Blogs from Whitianga, Coromandel, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 5

a houseful of boys. i was under the impression that the problem with place was going to be that it would be too quiet, that i would be too lonely. i had a huge house to myself, all the hot showers, tv, and internet that i could ever desire. i was wrong. it turns out this home is actually a revolving door for the family next door who help run the campground. dilwin and john have two boys, ben and carl (pronounced cahl), ages 6 and 4, who run rampant up and down the steps, leaving a joyful mess in their wake. at first, this proved totally disconcerting as i had no idea that the house was this sort of open coming together place at all hours. also, i absolutely could not keep up with cleaning ... read more

We started the day with a nice leisurely breakfast on our sunny balcony. We jumped in car and headed for the 309 dirt road which crosses the hilly spine that runs down the centre of the peninsular. It is hilly and twisty but very quiet (no monstrous logging trucks as encountered on many mountain roads). Half way along there is a short walk to a magnificent grove of Kauri trees. Nearby there is an interesting ‘Siamese’ Kauri where two trees have fused into one. The whole area is incredibly luxuriant in greenery. There is one especially impressive peak called ‘Castle Rock’ which is climbable, but I couldn’t persuade Jen and didn’t fancy doing it alone. We reached the smaller than anticipated but quaint old gold town of Coromandel. After ambling the streets and an obligatory ... read more

URLAUB… ist doch die schönste Jahreszeit! Endlich raus aus Albany und das wahre NZ kennenlernen. Nachdem der Start unter einem schlechten Stern stand, war der Urlaub umso besser. Aber von vorn: Ostern war das Wetter hier traumhaft. Herrlicher Sonnenschein, blauer Himmel und kein Regen. Ab Mitwoch wurde es schlechter und schlechter und sollte bis Samstag weiter abkühlen. Der Plan war Donnerstag früh zu starten und bis Sonntagabend zu bleiben. Die Vorhersagen lagen bei 15 Grad und viel Regen! Weiterhin waren wir 6 Leute (alles Deutsche). Karin und Rainer sollten fahren und Peter. Doch am Mittwochnachmittag kam eine Skype- Nachricht, dass Karin und Rainer einen Autounfall hatten. Auto ist total kaputt, beiden geht’s aber relativ gut. So bangten wir bis Mittwochabend noch, ob es Donnerstag 7Uhr losgehen soll?! Dann kam die erlösende Nachricht: Start Donnerstag früh! Da ... read more

Here is the second edition of the pictures. Hopefully, next entry will have BOTH pictures and a written entry. WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!!!... read more

On the 3rd of March we arrived in New Zeeland and our 3rd adventure started. (I will post a update on Australia soon... I promise... I will...) For the first three nights we stayed with a lady outside Auckland and Chris got some quit heavy work for a start. She wanted help to start concreting her driveway and I wasn’t of much use in doing that. So Chris got to do long hours and I felt like a maid, serving him water and minding the child. Julian enjoyed the wheel barrier though! On the 6th of March we where off to Wilderland Trust. Chris had spoken to someone who was living there so they knew we where coming. I was completely taken by surprise by the place. Such an amazing property with huge possibilities! There ... read more