On my last day in Auckland I had to try out one of my birthday gifts – a day of surfing. Kevin, who already joined in for the bungee jumping earlier, was up for trying it as well. We spend the whole morning and afternoon at Piha Beach, where we got private lessons on how to ride on a surf board (up to eight people are in these lessons, but this day there was no one else).

Then, once again I got a very cool (early) Christmas present – Marielle arrived in Auckland on the 23rd of December. Instead of showing her Auckland and its surroundings we went straight to the Coromandel peninsula. It’s a nice area to the east of Auckland and supposedly all the people from Auckland go there over Christmas and New Year’s. Luckily that was not the case, or at least it didn’t feel like it.

After three days we went to Taupo, a city in the centre of the north island. It’s one of the extreme sports capitals in New Zealand, but we didn’t come for that. On the contrary, we took a relaxing (electro-powered) sailing boat trip to the not-so-ancient Maori carvings. They are still very impressive, but not as much as they would be if they were a few hundred years old. The carvings, more than 10m in height, were made by local artists in the late 1970s.

Then we wanted to tackle New Zealands most famous day hike, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. We met two more Germans, Rainer and Karin, and set out for the hike. It’s quite a long hike, but it’s very nice if you try to blend out the hundreds of people that are doing the hike with you. Actually, we found out that if you start around 10am, most of the tourists will be ahead of you, so it’s much better to go a little later. The only problem is the parking situation at the start and finish of the trail. I expected a parking lot similar to those at ski resorts, but these ones had only enough lots for about 20 cars… All the 150 other cars parked in places where it was not allowed to park.

After relaxing a few days in Auckland I was ready to see some more. Daniela and Manuel, who I met here at the hostel, were up for that as well. We rented a car for three days and hit the road. On our first day we stopped at the Waipu Caves, one of the most amazing places I’ve seen in the past one or two weeks. They are undeveloped caves, so you can go inside without paying an entrance fee. They are pitch black and have a river running through it, so at some point you need to get into the water to continue. To get up to that point it’s quite an adventure, because the rocks are covered in mud and very slippery. We definitely had to hold on with both hands. Once we were inside and switched off our headlamps the whole cave was illuminated by little glowworms, which looked like stars on a night sky. Absolutely fascinating!

The next day we picked up two others, who we met in Auckland before – Jen and Martin. Together we had a look at the Rainbow Falls and once again had a bath in the cold water of the river basin at the base of the waterfalls.

Even further north we encountered more giant sand dunes (even higher than those at Little Sahara), but this time the board rental was a rip off but still worth it. On my last ride down I tried to stand up on the board, but I fell down somewhere in the middle of the slope. What I didn’t notice was that I lost the cars to our rental car in the process. I was lucky though, because Martin found the needle in the haystack when he fell down at the same spot on his last ride…

Cape Reinga was our destination for that day and we reached it just before sunset for a nice view of the sea, where South Pacific and Tasman Sea meet. Unfortunately we had to drive back to Paihia for the night.

On the last day of our trip we stopped at the Wairere Boulders. They are lava rocks that have eroded over time by the acid waters created by the ancient Kauri trees. As a result, the rocks have a grooved surface. This geolocial feature is unique and hasn’t been registered anywhere else in the world. But it’s not only the rocks that make this place worth visiting, it’s also the amazing forest that surrounds them.

On Thursday I had to say goodbye to Eiko – six weeks of travelling the red continent have gone by really quickly. For the next few days I’ll be on my own. Not really alone though, because I met already quite a few nice people at the hostel in Auckland.

Kevin, one of my roommates for the first two days, and I went on a free tour around Auckland. It was not like the other free tours so far, it was more like a promotional tour for the different activities that you can do here. We stopped at the Sky Tower, where they gave away a free Sky Jump from the tallest building in NZ. Unfortunately I didn’t get further than the first round of heads or tails and someone else won it.

Instead I tried something else. I saw a T-Shirt for NZD 130 and I really liked it, so I got it and a free bungee jump with it! The jump was from the Auckland Bridge (40m) and Kevin decided to jump as well. It was really funny when I jumped and screamed – and when I couldn’t scream anymore I was still falling…

And today we went with Daniela (who was also on the free tour) and two other guys to Waiheke, an island close to Auckland. There are quite a few people living on the island, but you don’t realize it when you go to the beach or for a hike. The people are also very friendly and offered us a lift from the end of a hiking trail to Palm Beach, the village where they live.