We had to say farewell to the "Endless Sommer Lodge" and moved on. We cried all the way to the "Bay of islands". It was a beutiful day and many tourists travelled to "Paihia" to see the famous bay as well. We took the ferry to Russel, which is a really idyllic place with some great holiday houses. We asked for direction to get to the beach and shuffled to the otherside of this half island. One of us in shoes and the other in flip-flops - one of us with a blister at the end of the day, the other one without. We walked along a track that led to a hidden bay, which the information lady showed us on the map. After the first few minutes of enjoying the beach, we soon realised that the only people on beach were taking their liberties of sunbathing without any clothes. We first thought about joining them but then decided to go to a more clothes-loved-place.

We continued our journey by car to a little hidden hostel up in the hills, located outside of "Whangarei". It was a really cool place and the scenery around it was quite special. We appreciated the place even more after we went down into the city which was almost dead and a bit creepy. Around the hostel were three caves which we could have explored with head torches but we were too tired from the trip and it was getting dark by that time.

The next day we drove off at about 9 o'clock towards the "coromandel peninsula". This place is famous for its lovely bays. On the way we stopped at the marine reserve "Goat Island", where you can snorkel and swim with the many fish in that bay. It was really relaxing to see the underwater world but after a while Oscar got a bit cold (he insisted on not renting a wet suit) and my goggles seemd to try to break my nose with its tender but constant pressure.

After our swim, we had to drive through Auckland on the "Highway 1". The road was packed and we almost forgot that it can be really hectic in New Zealand. Our conversations in the car were really short because the swim made us very tired. But a stop at the petrol station and a half a litre of an energy drink changed this dramatically. We were constatly talking and laughing. The energy drinks sure did a good job, so that we decided to try every single one which New Zealand offers (that's a lot) by the end of our New Zealand trip.

The hostel we are currently staying in (Whitianga) is quite OK. It consists of many small appartments with a living room, a kitchen and 4 bedrooms. At the moment we are the only ones in our appartment. We extended our stay here because it started to rain and we couldn't go see the "Cathedral Cove". But after what we've heard about the weather in Europe, we don't dare to complain about the weather here.