New Plymouth and Mount Taranaki

I had a great few days in this nice little town on the west cost of New Zealand. The Coastal Walkway is nice, the museum in the iSite is good, but the most amazing part of my trip to Mount Taranaki! Originally I only wanted to do a a small loop track , with a nice Austrian Guy i meed in the Hostel. But on the Visitor Information Center we stumbled into two swiss people, who where going up with a super friendly older man, who was up there 693 times! Both of us thought we just have to take the chance, you don’t get that normally, to go to the top of the mountain, away from the touristic tracks and with someone that really knows his way. And, as said, it was amazing! Enjoy the pictures 😀IMG_9613.JPGIMG_9618.JPGIMG_9619.JPGIMG_9623.JPGIMG_9626.JPGIMG_9633.JPGIMG_9634.JPGIMG_9642.JPGIMG_9652.JPGIMG_9654.JPGIMG_9656.JPGIMG_9658.JPGIMG_9662.JPG

And then there was the Festival of Lights 😀 Where there are, well, Lights 😀

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Raglan

Raglan is a little Surfer Village a little bit South-West to Auckland, the Village isn’t that great, it’s chilly and has a few good Cafes and obviously a few surf shobs, the beach on the other hand is know for some of the best waves in the world and although I didn’t get them, the waves I got when I was surfing were much better than anything I had before (one time in France and one time in Whitianga), so i was very happy with that stuff 🙂

The best about my trip to raglan however was the hostel I stayed in, Scott’s Place is a really small place with a few dorm rooms, a few cabins and space for tents or your van, so that you can sleep however you want. In the Living room music plays all the time and nice people to talk to or play games hang around there a lot, plus there are a lot of hats, which is great, so you always find something to do. Altough the place is somewhat out of Raglan, I didn’t have too much trouble getting there. I had to take the Bus to Te Uku which as it turned out was a really small place in the middle of Hamilton and Raglan, because i got the latest bus there the little Shop and Restaurant where already closed, I had no phone signal, so i was a little bit scared what would happen if nobody would pick me up, but everything went fine :).

Sadly i could not take pictures from myself Surfing and I only have a few from Raglan but i hope you enjoy them anyway 🙂

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Auckland

Here just is a short summery of the things i did in Auckland, if i wrote an extra article about it i will link it here 🙂

Sun 27.

I arrived in Auckland and for New Zealand Conditions it is a really big City and so i had a little trouble finding my hostel, but nothing too bad. The YHA there really is an okay place but not more. So i didn’t explore Auckland that much and ended up just walking down Queen Street and around the harbor a little bit.IMG_9127.JPGIMG_9128.JPGIMG_9131.JPGIMG_9134.JPG

Mon 28.

I visited friends (I’m never sure if its okay to mention the names and I haven’t asked so I’m not sure) of mine, who moved here a little while ago, it was really great seeing some faces you have seen before and talking about the stuff back in Germany and what happened since they left and all that. After that I got to Kathmandu, again on that same day, and got my tent far cheaper than it would normally be. 😀

Tue 29.

I wandered around Auckland’s cool park the Domain, don’t want to tell that much, just watch the pictures.IMG_9141.JPGIMG_9142.JPGIMG_9143.JPGIMG_9146.JPGIMG_9151.JPG

Wed 30

I visited the Auckland Museum and had my first VR Experience 🙂 https://paulwbal.wordpress.com/2015/12/30/auckland-museum/

Don 31

I was at mount Eden for New Years Eve and watched a movie in the Cinema Joy is a good Movie and the view from Mount Eden was great, but the firework was disappointing if you are used to the German ones, because people in New Zealand are not allowed to buy rockets and stuff on New Year.IMG_9206.JPGIMG_9273.JPG

Fri 01

It rained. A lot.

Sam 02

Star Wars. Twice. 😀 Great Movie enjoyed it very much, not much more to say.

Son 03

I again met with a friend of mine and first we were getting lunch in Ponsby, the “cool and hip” region of Auckland, after that we drove to mission Bay which was really nice too.IMG_9316.JPGIMG_9320.JPGIMG_9326.JPGIMG_9328.JPG

Mon 04

I left to Paihia. More about that in another post 😀

Update: I was in Auckland again on the 8 January and could sleep at my friends place and had a cool trip to a beach with some of them, enjoy the pictures 😀IMG_9555.JPGIMG_9561.JPGIMG_9564.JPGIMG_9570.JPGIMG_9576.JPGIMG_9579.JPG

PS: This is my first post in 2016 so happy new Year to everyone 😀