted to catch the sunset by the water.

March 14th

Actually, despite everything I had a pretty good night. Woke up my usual time, and Gitte got up with me, cause we thought the drive back to Auckland would take forever and we wanted to leave early.

Breakfast was included in the room rate, so of course we didn't say no to that. The buffet had a good selection: bacon and eggs, baked beans, grilled tomatoes, muesli, bread and jam.

We got on the road around 9 am. Though faster than expected but still with over an hour delay (no wonder with all these windy roads) we reached Auckland.

First, checked into the hotel and then returned the car. Had to fill out some forms cause of the tiny dent in the hood...rental car lady was a complete idiot...and then we went souvenir shopping and had a farewell dinner at Pita Pit.

Seriously can't believe we're flying home tomorrow. The time here went by so fast. We saw so many beautiful places, did tons of awesome things and tried lots of new stuff. There wasn't a city, small town or even area I didn't like. And the people we met were all kind, outgoing and helpful.

The whole country just puts out a great vibe.

[justtraveleh]

The Northland

March 12th

I had a great night’s sleep. A bit chilly but that was on me since I’d forgotten to turn off the AC. I slept till a bit past 7.30 am, which is a first on this trip.

We had breakfast on the deck, enjoying the view one last time before driving up farther north.

It took a few hours to get to New Zealand’s (accessible) most northerly point, where the Tasman Sea meats the Pacific Ocean; Cape Reinga. It’s such a beautiful place! And the weather was amazing! Just not the right conditions though to clearly see the meeting point of the two oceans.

On our way back South we stopped at Te Paki Giant Sand Dunes. I had been looking forward to this a lot, since you can rent sand boards there. Unfortunately, they closed shop at 3.30 pm. We arrived at 2.30 pm. We still rented the boards but I wish we could have had more time than just an hour.

So we didn’t pick the highest peak, just the one below it. It was a whole lot of fun though! Honestly, this one had quite the drop all of a sudden too, can’t imagine what the biggest peak would have felt like. Only way you were allowed to go down that one was on your belly, and it became clear why.

We did that one once and then only did smaller ones. Those we could do standing or sitting.

By the time we were done there was sand pretty much all over our bodies.

When we started booking accommodations, we had thought we could spend way more time at the sand dunes so we picked the first one that popped up on the way. So we arrived kinda early in Pukenui, where there’s nothing really to do. It’s not even really a town, just a few houses along the road. There was a food truck just before we reached the hotel, where we got sandwiches for early dinner. They do have a cafe and a small grocery store too though.

The night was decent enough. Woke up at my usual time around 7 and am using the time before Gitte’s alarm goes off productively in writing this blog.

I can’t believe this is our last day before having to drive back to Auckland. Where did the time go? It certainly went by quickly.

[justtraveleh]

Bay of Islands

March 11t

Well, our night in Snells Beach wasn’t as great as we had expected. Both of us had trouble sleeping/falling asleep. It was so warm in the room we ended up opening the windows, even though both of us are afraid of spiders and other insects coming into the room. The cool air helped but it was still a fitful night.

However, I was feeling okay in the morning. Claire had left a variety of breakfast items in the fridge and pantry for us; bread, jam and cheese as well as different types of cereal and yoghurt. We enjoyed that so much that we forgot the time and it was already 9.55 am when I realized we had to leave. Check-out’s at 10 am. Claire was extremely nice though when I returned the key. Very kind lady.

We quickly walked across the street again cause it was high tide, so we got a better view of the beach and everything.

On our way north we stopped in Whangarei to see the waterfall. It’s a nice resting spot. Tons of Germans there though. In fact, we’ve been coming across other Germans a lot these past days.

About an hour after the falls we arrived in Paihia, where we are spending the night. Paihia is a nice little town in the Bay of Islands.

First stop were the Haruru Falls, where the stupid gps sent us down a gravel road instead of the nicely paved one.

It must have been around 2.30 pm when we got to our accommodation. When we wanted to check in the guy at reception told us there’d been a change and we’d get an upgrade. Best upgrade ever. Instead of just a room, we have a whole house now. Tons of space, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, but the most amazing thing is the view. Which we can enjoy from our deck. There’s also a little garden that’s just for us to use.

After check in we drove back into the city, strolled through the streets, got some ice cream and went into a few of the stores. Since it was still pretty early we then took the ferry to Russel. Russel is the first capital of New Zealand. It was just a 15 minute ferry ride and the price for it more than okay. Unfortunately, pretty much everything in Russel was already closed. Except for a few restaurants. Since Gitte was starving we sat down in one right by the waterfront and Gitte got some Fish & Chips. I wasn’t hungry at all so I didn’t get anything then.

Once we had returned to the mainland I got 2 small pizza at the grocery store, just in case I’d get hungry at some point in the evening.

Later on I ate them on our deck, where I am still sitting writing this blog. It’s dark by now but it’s so peaceful and quiet. All you can hear are the gentle waves and some crickets chirping.

[justtraveleh]

New Plymouth & Snells Beach

March 9th

The last horrible night on that uncomfortable couch was finally over. I was feeling like shit at this point, everything hurt.

Katie came by for a quick goodbye, but didn’t stay long. She might have still held a grudge from the day before where we had to “kick” her out of the apartment into the rain when we left for the museum.

We hadn’t met our hosts so far so we knocked on their door for a brief chat before leaving. And as we grabbed our luggage to head back on the road Zeus came by and he was so cuddly and sweet this time, like he hadn’t been before. The best host cats ever!

The coastal walkway was a 5 minute walk from our hotel, so we did that first. It was beautiful; the waves, the sun, the ocean smell in the air.

Gitte had been looking forward to our dinner spot for the day for months! It was this 50’s style American diner. She was freaking giddy about it! We had burgers and fries and milkshakes and it was delicious!

Afterwards, close to sunset we walked along the coast again. Amazing sunset views!

March 10th

I had been looking forward to a bed since that first night on the horrible couch in Wellington and then the night in New Plymouth was even worse! It was too hot, the bed was too small and also uncomfortable and it was too bright for my taste. I didn’t sleep well at all.

We had breakfast at a little bakery just up the street before getting on the highway. Gitte had a chocolate snail she’s still raving about. My breakfast could have been better.

It was a long day on the road and I’m glad Gitte drove this part, since I was so tired. We left a bit before 10 am and got to Snells Beach around 5.30 pm.

We had a stop at a Kiwi house and bird sanctuary along the way though, where we spent about an hour, I think. It was awesome to see the Kiwis! No pictures allowed though.

Our B&B in Snells Beach is amazing! Clean and comfortable and a homey feeling. Claire, the host, is a nice elderly lady, too. The house is right by the beach. And we have a cat here again, named Oliver...even though it’s a female cat.

There’s not much in Snells Beach though, not even many food options. Since I don’t eat seafood, the only other option were burgers again. I’m getting so sick of burgers. And this one didn’t even taste good.

We chose Snells Beach though so that the drive to Paihia in the Bay of Islands, our next stop, wouldn’t be so long coming from New Plymouth.