Kia Ora New Zealand!

Kia Ora!

I am now in New Zealand for about a week. Marco, Simon and me were first staying 2 days in Auckland. Except of the harbour, the city is not very nice. Like any other big cities, a lot of high-rise buildings but compared to Brisbane for example, it somehow looks ugly. I tried to open a bank account in several banks but it was kind of difficult because the banks are really busy and I had to make an appointment. So I decided to postpone this issue as I just stayed 2 days in Auckland.

Auckland harbour

After that we picked up our rental car and we were heading northward to the Bay of Islands. Our hostel was in Paihia, a nice small town. There, Marco and me did a walk to the Haruru Falls and besides that we did not do that much and mainly relaxed. Also the weather was not the best on two of the days.

Bay of Islands, Paihia

Bay of Islands, Paihia

Mangrove walking trail

hiking trail

view from hiking trail

lots of sheep

After 3 nights in Paihia, we were heading to Cape Reinga, the northernmost spot in New Zealand. According to the Maori, it is the place where the spirits left this world. On our way, we drove to the Rainbow Falls in Kerikeri. It was our only stop this day as the weather was quite bad. We stayed in a motel & backpackers in Pukenui, which is a small fishermen's village in Northland. The lodge was a small and very cozy place to stay. We had a nice pool and an amazing view onto the harbour. So great! Cape Reinga itself, which was about 50 km away, was very nice. A small lighthouse marks the northernmost spot and we had a great view onto the coastline. You can also see where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific meets. It looks cool how the waves collide in the middle of the ocean.

Houhora harbour, view from Pukenui Lodge

Houhora harbour, view from Pukenui Lodge

Pukenui Lodge, garden

Cape Reinga

Cape Reinga

Pacific and Tasman Sea collide

Cape Reinga

Whangarei Falls

Leaving the Northland after 5 to 6 days, we were heading back to Auckland to stop over for a night in a calm neighborhood. On our way back we stopped in Whangarei where we had lunch and visited the Whangarei Falls. Yesterday, we drove to Matamata where Marco and Simon visited Hobbiton. As I am not really a fan of Lord of the Rings, I decided to save the money. I can still do it a few months later if I really want to. In the meantime, I strolled around Matamata. In the evening, we arrived in Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula. We visited the Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove today but it was way too crowded so we couldn't really enjoy it. Though Stingray Bay was a nice place to take a good picture!

Matamata Hobbit House (Visitor Centre)

Cathedral Cove

Stingray Bay