Driving from Tui Ridge Park to Tongariro National Park English (Lisa) We faced the first possible real difficulty on the morning of our departure from Tui Ridge Park: the car wouldn’t start. To be more precise, we couldn’t turn our key in the lock. Nothing we did worked and we were getting slightly frustrated when “the grandfather” turned up. He jumped in the car; after a brief moment said “you’ve locked it eeh”, turned the steering wheel around and we were ready to go. Anouschka found out that we were very close to the ‘desert road’. A famous road through the Rangipo desert. This desert is also used by the army for training. See the enclosed pictures to view the landscape with desert and mountains (the dark one is Mt Doom) yourself. We were lucky ... read more

English (Lisa) 12/1 Wai-o-tapu Thermal Wonderland Wai-o-tapu thermal wonderland is 18 square kms of thermal activity. Rotorua and its surroundings are famous for the thermal activity there; boiling pools of mud, water and steaming fumaroles can easily be found around here . Each day at 10.15 a.m. in this particular Wai-o-tapu park, they throw a soaplike substance in the Lady Knox geyser, which results in the spectacular eruption of it. We were lucky, because only 2 minutes after we’d arrived the guy responsible for the soapthrowing today started talking. The rest of the ‘wonderland’ was impressive. Each pool/collapsed crater had its own and often fitting name. The whole area smelled absolutely disgusting due to the hydrogen sulphide coming from the earth (also known as the “rotten egg smell”). Hence, most names had something to do with ... read more

English (Lisa) 9/1 Auckland II As we’d already seen most of the inner city, we decided to go up Mount Eden, which is a ± 90 high old Volcano just outside the inner city. Atmosphere at Mt Eden is very peaceful, and remained peaceful even when 3 buses with Japanese and American tourists stopped by at the top. After climbing the steep hill, you have a view over downtown Auckland as well as over all its surroundings. Afterwards we took the bus to a street which was described in some brochure as being a lovely street full of boutiques and galleries, which would be perfect to do some afternoon shopping. When we stepped out the bus, the street looked nothing like the description. Because it is a rather long street we kept on walking, hoping that ... read more

Via this blog I will keep you updated on my big trip to New Zealand and Australia. I will write both in English and in Dutch to make sure that everyone is able to read it. I spent today packing and the next two days I will spend mainly in airports or on planes. Short outline of the trip: - departure: January 5th from Amsterdam - stopover: Hong Kong - arrival: January 7th in Auckland Then, Anouschka and I will use a campervan and take the ferry to travel from Auckland to Christchurch. In Christchurch, my family will take us to the southern part of the South Island for a 3-day hiking trip (the routeburn track). On the 9th of February we'll take a plane from Christchurch to Melbourne. Here, we each go our separate ways: ... read more