26th -27th of September 2006

Well, plans change sometimes and at the beginning of 2005 I did manage to visit all the continents I had intended to, but did not think of going to New Zealand and planed on traveling around Cuba or Chile in January or February 2005 instead. Those plans where scraped and after some thinking I decided to stick with my original plans from my heydays in Brisbane and visit Aotearoa (meaning ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’) - New Zealand.

My trip started in Linz, it took two stops in Frankfurt and Singapore and 30 hours before arriving in Auckland, the biggest city of New Zealand. Fortunately I put up a very nice smile at the airport in Linz and convinced a very pretty flight attendant to reserve emergency exit seats all the way to Auckland for me. (Almost as good as Business Class!)

28th of September, Arriving in Auckland
Cloudy weather (well, that’s why they call it land of the long white cloud I suppose), but not to cold, that was my first impression of Auckland. The bus ride (22 kiwi dollar) took me straight to the hostel and the first two nights at X-BASE where booked in no time. Amazing how relaxed I’ve become about accommodation, in my early days of traveling, it was obligatory to book at least my first night in advance, but even that is not needed anymore.I spent my first day exploring the neighborhood (downtown Auckland and the harbor) and getting to know the city. I always start with a walking tour to get a feeling for the city. At night I went to the “First Base” bar and spent the evening with Laura and Laureen, both from the mighty Sherwood Forrest aka Nottingham. Both girls joined an amateur table dance competition but the cheering of the support team was not enough and they where beaten by a local. But over all Not to bad for my very first day!

29th of September, Stray Orientation Day
Choosing how to travel around New Zealand was my first priority for this day. A camper van would definitely mean a lot of freedom to choose where to go, but ultimately I did not want to be stuck with just one or two fellow travelers (well… the hot tall Swedish girl wasn’t interested…) and decided to chose one of the major backpacker bus companies. Books can provide you with a lot of information’s, but first hand experience by fellow travelers are the best, even (or especially) if they come from a stoned young Irish man .

Kiwi Experience and Stray offer free “orientation tours” to Auckland and luckily I opted for the Stray one. “Worm”, a 20something Canadian and Wannabe Kiwi was the guide for the day and he did an excellent job showing the group of backpackers around the city. His two favorite lines where “Sweet As” & “There you go”, which he constantly used when talking about the sights of Auckland and the opportunities that where offered through out the country.

Funny “Did you know” fact”, provided by Worm on his tour: Mount Eden, one of the many extinct volcanoes around Auckland was the stage for what must be one of the most genius pranks in human history (well, beside that nasty Trojan horse prank way back in ancient times by Odysseus and his henchmen). A couple of unknown heroes drove up Mount Eden at night, rolled down some old tires into the crater and lit them up. In the early morning hours they called up the local radio station to inform the city that good old Mount Eden was on fire… 3000 people had to be evacuated from the area and it took the police quiet a while till the found out that the city wasn’t in danger to become a 21st century Pompeii.

At the end of the day I bought a Stray ticket to travel around the north Island and was ready to start my adventure. So Worm, if you read this, you did a good job!

30th of September, Bay of Islands, Paihia
Well, my first real “Stray” day, with Nancy as a driver and a bunch of strangers. My first activity for the day was to take a close look at a Kauri forest and a short stop at the Goat Island. My first waterfall in New Zealand was the Whangarei Falls. The most interesting sight for the day was actually a toilet! A fellow Austrian, called Frederic Hundertwasser found a little place called Kawakawa in New Zealand, and because he like that little town so much, he decided to build a colorful and artistic toilet for them. What a nice way to say “Thank you”

Nancy, who also had Mouri blood in her, told us a few things about Maori culture and gave us a nice introduction into New Zealand history and behavior.

Kiwi’s have a lot of things to be proud of, but the one thing they always recommend to you, the one thing that they keep babbling about the whole day, is actually something they better keep a secret. Sorry but I feel the obligation to warn fellow travelers that, if someone in New Zealand informs you about a delicious BBQ opportunity, smile and just decline the offer, they just can’t get it right. Even at a place called Pipi Pitch, the place where I slept during my stay in Paihia.

1th of Oktober, Cape Reinga
The very northern part of New Zealand is called Cape Reinga, the very last tip of New Zealand is not accessible to tourists by Maori law. It’s a sacred place where, according to legends the spirits of the dead travel on their journey to the afterlife in the spiritual homeland of Hawaiki. I took a full day tour with one of the local tour operators. The coach drove along the 90 mile beach (its actually 88 kilometers long) and we stopped a couple of times, to watch wild horses, eat shells and go sand-dune surfing. Riding down the dunes is a very funny thing, climbing up is somewhat exhausting when you’ve been drinking the previous. Its also a free opportunity to get your teeth sandblasted – however, not very tasty at all!

Since the very last tip is sacred land, we only got to visit the most northern mailbox and the most northern lighthouse.. On our way back to Pahia we visited New Zealands very first citrus plantation. Extremely delicious citrus and orange planted by one of Captain James Cooks sailors in order to prevent future expedition from scurvy. At least that’s the story the bus driver told us….

2th of Oktober, Russel, back to Auckland
The first thing I did on that day was to rent a bike and cycled around the Bay before I went on a ferry to Russel - the first European settlement and the place where mighty James Cook first set his foot on. It’s a very relaxed spot and I got the feeling to step back in time, not the wild time when the early settlers arrived, but at least some 10 or 15 years ago. I hiked up some hills and took a close look at the church to check out the bullet holes that early settlers left there. After my trip to the very beginning of white settlement in New Zealand I took a Stray-express-bus back to Auckland with Spike, by far the most wicked driver of Stay, not just because of his trendy hairstyle (probably the source to his nickname). There is an ongoing “fight” between Stray drivers – nothing serious, just poking fun at each once in a while, and Spike must have overdone it one time, when he, driving the bus, stood up, pulled down his pants and presented the “Big Green Fuck Truck” travelers his Willie. Unfortunately a old lady was driving right behind the Kiwi-bus and called the cops, which almost arrested poor Spike.