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.
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
Aah, Ik zie hier een ervaren griller op de gasBBQ. Ge moogt mij eens ne goeie steak komen bakken op mijne barby over een paar weken. :D
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