| New Zealand – Part 3|
Road trip from Picton to Auckland (03.05. – 15.05.)
The last part of our road trip through New Zealand was on the north island and started with the ferry from Picton to Wellington to the final direction Auckland with some nice stopovers on the way as you can see on the map below.
We arrived in Wellington at 1:45 am and after some hours of sleep we went to the city center for breakfast but moments later decided to already go on with our trip because we didn’t liked the city that much. Probably because we weren’t in the mood for visiting a city and the trouble there so we went on to the nature again and drove close to Mount Taranaki where we stayed for one night. At this camping ground a giant rabbit scampered curious around 
Taranaki (04.05.)
In the next morning we drove up to Mount Taranaki to a viewing platform but unfortunately it was too cloudy to have a good view over the wide scenery. So we went down to an 18-meter waterfall at one side of the volcano, which is a nice place for a rest.
But the weather became more uncomfortable so we decided to go on to the elephant rock and the three sisters at the west coast. This place is just amazing – a great beach with black sand and some sandstone rocks in the water – and one of them looks like an elephant We stayed there for a while and enjoyed the sea – it’s every time so relaxing to listen to the sound of the breaking waves.
Afterwards we were heading for the Tongariro National Park, where we want to make the 19km hike – the Tongario Alpine Crossing.
Tongariro National Park (05./06.05.)
In the Togariro National Park we wanted to hike the well known and one of the most beautiful hiking tracks in the world but unfortunately the weather was so bad that we even couldn’t see what’s 50m in front of us. So eventually we decided to stay at the camping ground and chill in the car and the great TV lounge. We checked the forecast for the next day and it should be a bit better but at 2 pm it might rain again.
The hike is about 19 km and takes about 6,5 hours without breaks. So as we woke up early next morning the weather didn’t seemed that good at the beginning. As we drove to the beginning of the track it was still misty but we thought okay, we’re only here once so we still wanted to try it. And as we drove up to the start the sun came out and the weather changed
It was a beautiful track through an amazing landscape across some volcano’s – one of them was still active and the smell of sulphur was in the air. But I enjoyed it a lot even it was a bit exhausting but I haven’t seen a landscape like that before so it was awesome. It’s nice that you don’t have to go the same way back so you can see new things the whole way down but the last part was extended so much that we really ache for the end of the track where a shuttle picked us up and brought us back to the camping ground. All in all it was an amazing day with great weather, sometimes a bit windy but great for a hike – I enjoyed it a lot!
Rotorua (07./08.05.)
On the way to Rotorua we stopped at the lake Taupo for breakfast and enjoyed the warming sun. As we arrived in town we booked a rafting tour for the next day for 12 o’ clock. So we should be picked up at 11.30 from our camping ground but nobody came so we called them and it seemed that they made a mistake with our booking time because they expected us for 8.30 am. Unfortunately it seemed that we couldn’t join the tour this day because everything was booked out. However, luckily they called us half an hour later and we joined the trip at 3pm. The rafting was on the Kaituna river down the Okere Falls for about an hour. A big group of American students and us were joining this trip. We were six boats with generally seven people on board. In our boat we were four people with two guides. We rafted down three waterfalls an many rapids – it was a lot of fun! One of the waterfalls was seven meters high – where we were going totally under water with the full boat as you can see in the .gif below. It was crazy and I definitely wasn’t expecting that 😀 It was actually a bit annoying with my contact lenses to go under water and get many times whole waves right into my face and eyes so I would recommend to never wear contact lenses again while rafting 😀
All in all it was a great tour but a bit short as always with adventures 😉
Waitamo Glowworm Cave / Hobbiton (09.05.)
The next day we went to a glowworm cave, which was recommended by anyone we were talking to about the north island. It was a nice cave with many stalagmites and stalactites. After a while we came to a part of the cave where everybody should be quite and no lights were allowed. In the darkness you could see the glowworms hanging at the ceiling. We had to go into a boat and from there you could see many of them. It was incredible – thousands of glowworms shining in the dark. It seemed like you were looking into the starry sky – just amazing! Unfortunately it was so short but still worth to see in my opinion. It was not allowed to take pictures, unfortunately. I wished I could capture this beauty of nature.
Coromandel (10.05. /11.05.)
The first day in Coromandel we went to the Cathedral Cove – a great spot at the beach where we stayed until it got dark. The last days we spent time at various beaches so there is actually nothing special to say so I just go on with some pictures 😉
Piha (12.05.)
Whangaparaoa / Auckland / (13. – 15. 05.)
After one month of traveling together with my mate Timo it is unfortunately time to say goodbye – to him and to New Zealand. This month was full of new experiences, adventures and lots of fun and I definitely don’t regret it to travel with an almost unknown guy 😀 During this month we built a great friendship, which hopefully will last for long
So Timo had to go back to Germany for his work and I will go on to Australia to start my next adventure
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