08. bis 25.03.2013 - The north of the South Island

The Highlights were:
Mt. Stokes with greatful views:

 

Titirangi Bay, private Farmland with a Campground:

 

 

 

Farewell Spit, in the very North of the South Island:

 



The seal colony: 

 

 

The views from Knuckle Hill to the Whanganui Inlet:

 

 

 

 

Our 2 day Tramping Tour in the Kahurangi National Park at the Cobb River:

 

 

 

 

 

The Golden Bay with the beautiful beach:

 

 





 

Rabbit Island near Nelson, were I was before last year at 27.04.2012:

 

 

 

By the way:

Our Campervan is registrated as "Self Contained", so that we can use a lot of beautiful places near the waterfront to stay overnight free or for less money. We paid27 NZD overall for campgrounds for the total time.

 

 

We enjoyed it very much.

 

Cheers,

 



 

Back in Germany

Am 28.04.2013 starte ich von Auckland/New Zealand zurück nach Germany.
Ankunft in Hamburg am 29.04.2013 um 19.40 Uhr mit Flug EK061. Fluggesellschaft ist Emirates.

Mein Cousin Olaf Tabbert hat sich freundlicherweise bereit erklärt, mich am Flughafen abzuholen.

Meine postalische Adresse hat sich übrigens auch geändert, da Jo ihr Apartment verkauft hat.
Es macht aber eigentlich keinen Sinn, mir an
19 Tutere Street
Waikanae Beach 5036
New Zealand

etwas zu schicken, da wir bis zu meinem Abflug mit unserem Campervan "The Bubble" unterwegs sein werden.

Bis bald in Good old Germany,

Axel

Wellington/Waikanae Beach (until Christmas) - Part 1

Bike:

During my first 10 days in Wellington I  looked for a bike. I visited a lot of bike shops and test rode a number of  different bikes.

Then I bought an Avanti Montari 29.3 . (See  www.avantibikes.com/nz/bikes/mountain/cross-country/montari-29-3/  ). It’s a Mountain bike with 29 inch wheels. The normal wheelsize of mountain bikes is 26 inches.  The bigger wheels make the bike faster.

 

 

Biketours:

My first bike tour with Jo, . She rode her road bike and I was on her mountain bike.  We started in downtown Wellington, then rode to Kelburn, Karori West, Makara Beach, Johnsonville and back to Wellington.  It was a total of 44 km on road. She was much faster then me. After that ride I was totally outpowered. 

On my new bike I explored the region. In and around Wellington there are a lot tracks for mountain bikes.  Some are very different and dangerous and often I had to push the bike, because the incline is too extreme and the ground was too difficult to get any grip.  On the tours I had a lot of great lookouts. I rode around the Bay to the East harbour Regional Park and the Parangarahu Lakes Area. I rounded Evans Bay and explored the South Coast.

 

We started one day from the Beach House at Waikanae Beach south to Plimmerton and Mana and back via the Paekakariki Hill Road.  It was an up and down loop totalling 88 km, with the best part being the Queen Elisabeth Park, which has very nice tracks. The park is located  south of Paraparaumu.

 

English language:

Because I’m not a fluent speaker or writer, I looked for an english language school in Wellington. Since 26.11.2012 I’m a student again at the ETC – English Teaching College, www.edusearch.co.nz/provider.php?post_provider_id=0000009785&edusearch=739b and  have just completed 3 weeks of English lessons, every day from Monday to Friday from 9.00 to 12.00. Probably I’ll go in January again to the College.

 

Bank account:

With Jo together I have now a New Zealand bank account at the TSB Bank. Money is always welcome. For bank transfer ask me for the account number!

 

Cinemas:

In the last weeks I saw “Skyfall” and “The Hobbit”. By the way the World Premiere of “The Hobbit” was held here in Wellington with a lot of promenading of the actors on a red carpet and live music.

