That´s the first time that I´m blogging in English and don´t judge me about mistakes or anything else. I only do that because lots of the friends I´ve met here are complaining that they can´t read my entries, so – now you can, and I hope you´ll like it.
It’s asways hard to remember where I finished my last entry, especially if I don’t blog regularly. But I think I finished with the first day I’ve been in Napier. That seems such a long time ago by now. And – of course- a lot happend since then. I had 3 beautiful days in Napier with really nice people. Actually I spent most of the time there with a canadian girl- we went together to the aquarium where I saw my first Kiwi!!! ( thats the national bird and almost animal of New Zealand). Furthermore we visited the Botaical Gardens, some other parks and had a little shopping trip. Like every town I´ve seen in NZ so far is Napier built up on a few hills around the city center. The view over the harbour from the hills is amazing, especially when you run up there.
After such a run on Thursday morning I visited the museum before I took the bus to Wairoa again – to go back to the farm where I spent the last few weeks. The bus driver was so kind just to drop me in front of the gate to their house. So I spent the next three days again at the farm with going up the hills, shifting stock, watching cricket (the Worldcup is on at the moment), going hunting and a lot more. I had some very nice days there even if the weather was not the best.
On sunday I did a long bustrips from Wairoa to Wellington. It took me over 8 hours by bus, but Tim picked me up at the railstation in Wellington and we had a nice dinner and interesting conversations- so the day was not too bad :). Yes I was very lucky that Tim and Liz were in Wellinton these days, so I could stay with them.
I had a very interesting and nice day on monday. I went down to town with the cable car to join a tour through the gouvernment, very informative. Ater that, Kate, she was also doing the tour, went with me visiting a church and a monastery. Up there on Mt. Victoria we had a beautful view all over Wellington. The nice thing in the capital of New Zealand is, that it is so small. You can walk from one end of the city to the other one in 30 minutes probably but there is still a lot of things to see and do. Thats very handy! After that Kate brought be to Cuba Street where I´ve met Johanna and Kim, the two girls I made the Tongariro Crossing with. It was so good to see them again and drink a Coffee (or a hot chocolat for me) together, talking about the last weeks and months.
Liz and Tim came down to the city for dinner. We went to a lovely spanish restaurant- I almost felt being at home by eating spanish food. By the way, if I have to be serious, I feel a little bit at home with Tim and Liz meanwhile or at their farm. Thank you for giving me that feeling!
On Tuesday Tim and Liz brought me to the airport and I flew with the most beautiful weather to Queenstown. A very nice Dutch family picked me up at the airport on the way to Queenstwon. A dad with his four children- ok they were no children anyore (between 21 and 36 years ;)) and they asked me to stay for one night with them in their campervan. Perfect- otherwise I could have camp in a garden from a hostel but so I had nice company and a good place to sleep. In the evening I´ve met some friends -a german couple (I knew them from Auckland). We had a lovely evening and atfter that I went to a pub with the four Dutch „children“. Nightlife in Queenstown. I think Queenstown is a big party every night, good for one or two days/ nights but I definitely prefer Wanaka as „adventure town“. These towns here are the famous New Zealand towns for bungee jumping, skydive, canyoning swing and a lot more..
So Wanaka was my aim actually, an it´s beautiful. Even Queenstown is really nice with the lake and the mountains behind, but Wanaka is more than that. The atmosphere here is tremendous. Clear water, mountains (some with snow on top), parks, little shops, cafes, and a really important thing- the sun ! Now it´s my third day here and I´m still excited about it. I enjoy every single moment, even if I do the most things alone. The main reason because I came to Wanaka is the Challenge Wanaka (half and long distance triathlon) on Sunday. I´m doing some volunteer work for three days here, if I don´t compete it- I have to do that at least ;). Yesterday we built up some fences, set up signs and other things. Today is a Junior Challenge where I´m going to help, and tomorrow the big event! I´m excited… The rest of the time here I spend with tramping (there are some really good hiking tracks here), running, swimming in the beautiful lake or just relaxing. I hope I´ll find some more time to do more tramping around Wanaka and Queenstwon. That´s one of the best ways to experience this country, and I start really enjoing doing long hikes!
I hope you all have a good time..
See ya, Johanna
sorry about the last pictures but the upload doesn´t work… more are coming, hopefully soon!
JoOnTour 