Ara Roa North Island

... der Canope-Walk nicht wirklich durch die Baumkronen verlief.

Auf dem Weg nach Paihia kamen wir dann noch an Tutukaka vorbei - ein Ort mit so tollem Namen musste auch einen tollen Strand haben! Und das war wirklich so. Hier kamen wir an die bisher schoenste Bucht! Einsam, weit, tolle Wellen und Felsen.
Hier ging leider Bastis Kamera kaputt, weswegen wir diesen Ort ueberwiegend in unserem Kopf abspeicherten.

... day with Ivana. Ivana was the map control co driver - very amusing when we ended up at a point far North East, instead of Piha beach on the West coast, fairly near by! It was a great day out - we ended up Whangarei; ate lunch at a local joint, then took a walk up the beach & cliffs to take in all the great views. The day finished off by meeting at Sky City (where the tower is) & having a bit of a drink & gamble. Picture also attached, but make of it ...

And here we are in Wellsford, the longest stop of our trip. Wellsford itself isn't hugely interesting, but we are here to visit a friend (Chrissy, or Azhure for the people that recognise that Nanvaent forester) and see the areas around here together with her. When we arrived at our motel, we had a care-package waiting for us from Chrissy, together with a new little friend for our trip. We named him Christopher Lambert (get it ...

... Auckland i, tot seguit ens dirigim cap al nord en direcció Warkworth. Allà podrem veure uns arbres anomenats "Kaori trees" que tenen 800 anys de vida. Impressionant! Uau... El paisatge durant el trajecte és molt verd, ple de camps i boscos un cop hem atravessat la "gran ciutat d'Auckland". Es veu una societat molt avançada, molt civilitzada. Estem a 12h de diferència horària amb Catalunya i Alemanya. L'accent dels kiwis és molt peculiar... ens hi haurem d'acostumar ...

After years of reading about it we finally got to dive the Poor Knights Islands, excellent! If it was good enough for Cousteau, it's good enough for us! And it didn't disappoint. We set off in the dive boat and were even entertained by a pod of playful dolphins along the way. The diving was spectacular, so much so that we stopped off for a few more dives on our way back down to Auckland.

Next adventure took us up to Mangawhai Heads on the North East coast of NZ. Amazing beaches, a great 'bach' (holiday house) and awesome friends who all share the common denominator - partying! First night we celebrated Tara's B-Day with a huge roast dinner which was delicious and got more acquainted with our new housemates. Next day we went beach hunting but unfortunately no one could understand which beach we were looking for due to our pronunciation of ...

... especially as the topography above is so dramatic. The nudibranchs made up for that, and there were dramatic scorpion fish and morays. 47 minutes at 19 metres. Not bad, but definitely Moylaun 1 Cousteau 0. Shivered for a couple of hours, then it was time to move to South Harbour. There, Aaron and I decided to dive as a buddy pair, which worked better. We crossed the "harbour" and dived the arch ...

... net of je uitgelaten wordt! Toch was het zeker wel leuk en de moeite waard om dit te doen. hoewel dit een van de mooiste plekken zou moeten zijn om te duiken heb ik geen koraal gezien zoals je dat in Australiё en Maleisië zag. Waarschijnlijk is het water hier met 13 graden in de winter te koud! Als je een duikpak aan hebt pomp je meer of minder lucht in je pak om omhoog of omlaag te gaan. Nu gaat dit niet zo snel en als ...

... so there aren't too many kauri forests left. The big ones that survived, however, are quite ludicrous in their size. The so-called Lord of the Forest was vast and estimated to be around 2000 years old - a sapling when Jesus was in puberty. Really is the sort of sight that can't be done any justice with photos; close up you can snap a bit of tree and, as it's in a forest, you can't get far enough away to get the whole thing in. So people simply mill about ...

A red-eye flight from Narita, Tokyo to Auckland was a torrid affair. Getting to Narita from home was a long-drawn nightmare. Transferred to another plane at Seoul. Then an overnighter to Auckland. Felt like it took me ages. Rainy in Auckland. The locals appear to be joyful because NZ was going through a drought. From Auckland I caught a bus to Whangarei. At Whangarei I met up with Mike, with whom I taught ...