end {strange bowel movements} start {summer holiday}

Ahipara, 90 Mile Beach, Northland, New Zealand

Did I say it already? Fuck Cathay Pacific. They haven't yet managed to reply to my complaints. Nevermind. Life's too short anyway. Summer in NZ has been great so far! I somehow managed to drive from Auckland to Ahipara on Wednesday although I had not slept at all, but in the morning my digestive system was back to normal, I was hungry like a wolf and the fine Jamaica Blue Cafe at Auckland airport saved my life.

Ahipara is great, basically nothing there but beach and waves, so all you need. We stayed at "Endless Summer Lodge", a hostel in an old Kauri house, right on the beach, extreeeeeemely nice location! Room with seaview, waves lulling you to sleep ... .

On Thursday we finally made it up to Cape Reinga, after several failed attempts in the past 8 years ... . The trip is well worth it. While the lighthouse itself is just a blood lighthouse and not even an operating one and I don't give a fuck for any esoteric connotations, the landscape to the left and right is very beautiful. It's the place where the Pacific and the Tasman Sea meet and that makes for some nice waves. 
Friday, we drove to the Karikari Peninsula. I'm kinda lost for words. Kilometers of white sandy beaches, not a soul in sight, blooming pohutukawa trees all around. Amazing. This is a gem and luckily not on any of the bus tour itineraries so far. Hope it stays that way. Paradise is here on earth after all.




Lunch was at the Karikari Estate Winery ... good food, even better setting, on top of a small hill, overlooking the ocean. This, my friends back at the Mosel, this is how a vineyard should look like:


Cheers!
On Saturday we bought all the fresh fruit at Kaitaia's Farmers' Market and drove south to KeriKeri, which is a really cool place as well. But another time, am hungry now, must eat!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gandalf the Pedophile

Driving down south to Kerikeri was beautiful: we took the time to take the scenic coastal route, visiting gazillions of beautiful beaches and inlets. Bliss and joy. KK itself is very nice of course as well, real fruit icecream, need I say more. On a rainy Saturday afternoon we went to Ngawha hot springs, which rocks totally. Basic, ramshackle pools, or rather woodclad holes in the ground with different temperatures between very hot and scorching, after one hour you have a baby's skin again. Amazing. We stayed at the very nice and highly recommendable Kerikeri Farmhostel and the reisebegleitung greatly enjoyed the Kunekune pigs they keep. Before Xmas crazyness took over the whole place we left for Whangarei Heads and that's where the old pedowizard comes in. But more of that tomorrow, I have to and eat one of the best breakfasts of all times now. Just remember: always stay with your arse to the wall when meeting old man with grey beards and pointy hats.
Read more

Rain!

But warm. And not real rain. Just a drizzle. It's gonna clear up any minute. ANY MINUTE. I'm sure. Everybody's sure of that. Has been sure for the past three days. The only thing I'm sure of is that it will indeed clean up after we've left tomorrow and that the clouds will follow me to Napier. Because they too love me. I'm a raingod after all. Since I'm so incredibly butch and such a great manly bloke I did not let the rain keep me from exploring the mountain. Didn't go up to the top because that would have been stupid. The forest is truly amazing! Brings out all the hippie genes in me. But only for a millisecond. Gotta finish up now, have to clean my rifle and go rabbit and possum hunting. Kill a couple of God's creatures, just for fun.
Read more

Hawai'i, a résumé

Well, well, well. Looking back with a couple of days distance I must say that Hawai'i was underwhelming. It was nice, no doubt about that, bur I certainly won't be going there again and I think there are better places with less hassle and rules and regulations in the world. But anyway, let's try to wrap it up in a post. Flying into Hilo is niiiiice. On a clear day. You get beautiful views of valleys, forests, waterfalls, kinda like a very short scenic flight (provided you have a window seat on the right side of the plane). Domestic flights in HI are relatively easy going: our baggage arrived always very quickly and the car rental companies are just across the exit door from baggage claim. I had pre-booked our cars through NKT Travel and everything worked perfect - we got a good price, good, reliable car, no worries at all, so I can definitely recommend them. You don't really need a 4WD (unless you have a very specific use case planned). We rented a "mid-size...
Read more