Blog 19 – New Zealand

When I arrived at Auckland airport, Sonia was there to pick me up. We went all the way to the east coast, the Bay of Islands, Bay of pleanty, Tauranga, where her mum lived. It was quite a drive, but a very beautiful one. New Zealand is stunning!
After a chat and some tea is was time for bed, cause we had some busy days coming. Monday morning, Sonia had an appointment in town, so I joined Joy and her friend for a walk around the mountain and a well deserved coffee afterwards. After lunch, Sonia and I hired 2 surfboards (a soft top and a minimal) to go for a surf. The waves were small, but fun and we had a really good time in the water. It wasn’t even cold (in my board shorts).
After the surf, Sonia, Rasmus (a guy from Denmark who lived in the same building as Joy) and I went white water sledging in Rotorua. We had 2 instructors, Nick and Dave, and it was really cool! I’ve done it before in France when I was 15 (summer camp) and that brought back some nice memories (see pic’s!!). After dinner we had a drink with Rasmus and family to see the pics on the computer.
The next day, Sonia had organized hypes of stuff to do. First we went to Waikite valley thermal pools, which was really nice. So the ‘smoke’ or damp you see in the pic’s has got nothing to do with the bushfires (that are still going on in Australia).
We had lunch at the waterfront in Rotorua, where I had a walk in town and collected hypes of travel guide’s etc about New Zealand. In the lake, there were some black swans swimming… never seen black swans before as far I can remember.. Sonia showed us the beautiful Blue Lake and Rasmus just had to go for a swim. It was getting a bit chilly, so Sonia, Joy and I passed, but it was just really pretty. Then we went for a walk: theRedwoods Walking track. An amazing redwood forest and again really pretty.
After that it was time for a cultural experience: the Maori village in Rotorua. A bus came to pick us up and to bring us to the Maori village. (The Maori’s in New Zealand are what the aboriginals in Australia are). They performed for us: storytelling, singing, dancing, making music and we had dinner there, prepared the way they always did, called hangi. It was a good experience and I especially liked the musical part.
The next day we climbed the mountain all the way. After that, Sonia, Rasmus and I went for a surf before we had to pack everything to go towards the airport. Joy and Sonia dropped me of and a van from the car rental picked me up. My car wasn’t quite ready jet, so it took a while before I left for Raglan to see Anne.
These 3 days with Sonia, Joy and Rasmus felt like a week: we did so many cool things! And New Zealand is really pretty: so glad I decided to visit it for a month, although a month will definitely be to short… Good reason to go back though 
Thanks Sonia and Joy for the hospitality and the guiding: I had a wonderful time!