 

Visitors:

Unbelievable but true: Achim from the catamaran “Knulp” visited us with Wolmoet from Bonaire. Achim sailed together with me from Holland to Falmouth/England, where I left the boat. Achim sailed on Knulp to the Canarian Islands, changed the boat and sailed on a British sailing yacht  in the last year to the Capverdian Islands, across the Atlantic to the Caribean Islands, to Panama and then on the Pacific until Rarotonga.

 

High Society:

I accompanied Jo to a ball at the Wellington Town Hall. I looked like a penguin, or better still – James Bond!

 

 

The first 2 weeks (14.10. – 28.10.2012)

The start in Hamburg was not good. 40 kilos luggage, including the sport luggage, was allowed, I had 42.4 kilos. For the 2.4 extra kilos I have to pay € 150. The result was that one of my two windsurfing sails stayed in Germany.

Thanks to all who were at the airport. I was impressed and I’m sorry that we did not have more time together before I left.

The flight was very long. From Hamburg to Dubai took 6.15 hours and after a 4 hour stopover in Dubai, it was 18.45 hours to Auckland with a short stopover in Sydney.

When I arrived in Auckland, I was very tired.

Jo picked me up with her car. On the roof a kayak, on the rear rack a mountainbike. In Auckland we borrowed from friends a second kayak and a mountainbike and drove north.

 

 

The next 2 days we stayed in a lovely motel in Snells Beach.

 

We biked from Snells Beach to Scandrett Regional Park and the historic Scott Homestead. It was stressful, because the roads go constantly up and down, but we had beautiful lookouts and fantastic weather.

Then we drove up north, had a stopover in Sandspit and Matakana and drove to the Tawharanui Regional Park, where we stayed in a tent on a campground near the beach for the next 3 nights.

 

 

I was at this park half a year earlier for one night, see  http://www.axelweitweg.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/22022012-tawharanui-cape-rodney.html .

This park is very beautiful, with sandy beaches and nice walking tracks.

 

 

 

 

 

Friends of Jo from Auckland visited us and we biked near Matakana and kayaked at Leigh.

 

Every second day we had some rain and I missed my campervan. We decided to go back to Auckland for one night and then to drive to Coromandel.

 

Jo’s brother has a house in the bush North of Colville. The next and only neighbour is more than 500 m away, no phone and TV, but electricity from a solar panel and generator and hot water. A perfect place for relaxing. Here we stayed for 3 nights and enjoyed the nature.

 

One of these days we did a bush walk and missed the right track. So for hours we were on a climbing tour in a jungle and we used our compasses in the I-phone and camera to find the right direction!

 
Before we drove to the Bay of Plenty, we visited Port Jackson at the top of the Coromandel Peninsula. To reach this small town, you have to drive many km on gravel roads. In this area, there are some nice campgrounds.

 
In Tauranga, we picked up a Windsurfboard, which I bought from Germany on Trade Me, that is the Ebay of New Zealand. I’m now the owner of a F2 Axxis 254 Wave. Then we visited friends of Jo in Papamoa Beach. They have a house directly on the beach with amazing views on the water.

 

We walked up Mount Maunganui. On the top we had beautiful lookouts.

 

The day after, we drove along the coast to Whakatane, Ohope (see http://www.axelweitweg.blogspot.co.nz/2012_03_11_archive.html )and Opotiki and had a bike ride on the Pakihi Track, a part of the Motu-Trail. It was mostly easy riding, because we did the downhill part.

 

Afterwards, we started the long drive back via Rotorua, Taupo, Turangi, Taihape to Waikanae Beach.

On the way we had a view of Mount Ruapehu.

A police car stopped us, because the bike and bikerack on the back of the car obscured the number plate and the backlights. After a warning without a fine we arrived at the beachhouse that night.

Next day I hoist the flag of Kiel.

We visited the brother of Jo, who lived some houses along the beach and had a bikeride in Waikanae.

Sunday, the 28.10., we drove to Wellington.