A short Trip to the North

Day 1
After finishing the garden of the hostel (it looks twice as nice now ) I decided to join the two girls from Israel on a short trip to the north to get away from the big city for a couple of days. On the first day we quickly rented a small Toyota and packed our stuff. We went up the Eastcoast on Highway 1 all the way to Whangarei. For Dinner we had my famous “Spaghetti mit Tomatensoße”. Even the Israelis liked it

Our little Toyota with the steering on the right side

Cooking Action

Day 2
We got up pretty early and went on a nice hike to Whangarei Falls. It is supposed to be the most photographed waterfall in NZ. But i guess not everybody was photographed behind the waterfall like me I’m glad I didn’t break my legs, it was so slippery back there! But people don’t only use the place for taking pictures, they obviously also find it to be a good place for commiting suicide. A woman from the town told us of at least four cases she knew about. Well, it sure is a very nice place to be. In the afternoon we headed towards Kaitaia, where we spent another night. We had my famous chili con carne for dinner

A Spiderweb on the way to the Waterfall

Behind Whangarei Falls

Noa and Moran

Sweet As, bro!

Day 3
This day was going to be really busy. Our plan was to see as much of the Far North as possible. But since there are many places that cannot be reached by car (or cannot even be found), we chose an unpretty but well working way of traveling: a tour bus. The tour took all day, and we had many stops, including Rarawa Beach, Tapotupotu Bay, Aupouri Forest, etc. The highlight of the day, of course, was Cape Reinga. This is the northern end of the country and the meeting point of Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean. This place is amazing! It is also very important to the Maori: The beliefe that the spirits of the dead depart at a tree very close to the ocean. On the way back, the bus cruised along Ninety Mile Beach on the westcoast. No kidding… it was driving on the sand! A lot of fun was the stop at huge sand dunes: We climbed up and took the Toboggans down. It took me hours to get all the sand out of my eyes… The two hours drive to Paihia was hard after the long and exciting day… But late at night I was rewarded with a pretty good Israeli meal

Rarawa Beach

Tapotupotu Bay

Cape Reinga with the sacred Tree

Lighthouse at Cape Reinga

Sand Dune & Tobogganing

Sand all over ...

Drinving on Ninety Mile Beach Highway

That's why we didn't take our own car

Day 4
Paihia is a really pretty town right on the beach of the Bay of Islands. From here, you can explore countless little islands, swim with dolphins, go diving, …, if you got the money I was thinking about going on one of the sailing trips, but the weather was not our best friend that day. So I took one of the hostel’s bikes and went to another sweet waterfall, Haruru Falls (how the heck am i supposed to remember all those names??). On the way back I got drenched by the rain… I should get used to it… I’m in New Zealand… It can always happen The highlight of the day was a cold beer at the beach watching the sun set and, five minutes later, the moon rise. Sweet As!

Enjoying Harura falls in Paihia

Should I go or should i stay?

Noa is ready for Dinner

Not funny was getting up early on the next day. We had to be back in Auckland in the morning to return the car. The trip was just great, maybe a little short, but worth it! And… I can drive on the left side on the road now

Something feels wrong here...

Tags: Cape Reinga, Far North, Kaitaia, Paihia, Whangarei