I’m back folks! Back in Australia, back to nannying, back with new tales to tell and new friends to visit across the world.
I should have known: I made a rough plan and who would have guessed, they did not work out. But I had an amazing time! I’m seriously considering doing a w&h year in NZ as well, because I think I fell in love with that country. Anyways, how did my plans not work out? Well, I wanted to get all the way back to Wellington, but the furthest south I got was Taupo. I didn’t even do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, so I really have to come back. So what did I end up doing?
I spend my first night at an Airport! Exciting, right? Well, not really, but I arrived quarter to 12 and had to pick up the rental the next morning like 10 minutes away from the Airport, so that really was the best option for me. It’s not too bad, with a good temperature and wifi and everything.
After picking the car up, I went to Mt. Eden to get a good view of the city. The weather was crazy, within five minutes it changed from ‘I have to wear a beanie’ to ‘oh my gosh let’s take that jacket off’. Apart from that, the view was great and I met Oheney, a Boston guy who’s originally from Ghana and currently lives on Hawaii. We spend the rest of the day together, I got to have a shower at his hostel and had a few drinks on the roof with some more backpackers. From there, we went to a club, where I met some more amazing people. I ended up being the last of our group to be there and went to the casino with Jack and Alex, two Kiwis who I really enjoyed spending time with. After figuring out that I would otherwise sleep in my car, Jack offered me to stay at his place. Guess what? He’s moving to Germany for his girlfriend while I’m typing this! What a small world.
He ended up giving me some advice on what to see north of Auckland, and I ended up going to Bay of Islands before then driving down to Lynne’s (a cousin of a friend) place in Matamata. There, I booked my Hobbiton-Tour for the next day, which I really enjoyed. Especially the free beer at the end. :D At Hobbiton, I met my next companion: Nick, originally from Argentina and at the moment living in San Francisco. We ended up spending the day together, went swimming in 10° cold Spring Water and warmed up out feet in Rotorua’s hot springs. After Lynne heard that he would stay the night in his car, she invited Nick over to stay at her house as well. He went on on his own the next day, but he had forgotten a pair of shorts at Lynne’s, so I had to get those back to him by Monday. I figured I would go to Mount Maunganui and then out with Alex on Saturday again and meet up with Nick on Sunday. We then went to Waiheke and as we weren’t really interested in the vineyards, simply had a great burger and a long walk around half of the island. Took us the whole day that trip. I crashed at Alexander’s place - his family is amazing. Roots in Samoa, lived in Africa for a while, dad does trips across the world as a teacher, it was just really interesting to talk to them. After that, I went to Rotorua again to see the mudpools and hot springs, and travelled the next day from there to Taupo have the greatest experience of my time over there: I finally did my first bungee-jump. 47m over the river, getting my picture taken and then it was 3, 2, 1, bungee! I have to say, I’m probably going to do it again whenever I get the chance to. It’s such a great feeling!
The same day, I met a friend from high school who’s travelling New Zealand at the moment. We exchanged stories of our travels and discussed what the future might hold for us, before parting again after sunset.
I went on to discover glowwormcaves, waterfalls, beaches and a green landscape worthy of New Zealand’s reputation, but as I said, really did not get to see even close to everything I would have liked to see. I relaxed for another day in Auckland before then really being sad about having to leave that beautiful place. For a moment it even seemed as though New Zealand felt the same way, because the responsible employee failed to type in my correct Passportnumber multiple times, which resulted in my check in taking ages.
Now there’s not much left to do for me than hope that I will be able to return someday and that I’ll meet up with all those amazing people I’ve met somewhere on this planet again.