New Zealand, North Island

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First days in Auckland were windy and rainy, yet warmer then Tasmania so pretty ok still.
Went to Chinese lantern festival and Auckland Museum to see some Maori culture and other stuff. According to guide book 15% of the population of NZ are maori which is easily seen out on the town.
Went a day to Devonport which is a 12 minute ferry ride across the bay from Auckland is a peaceful place with some extinct volcanos, just grassy hills now really, and some old WW2 tunnels and cannons.

Waitomo glowworm caves were amazing, at least when combined with abseiling and blackwater rafting.
First putting on wetsuit and rubber boots.
Next gliding down 30 meter just hanging in the middle of the air in a rope into the darkness of the underground.
Then grabbing a inflated rubber ring and walking into the tunnel along the underwater river guided by the small light on my helmet.
Then sitting on the rubber ring and turning off the light and watching thousand off small glow worms lighting up the roof of the caves like the stars of the sky 😊

Rotorua is the smelliest city I been in!
They have hot springs and mud pools in the middle of the city and the sulfur makes it smell like someone has eaten lots of eggs and is farting 😞 Smelled even worse then Rome when it was 30 Celcius and they had a garbage man strike so lots of old smelly fish in the streets.
Went to a Maori culture show and that was cool. They actually drove us to a Maori village build in the old way and had some song, dance and perfomance and food.

Taupo is next to Lake Taupo, what a surpise, which is as big as Singapore and Taupo is decently close to Tongariro National park where Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings movies is 😊
I did the 19 km walk up and across the top of a volcano, but was cloudy and rainy so couldn't see more then 50 meters 😞 Was 11 Celcius at the top and very windy. Saw one girl who wasn't prepared well and had bad shoes and shorts on and her legs were completely red and she was freezing and crying 😞

Wellington is a very windy city and has a nice museum Te Papa where I spent 4 hours looking at Maori culture and various other things. Great view from the big hill next to city center.

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Photos

Skytower and Skycity etc
Skytower in Auckland is southern hemisperes tallest structure with its height of 324 meters I think. You can climb it, jump from it and some more.

Eating at Burgerfuel using a doofer
Once I put away the doofer (patent pending) that protected my hand, the hamburger fell apart and I had to use 3 napkins to eat the rest and clean up.

Devonport seen from the ferry
Ferry ride just takes 12 minutes

The North Point hill is an old vulcano
Hence the volcanic rock layers

According to regulations I should have worn helmet during inspection
But somehow if feels unneccesary here

Interesting building techniques ...
They have the walls and parts of upper floors up first?

Ducks that can barely hold their heads up
Due to botulism received in a small lake the ducks die without treatment and these are the newcomers

Old round vulcano rock formations I think
Found at Sandspit north of Auckland

Healthy ducks released from the duck hospital :)
Usually it takes 4 or 5 days before they get well from botulism

Rabbit shearing in Waitomo :)
They have some huge hairy rabbits in Waitomo and they shear (shave) them everyday as tourist attraction :)