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Published: August 24th 2009
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From New Plymouth I went to Auckland, the biggest city in New Zealand. A fourth of the population lives here. At Auckland I met an English guy and a German girl. It was nice because with him I could share my experiences of Nepal because he and with her my experiences of being in Vanuatu. Nice to hear their stories and to refresh my memories again. We went to the museum that day after a small detour around the park. It was perfect weather to visit a museum because the rain was pouring down that day. In the evening we went for dinner at an Asian food court where I had nice Korean food.
The next day I went to Mt. Maunganui. The name of the town is the same as the mountain. It has an amazing beach where you can walk for hours. Near the mountain the high waves were pounding on the cliffs creating an amazing spectacle. Another moment of being in New Zealand where I could only gaze without saying anything because I was so surprised of the beauty happening in front of my eyes. But I wanted to move on and went to Rotoroa. The place is
famous for its geysers, mud pools and smell. The smell in the city is a combination of rotten eggs and smelly socks due to the sulfur coming out of the ground. The evening when I arrived I had dinner with two Americans. After dinner we went for a walk around and found the town to be deserted. Nobody on the streets, like a ghost town. The next day I took a walk along the river. Everywhere along the path I could see the steam coming out of the ground and lots of poudles with boiling water or mud. Once I sticked my fingers in one of the boiling water pools and believe me it was really boiling hot. Many of the holes in the ground created amazing colors of white and yellow. Ofcourse you sense the smell but after a while you’ll get used to it.
From Rotoroa I went to Taupo with its gigantic lake. It was nice to walk around there and enjoy the river with its surroundings. But my pace of travelling continued and the next day I went to Napier. It is on the east side of the north island. In the bus I met an
English girl and talked with her about her year in New York and travelling. With her and two other New Zealand people I went to an Irish pub that had a quiz evening. Becoming second was more on their account than mine. My only help was to tell the headquarters of the U.N. are in New York instead of Geneva. Answers to questions like which country New Zealand won cricket from last year were a complete mystery to me. The next morning I went for a walk around town. Napier has beautiful Art Deco buildings. I couldn’t get enough of walking up and down the streets and gaze at the beautiful fronts. They were all in good shape and very colourful.
But I felt like moving again and the same afternoon I took the bus back to Wellington. When I arrived in the evening I had a good appetite and went on a search for a place to eat. I passed a Hare Krishna restaurant and after a glimpse inside I thought: well just try it out. Coincidently I was wearing an orange sweater so I blended in perfectly. In the corner a man was playing the keyboard and singing Hare Krishna songs. There were around ten others having their meal that moment. I can really enjoy moments like that to just look around what’s happening and how people are behaving. They served Vegetarian and Vegan food and it was really delicious. After I left the songs were still repeating in my head. It was a nice experience and with a smile on my face I went for a short walk around the city before heading back to the hostel.
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