East & Central - North Island

The next day I flew on to Auckland, with a short stopover in Sydney. In Auckland I took the airport bus into town and checked into the fat camel hostel, which was pretty alright, especially because of the free dinners. The couple of days in Auckland I spent with exploring the town, the harbor, recovering from the flight and checking out the nightlife. The scariest part was on the first day, where I nearly got run over by a bus, because I looked to the wrong side of the road. I was lucky and the bus driver had thankfully good reflexes.

After three days I got picked up at the hostel by Go Rentals and was brought to the car hire company, where I took over my white Mazda Familia. My first surprise was that it was an automatic, as I asked for a manual, but after the first couple of days I was pretty happy about the "upgrade". So pretty worried about leaving Auckland by driving on the "wrong" side of the road, with a car I am not used to, I quickly got onto the motorway and out of the big city. All went well and I turned east towards the Coromandel Peninsula.

In Thames I made the first shop-stop and filled the car with stuff, like food, esky, plate and cup.

For the first night I have chosen the Te Kouma Farmstay, a hostel on a huge farm that is run by a Swiss man from Zug and his kiwi wife. I couldn't find it straight away and so I asked a local in a small village. There I came for the first time across the very friendly and helpful kiwis. He was walking his dog and was so excited to talk to me, I stopped the engine and had a long conversation with the elder man and simply enjoyed the friendliness.

He didn't know about the hostel, but I found it nevertheless. The friendly hosts even invited me to have dinner with the family as I was the only guest that night. The hospitality is nothing compared to European standards. Seven people at the table, family and friends of the kids and me and I was treated like one of them. My travel around this wonderful country could not have started any better.

Well, the sleep was not as good as the dinner, as it was freezing cold in the room and even with jumper, jacket, long trousers in the sleeping bag, I was still cold. I hardly slept that night and in the morning when I left the room, I had the feeling it was warmer outside than inside. There is room for improvements in the kiwi houses, e.g. insulation, heating etc., but then that's the way the live.

My next surprise was when I walked past the car and noticed a flat tire. I got some help to change the tire, which was not so easy, especially to loosen the screws - now at least I know how to change tires - and drove to the garage in Coromandel. They fixed the tire and when changing them back they had a look at the other tires and asked me for how long I will travel with that car. I told them three months and they said that the front tires won't make it for that long. So they called up the rental company and asked if they would pay two replacement tires. And they did and with two new front tires and a fixed back tire I was back on the road.

The Coromandel Peninsula is a beautiful place and I also had good weather, although it was still pretty cold, especially at night. I visited the Cathedral Cove and the Hotwater Beach and played a whole night an israeli version of uno (card game) with an Israeli couple and an American guy.

In Tauranga I wanted to climb up the Mt. Maunganui, but I didn't get any further than the first step. Clumsy me - I slipped off the first wooden step and scratched open my shin. I have seen stars for a while and the leg hurt more and more. So I walked back to the car and left out the climb.

I drove on to Rotorua, which is quite an experience. The closer you come to the town the more it smells like rotten eggs, which actually is the sulphur. Steam coming out of the grounds is just as normal as the smell on this geothermal area. Rotorua is famous for its geysers, boiling mud pools, steaming craters and at the same time is a showcase of Maori cultural activities. I visited Te Whakarewarewa, which is a thermal reserve and Maori village, and learned that the hot sulphur-contained water is used for healthy baths and the steam for cooking. I visited the museum which was previously used as a medical bath institution and which displays the volcanic history of the region and stories about the Maori tribe from this region.

I also went to the Matai, which is a visit to a Maori pa (village) with traditional dancing and singing, a show-fight, a hangi (dinner cooked in a traditional way - steamed in a pit with heated stones) and a walk through the forest with explanation of the traditional use of the plants.

On the way to Taupo I visited Wai-O-Tapa with its mud pools, blowholes, champagne pools and the Craters of the Moon, which is a huge field with steaming ground everywhere. Because of the bad weather inland (Taupo) I decided to drive back to the coast. In Whakatane, I booked the White Island trip, but it got cancelled on both days I was there, because of very heavy rain. In the hostel I met Tim an English guy, which I kept bumping into during my further travels in New Zealand.

When leaving Whakatane there was a sign "closed" in the middle of the only road to the East Cape. After waiting for some hours I gave it a try and drove on, ignoring the "closed" sign. For a long while the road was in good condition, but suddenly there was a huge river flooding the street. Some cars returned, some crossed the flooding and so did I. I have to say it was a bit scary as I had the feeling the power of the water was stronger than the power of the car. But I made it and even made it through the second river over the road, which was even deeper than the first one.

Along the way I picked up the elder hitchhiker Tony from England, which I pumped into again some days later. I stopped in Whanarau Bay at the beautiful Maraehako Bay Retreat, which is run by a Maori family and is located at a place, which seems to be heaven on earth.

Along the East Cape I stopped in Tokomaru Bay where I had a nice night out with locals, further on to Tolaga Bay to see the longest wharf (660m) of the southern hemisphere, to Gisborne and on to the Mahia Peninsula. This part of my travels (east coast) I enjoyed very much, as it has beautiful landscape, wonderful beaches and mostly just small villages with very friendly people and very little tourism.

Then I reached Napier, the art deco town. I like this small town very much, its colorful buildings, the size (not too big), nice atmosphere and the location which is right at the beach. I also had a nice night out in the some irish pub where I talked the whole night to the Scottish guy Alex who is trying to get the New Zealand citizenship and wants to settle down in Napier. His plan made me a little bit jealous ;-)

I decided to split the trip from Napier to Wellington and stopped over in Pongaroa in a Farmstay hostel with cows and sheep, out in nowhere. Along the way I visited the place with the longest name in the world, in Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukaka pikimaunga horonukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu which means translated: "the place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as 'landeater', played his flute to his loved one." I wasn't really surprised to see that there are no houses in this place. Imagine having to spell your address if you lived there! Before heading to Wellington I drove down to Cape Palliser, which is famous for its seal colony, the lighthouse, which is reached by some 200 steps and the view to the mountains on the south island.

I drove on to the capital of New Zealand, Wellington. From the top of Mt. Victoria I had a nice view over the whole town and its surroundings. I checked out the city center and walked around the botanical garden with its cable car. I stayed outside town in Paekakariki, a place which was just recently covered by landslides and is still recovering from this disaster.