final destination: Bay of Islands

In Whangarei I started talking to some Germans girls. We all were traveling in the same direction and one of them had a car. So we decided to travel further up north together. I say German 'girls' but ladies is perhaps more appropriate. Martina is 39 and Biggi is 32. We took the slow scenic back road to the Bay of Islands and that was a very good idea. It took us perhaps 3 times as long as going over state highway 1 but that didn't matter since we were riding from bay to bay on a beautiful day. Each bay was more beautiful than the one we were at before and there were almost no people on the road or on the beaches.

After a while we arrived in Russell, formerly known as 'the hell hole of the Pacific'. It used to be a harbour where wailers and other seafarers in the early days of New-Zealand came ashore after a few months at sea to blow their wages on rum and prostitutes. Now Russell is a small and quiet village full of old wooden houses. A lot of tourists take the passenger ferry from Paihia (the present day hell hole of the Pacific) for a day trip in Russell so it gets busy during the day but after the last ferry has gone it's nice and quiet in Russell. We stayed in a very small and cosy hostel overlooking the bay and I decided to stay a few days in Russell. The German ladies were travelling on, further north. I was actually pretty happy to stay behind. The Germans were nice company but they traveled way to slow for me. They were only in New-Zealand for a few days and everything was still wonderful to them. They could spend hours looking at Pohukukawa trees and Fantail birds like the are some kind of world wonder. Yeah, they are beautiful but you'll see them every day, no need to stop 10 minutes and take pictures of every bird you meet. So I stayed in Russell and walked on my own pace through the bush and on the beaches of the beautiful Bay of Islands.

I could only stay in Russell for 3 nights, the hostel is very small and was booked out from the week before Christmas to somewhere in January  I had no choice but to move to Paihia, on the other side of the bay. Paihia is much more crowded than Russell. All the tourist buses pull over in Paihia and it is the main departure for boat cruises in the Bay of Islands. It has a lot of bars and a lot of backpackers who party their way through New-Zealand and lay on the beach all day fighting their hangover. Not my kind of people. But luckily I found a less party orientated hostel and I can stay until Christmas.

Everybody eventually comes to Paihia, I met a few people again who I knew from other hostels and it was nice to see them again. But there isn't that much to do besides sunbathing. But I make the most of it. I did a few walks, went digging for shellfish to have a free dinner and I rode a bike to Kerikeri to buy fresh avocados, straight from the farmers. Kerikeri is only 23km away but the weather and the landscape make it a hard job to get there. I also took a bus tour to Cape Reinga, the northernmost point of New-Zeeland. The landscape over there is very beautiful. To get there we drove over 90 Mile Beach, which is actually classified as a highway and I surfed down a massive sand dune on a body board. Heaps of fun!

Elliot Bay, en route to Russell

Tapeka Point 

A little Hobbit waiting for the sun to set

Sunset over the Bay of Islands

Bush walk between Okiato and Russell

 

Driving on 90 Mile Beach

 

Sand dunes near Te Paki stream

 

Taputaputa Bay


Cape Maria Van Diemen

Cape Reinga

Whangarei

I decided to spend the last 2 weeks of my trip in Northland, the part of New-Zealand north of Auckland. It's called the winterless north because of its subtropical climate. It's always a few degrees warmer up here then in the rest of New-Zealand. Northland is know for its Kauri forests, strong Maori heritage and warm sandy beaches. Looks like the perfect spot to end the trip.

First stop was Whangarei, capital of Northland and the only place worth calling a city. It's a pretty spread out city and that means a lot of walking for us backpackers without a car. The first day I did one hell of a walk (in 27° weather mind you) but it was definitely worth it. I walked up to Whangarei falls, an idyllic spot where the river drops about 20m over a basalt rock. I followed the river down stream through native bush until I got to a Kauri tree park with a canopy walk. It's not really a canopy walk, the bridges aren't up in the leaves but about halfway up the trees. That's still 15m high. Those Kauri trees are gigantic. I was really happy to be in a good forest again. After the forest I walked up to Abbey Caves, 3 limestone caves free for all to explore without a guide. It is massive fun to crawl in and out of those caves, climbing over rocks and splashing through underground streams. All the caves have glow worms and I finally had the chance to test a little fact I read about glow worms. I switched off my torch and I started to play the harmonica. After half a minute the glow worms started to shine brighter and brighter. Do glow worms have good taste in music? Not really, the vibrating sound waves make them think insects are near and they shine brighter to lure the insects in their nets. But still, playing for a few 100 glow worms is the best gig I ever played.

The next day I went to the native bird sanctuary. Peter, the owner of the hostel I stayed in, is a big donator of the sanctuary and that is why only travellers who stay in his hostel get a grand tour of the sanctuary. The sanctuary treats every injured bird you bring to them and they release them in the wild again when they're fit. About 1300 birds a year. They also hatch Kiwi eggs people find on their lands. Kiwi chicks have to look after themselves a week after they're born, but they are still very small and easy prey for stoats and possums. Kiwi chicks in the wild have a survival rate of 1 in 50. Kiwi chicks that are born in the sanctuary go to a pest free island until they're big enough to fight of predators and then they are released in the wild again. Adult kiwi's have no natural enemies except humans and their dogs.

