Blogs from New Zealand, Oceania

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family...thank you to Ben, Joseph, Patrick and Jennifer - I love my goodies and the phone calls too. We also had a lovely morning tea......lots of hugs and talking with a few photos taken by an expert!... read more

Goodbye NewZealand. The time has come to say goodbye to this extraordinarily beautiful island. It had to end some time. I had the most wonderful 10 days here. Being an English speaking country made it all that more easier and enjoyable as you could talk to locals and understand the commentaries much better. I was very skeptical about going on a tour with Haka Tours as it was targeting a younger group, below 30s and was a bit afraid that I would be left out while the others went on bungy jumping, para gliding and freefall jumps. The alternative was to tour with older people probably Chinese or Japanese. That is another thing you notice, the number of Chinese tourists. With the increasing number of middle class what happened with Japan in the 70s and 80s ... read more

... uns geht´s sehr gut! Langsam stellt sich eine gewisse innere Unruhe - fast schon Wehmut - ein, da die letzten Tage in Neuseeland bevorstehen. Momentan sind wir in Hahei, morgen werden wir nach Paihia fahren. Wir wollen´s ja unbedingt noch bis zum Cape Reinga (Nordspitze) schaffen. Und idealerweise vor dem Abflug (am 12.5.) auch noch Auckland kennenlernen. 25 Tage sind einfach viel zu wenig ... aber wahrscheinlich wären auch 50 Tage nicht genug. Wir haben schon so Vieles gesehen und erlebt und doch auch so Vieles links oder rechts "liegenlassen" müssen ... macht nix, viele Gründe, auf jeden Fall nochmal herzukommen ;-) Blogs mit detallierteren Schilderungen unserer Eindrücke und Erlebnisse sind in Arbeit ... werden spätestens im Juni (auf Fiji) fertiggestellt, versprochen ;-)... read more

My life from October 8, 2012 - May 7, 2013: Explored Waiheke Island on foot with a hilarious Canadian (Christie) and a gorgeous German (Max) and drank wine out of the bottle with two Maoris on the beach Rented a car with my favorite Canadian (Christie) and cruised through the North Island Spent a full day in the Taupo and Rotorua hospitals after having the hood of our rental car fall on my head Kayaked for three days through Abel Tasman National Park with three Germans Had my first waitressing job Hit my first guy Got my second tattoo done from an unconfirmed Nazi lover Hitchhiked Swam in Tasman Bay Did the rope swing in the Maitai River Spent Christmas in a swimming pool Hiked to the Japanese Gardens, but then actually never mad... read more

Dear all, After my last message we stayed the night in Kaikoura and then left the next morning to head for Hanmer Springs. We arrived there and the small little town was packed solid as it was Saturday. We spent the day exploring the small town and enjoying the beautiful sun. Sunday morning we got up early and went to the springs. They are natural volcanic hot springs that range in temperature from a lovely 36 degrees to a slightly too hot 42 degrees. The sun was out and we spent a couple of hours there. Apparently the water is very good for your skin. Sunday evening the sky went a black colour and soon it was raining, it hasn't stopped since. All of last night it rained really hard and our journey back to Christchurch ... read more