Blogs from Bay of Plenty, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 10

Saying farewell to the South Island, we boarded the Interislander car ferry to make the 3 hour crossing through Marlborough Sound and Cook Straight over to the city of Wellington at the southern end of the North Island. In this part of the country, where the population is 3-1 compared to the south, the scenery is not as magnificent, but it's warmer, and there are endless beautiful beaches, nice little cities, and some fierce geothermal activity going on. The Bay of Plenty, on the east coast, is where the oil tanker/cargo ship ran aground, cracking in half and spilling its load of crude into the ocean. We can see its crippled carcass listing in the water just across from where we're currently situated. Disgusting. Somebody should MAKE THOSE BASTARDS PAY I tell ya! After spending some ... read more

We arrived in Papamoa Beach on Wednesday evening, leaving behind the sulphourous Rotorua. We're staying at the parents of George's friend Mark in a fantastic beach side property designed and built by the owner. We overlook the beach which is 2 minutes walk away. Unfortunately it's also the bay where the large container ship ran aground (we can see it from where we are staying) so the locals are very worried about the possibility of an oil spill. Thursday morning saw us booking a boat trip to White Island from Whakatane, an hour up the coast from where we are staying. We just about made it in time (last on the boat) then set sail. It was an hour and a half to the island in fantastic weather. Once we got close it was like something ... read more

Mai...endlich! Auch wenn das Wetter hier immer kaelter und nasser wird - jaja der Winter kommt - wir behalten ein ueberaus sonniges Gemuet, geht es doch in wenigen Tagen (jaaaa nur noch TAGE!) nach Deutschland. Wir sind ganz fleissig dabei, Listen zu schreiben, damit wir auch ja nix vergessen (hab so sechs Listen auf'm Tisch!). Haben grad mal unsere "alten" Fernsehdokus angeguckt und haben uns kaputt gelacht - Linus mit Zahnluecke und Tim noch gaaaanz klein?! Ach Kinder wie die Zeit vergeht! Vermissen Euch da oben alle ganz schrecklich und freuen uns laut Tim "zum platzen" Euch wiederzusehen! Wie auch immer, wir koooooooommmmmmeeeeeennnnnnn!... read more

Mount Maunganui Woke up on coast Rained all last night Stopped in Te Puke for a walk around. Whakatane- walked around the town. Lady on the rock statue. White Island active volcano just off the Whakatane coast. Decided to make my way on to Rotorua On route to Rotorua Stopped at Awakeri Natural hot water thermal campsite. About 16kms out of Whakatane on the Seate Highway 30. Went into thermal bath beside my campsite in pouring rain. Really nice way to relax for the evening. From thermal bath straight to bed in the campervan.... read more

March 24 Lake Tekapo, Today has been primarily a travel day. We left Dunedin around 8 this morning and arrived here in Lake Tekapo in the late afternoon. We did make one interesting stop on the way here to see the Moeraki Boulders. These are huge spherical boulders sitting on the edge of the ocean. They are created from a combination of sandstone and lichen pressed together over the eons. The way they are scattered along the shore looks like the giants were bowling and just left their balls where they stopped rolling. The country side through to here is stunning with the mountains and glacier blue rivers running through the landscape. There are a number of dams that create lakes that add to the local colour schemes. Lake Tekapo itself is equally pretty. We stayed ... read more