Robert Webb, the founder of the sanctuary is a great man. His love for the birds is immense  You can see that by the way he handles the birds. And some birds show their love for Robert by returning to him. He has a Pukeho and a little owl that both returned to him after they were set free. They now live as pet birds in the sanctuary. Robert also has a Tui and a Kiwi who are too badly injured to release them again. The Tui lost an eye and the Kiwi lost a leg in a stoat trap (oh the irony). Both animals stay in the sanctuary for educational purposes. Tui's are wonderful birds, they got 2 voice chambers allowing them to make a high and a low sound at the same time. Their song is beautiful, constantly jumping tones. It sounds a bit like R2D2 on speed. The Tui can even talk. While caring for his birds Robert talks to them and that's how the Tui learned some phrases. And now the Tui teaches other Tui's that are brought in to talk. It's really funny to hear. The Kiwi Robert has is the only one in New-Zealand you can touch. All the other Kiwi's are in wildlife parks behind glass, or in the wild. And Kiwi's in the wild are sacred, New-Zealanders will lynch you if you try to catch one. But Roberts Kiwi is a rock star. He flies all over New-Zealand to go to schools where kids pet him and learn more about him. Robert also showed us a little blue penguin that was brought in a few days earlier. They are so cute. I never thought I would ever get so close to a Penguin and a Kiwi here in New-Zealand, it was a wonderful afternoon.

Whangarei Falls 

River walk to the Kauri park 

Outside Abbey Caves

Inside Abbey Caves

Robert Webb and his Kiwi 

Little blue penguin

Slowly going north

I had some difficulties leaving Turangi, I stayed there way longer then I intended, I actually postponed my departure 2 times. Woke up the morning I was gonna leave and said to myself: 'no, I don't want to go'. So I stayed. A total of 9 days. Not because there is much to do over there, or for the good weather (pouring rain for the last 4 days). I had difficulty leaving Turangi because of the people I had to leave behind. Spencer, Sarah, Philip and me all stayed there a long time and we kind of formed a gang. We made the daily library (for the free internet) and groceries run together and at night we drank too much and made plans to make the world a better place. It was great fun. But my time in New-Zealand is running out so I eventually had to leave and move on. I hitched a ride with another guest in the hostel and went to Taupo.

In Taupo I wanted to see Huka falls, i heard it's and impressive and powerful waterfall. Powerfull? Yes! Impressive? Not so much. It's not really a waterfall, it's more a wild water rapid. The Waikato river goes through a 15m channel it carved through a slab of hard rock. That generates a very fast stream and a lot of white water, but not much of a drop. The waterfall at the end is maybe 3m high. I've seen much nicer waterfalls on the south island. Huka falls is easy accessible, there's a car park around the corner so there are always busloads of Asian tourists posing for pictures at the falls. But at least the walk along the river back to town was nice and I found some natural hot pools along the way. Man are they hot. I could only stay in there for a few minutes before I had to go cool down in the Waikoto river. Taupo isn't my kind of town. Way too much tourists over there doing bungy jumps and jet boat rides. And afterwards they all get drunk. So I only stayed one night and left again.

Next stop was Raglan, a famous surf spot not far from Hamilton. It's one of the few places in the world with left hand breaks (whatever that means) and the town atracted a lot of hippies, artists and surfers in the 60ties and 70ties. Now it's a bit more commercial, but most shops are locally owned, in fact the only big chain shops are the supermarket and the bottle shop. Raglan is a cool place full of laidback sun tanned people. My timing was a bit off though, I came to Raglan on the first sunny weekend of the year. Half the population of Hamilton was lying on the beach. I couldn't find a place in a hostel so I had to go camping the first night. But by Sunday afternoon most people had left and Raglan is nice and quiet again. I found me a small cosy hostel, had my first swim in the ocean, ate some incredible fish & chips and I walked the beach looking at the surfers. All is good in Raglan. Tomorrow I leave for Whangarei, north of Auckland for the last leg of my trip.

Going Kiwi in Turangi: working the barby and wearing flipflops

Huka Falls in Taupo

 Raglan beach

waiting on the foot of a mountain

Wellington was getting crowded with the red carpet event for The Hobbit and as much as I'm a Tolkien geek, I don't want to stand between thousands of people waiting 6 hours to get a glimpse of Martin Freeman or Peter Jackson. So I needed to get out of town fast. But I didn't wanted to travel too far in case Tongariro National Park opens again. So I needed to travel slow and the best way to do that is hitchhiking and go wherever your driver is going. The first day I ended up in Paraparaumu, a small town 45km north of Wellington on the Kapiti coast. It's where Wellingtonians go to retire they say. Live is very calm and slow up there. To bad they don't have a camp site so I had to walk back to Paekakariki, 10km down the road. It took a while but the walk was nice. I could walk a long time on the beach with the wind in my back and mini sand storms passing me by. After that it was still 4km through Queen Charlotte Natural Reserve. A sand dune reserve with heaps of local dune plants and great views. Going up and down the dunes with all my gear wasn't easy but it was well worth it and I ended up in a very well attended camp site.

