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| N.Z. giving mixed emotions | After 4 months of islands, sun and very welcoming people we got to New Zealand, where we were to go for a monthlong trip by caravan. Its been a month now since weve been there - so the memories are rather blurry ;)
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 | Rainbow beautification
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Arriving in Auckland comes as a little shock quite naturally. in all of the 4 countries combined weve been before lived less people than in Auckland alone. Its supposed to be the biggest polynesian city in the world, but an influence was barely visible. there is as a bit of racism of the "white" majority aswell. First we went to a hostel called "the fat camel", which is not recommendable, but has very good access to the city centre.
We started enjoying all the advantages of a big city we were missing on the islands like diversity of food, clubs, cinemas and a decent haircut :) . Impressive are the beautifully restored town houses with skyscrapers as a background decoration.
Lovely, although bit overpriced is Kelly Tarlton’s Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World, which gives us the first glimpse of what to expect of nature in this country. The sharks are just impressive, as well as colourful reef fish. | |  | Cathedral Cove
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But it was time to head on towards exploring the country starting with bay of islands and towards Coromandel peninsula. The beaches there are well worth a visit, only the temperatures with 10-15 degrees were a bit low for us after the tropical climate. on Coromandel peninsula nature shows its creativity with the cathedral cove and hot water beach, where u can dig ur own thermal pool. Still we had to avoid the tour busses which carry the gapkids to all these places between pub and hostel. | |  | bubbling hell
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Our favourite place was definitely Rotorua and Taupo with its steaming outlook of hells inferno and its perfectly temperatured thermal pools. I wondered, how I could ever live without these springs. The nightlife of Rotorua is heavily touristoriented, so we rather spent our time in the pools. Ten days are not enough to explore the north island, but we still had to go towards Wellingtin via Mount Taranaki to make the ferry. | |  | Christchurch centre
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Christchurch was next stop after a rocky ferry trip and a train trip from picton which included commentary on the sights by the conductors. This town is the most likeable of the ones weve seen here so far.
Maybe that was partly because of Christchurch's "European" look. It was a bit less modern, than most of the others we've seen and therefore more soul.
I suppose we miss home a bit. :) anyway this town had lovely atmosphere and we enjoyed strolling the streets around city centre, the lovely botanic garden and some fine artwork.
We also had some great time at a nearby zoo, where we were feeding the giraffes and wondering the huge size of the rhinos and of course our favorites were the spidermonkeys, swinging from the trees with their hands, legs and tails. | |  | |
Next on our list we had NZ's huge National Park, the Abel Tasman park, where we did some cruising on a boat, some sperm whale and seal watching and even a hike or two.
probably the most enjoyable was our visit to a Health Spa, where we could swim, go to Sauna(jee!) and use the steamroom. Daniel also enjoyed massage and I got myself a facial. Heaven after a long time of travelling!
In our time at the South Island they had just finished filming the last part of Lord Of the Rings and we tried on our way to recognise some of the landscapes, but had little luck. Few of New Zealands mountains make an amazing background though, so we were pretty happy.
Next step was Queenstown, where you can enjoy many action filled days by Jet-boating on a river or Bungy jumping or just relaxing on board an old steam ship. We actually did none of the above, but managed to have pretty good time anyway. :)
One of our favorites was a tour that we did to Yellow Eyed Penguin Reserve, to see this very rear penguing species. There are only 5000 of them left in the world and we got the chance to see them in a natural environement and even pretty close, without causing too much disturbance.We took a guided tour through the colony, hiding in covered trenches and observation huts so the penguins were not frightened and could observe them going about their daily business undisturbed by our presence.
We just loved seeing these amazingly beautiful creatures walking around, meeting each other again after rough day of fishing at the see and we even saw a small soap opera- like drama happening when a male penguin named Tarzan was flirting around with another male penguin's wife! ;) We almost witnessed a fight!
| | New Zealand is a good place for the naturelover on the one hand and funloving gapkid on the other hand. There is probably not many countries on earth, which offer such a variety of nature and climate zones in one place. From the beaches to high mountains towering in the background, from hot volcanic soils to massive fjords. If you like hiking, if you love nature, its worth visiting. Skydriving, Bungyjumping, Jetboating, Sailing and many more is on offer for the funloving customer. If youre looking for culture, except the massively exploited maori heritage, history or uncommericialised reality, try another country. |
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Updated 18.12.03 Written by jeinsen 56371 reads |
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Two shorten the road.
-- unknown |
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