The next day I made it to Palmerston-North and I don't have much good to say about it. It a boring gray town full of multinational brand shops, ugly buildings and people who are in a hurry. The hostel I ended up in was nice but run by an irritating women who had rules for everything. Living there felt like being in school again. The only good thing about Palmerston-North is that I perfected my advocado pasta sauce over there and that I found out that Tongariro would open again in a few days.

I couldn't wait to get out of Palmerston-North so I put my thumb up and ended up in Bulls, not far down the road but conveniently located on the junction of SH3 to the west coast and SH1 to Tongariro (and after that all the way to Auckland). Bulls' location on the junction of both highways is the reason the small town survives. All over the region small towns like this are running empty with there citizens fleeing to either Palmerston-North or Wellington. Bulls makes a good coffee brake for travelers and truckers on the road. That's why it's the only place with a mere 500 citizens that has a McDonalds, a Subway and 6 coffee shops and bakeries. Bulls tries to keep up it's image as coffee break place numero uno by putting up quirky signs. When you drive into town you see a sign that says 'Bulls, a place like no udder' and the joke is that it's the only place in New-Zealand where you can get milk from Bulls. It's all very silly but it works, a lot of drivers pull over to look at the signs and have a coffee.

I wanted to stay in Bulls for the night but I got a offer I couldn't refuse. I could book the bus to Turangi for a fraction of the price it would cost me with my bus pass. So I got on the bus and a few hours later I caught my first glimpse of the might volcanoes. It's an impressive sight, 3 snow cl0th volcanoes on the horizon of a desert landscape. The desert lies in the rain shadow of the volcanoes and is a beautiful desolate place with magnificent views. But it's used by the army as training ground so most of it is off limits. In Turangi, one of the gateways to Tongariro National Park, I found a great hostel with a big yard and a lot of freedom. Ian, the owner, made me a deal. Because his dorm was filled with a primary school on a field trip he would let me stay in his shed for 10 dollars a night and he would drive me up to the start of Tongariro Alpine Crossing for free. The shed had a squeaking bed, no electricity and is not exactly warm but it is cheap and more comfortable then my tent

I stayed a long time in Turangi. Ians place does that to people, most of the guests stay longer than they intended. I met some interesting people. There is Spencer, an American who studied sociology in Tilburg and who loves old stuff. He smokes pipe, writes on a type writer at home and he is the only traveler I met who writes his diary by hand. Spencer is a funny guy. He came back from the Tongariro crossing and said to me with a straight face: "I expected to find a Starbucks up there, I could do with a late". There was the Swedish couple who ran the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. Rasmus is a long distance runner, he won a marathon in New-Zealand not so long ago, and he actually ran up the mountain while everyone else was struggling to get up there walking. But I have the most respect for little Mathieu, the 8 year old son of a French family who has been biking for 4 months through California, Australia and now New-Zealand. The kid rides 80km a day in New-Zealands windy back country, up and down all those hills, on a bike that weights about half as much as he does.

And then there is the national park, 3 giant volcanoes surrounded by vast nothingness. It's hard to describe, words don't do the place justice, my pictures don't do the place justice. It's an utterly unreal place but very beautiful and it is awesome to be there. You feel very much alive and at the same time you realize humans are very small and weak compared to mother nature. The icy wind almost blows you of the mountain and one little eruption and a bit of lava coming out of that big volcano next to you and you're gone. I like it so much I went to the national park twice. The first time was on the day of the reopening. Me and a few hundred others walked the alpine crossing, the easiest walk in the park, but still a climb to 1800m above sea level. We couldn't walk the entire thing, the part where the eruption happened 2 weeks ago is still off limits. So we could walk up to the halfway point and then back down again. Yesterday I went to climb Mt. Ngauruhoe, it's a side track on the alpine crossing. But you can't really call it a track. There is a sign that says 'summit, this way' and after that you find your own way to the top. It's a gruesome climb, on hand and knees sometimes and through parts of loose sand and lava rocks. You take two steps and you slide one down again. But it is most definitely worth it. Standing on the edge of a volcano crater, 2300m high is pretty cool in itself, but the view from up there is just unbelievable. It's worth the pain in my knees I got now every time I sit down and would do it again in a heartbeat. But just not today.

Queen Charlotte Nature Reserve in Paraparaumu

Christmas tree in Palmerston-North

Silly signs in Bulls


Start of the crossing

Mt. Ruapehu

Views during the climb

Mt. Ngauruhoe



Red crater

Emerald lakes

 Blue lake

Crater of Mt. Ngauruhoe

Amazing view from the top of the volcano