Today we drove from Rotorua to Waitomo because I’d booked my black water rafting for today at 2 pm. When it started we were only 4 guys because 2 hadn’t shown up. After a really rough ride on a small track to the Waitomo Caves we got our gear

( wetsuits, climbing-equipment and helmets) and our first task was to abseil 35 m down on a wall. I jumped over the edge and enjoyed the adrenaline rush.

Then I abseiled down into the caves. Right down at the bottom the guide was waiting for us with black tyres on which we could paddle along small canals through the caves.

It was really funny and our guide gave us a lot of information and showed us a lot. We saw the glowworms and learnt, that the bum is the part of their body which is glowing and not their „poo“ .

It is a chemical reaction. We also learnt, that stalagmites grow from the bottom of a cave and stalactites the other way round, hanging from the roof. On our way through the cave we came along very narrow clefts, we had to pass through, and there were moments, when you really thought, you had got stuck, but we always figured out a way to crawl through.

We had lunch down there in the cave, and afterwards we had to climb up the 35 m high wall again. I really liked the last part of the tour, I realized, that I like climbing very much, just having perfect trust in my ability and strength.

At 7’o clock Till picked me up in front of the office and had good news:

one couchsurfer had replied and had offered us a place to stay for the night. It is a woman from Hamburg, who had moved over here some years ago, and her son had shot some deer, so that we would have deer for dinner.

We arrived there at 7:30 pm, enjoyed a great meal and lovely conversations. They are a really friendly family.

Matthies skinning the deer

feijoas for dessert

Today we got up at 9:00 am and started to drive to Rotorua.

When we arrived in Rotorua it was raining cats and dogs. :/ So we decided to have some lunch in a Thai restaurant and to visit the Polynesian Spa.

So we did and enjoyed a really good time there.

After that we checked in at the Four Canoes Hostel in Rotorua for one night. Tomorrow we will drive to Waitomo and I will do my Dark-water-rafting.

Today we spent the night at Dave’s place, who lives 10 minutes drive away from Napier.

In the morning we started to Napier and explored the city centre with its beautiful art deco buildings. We found out, that there had been an earthquake in 1931, and so a huge part of the city had to be rebuilt. That is why you can still find so many buildings in the art deco style in Napier.

On our way to Taupo we stopped at a huge bridge and walked underneath the bridge on a boardwalk in 65 m height. It was a really good tip from Dave and we really enjoyed it. Our next stop was at some nice waterfalls.

In Taupo we checked out the weather for tomorrow, because we want to walk the Tongariro Crossing, but it doesn’t seem to become so nice. :/

So we drove to a DOC camping-ground in Taupo where we slept the night in our car.

The last couple of days I had been looking for a job in Wellington, went to the museum and enjoyed the windy, rainy city.

I found out, that there aren’t many jobs around for the moment, and so I decided to go back to Auckland to work there for Tradestaff again. I  have got to know a German guy, Till, on Facebook. He has to relocate a car from Wellington to Auckland, and we decided to go on a four-days-roadtrip together. Our first destination is Napier-Hastings which is located in Hawke’s Bay.

We have to be in Auckland on 12. April, and want to spend these days as useful as we can. I will do my Black water rafting on my trip back, and we will do the Tongariro Crossing, if the weather will be fine.

our car

roadtrip-mate Till and me

We are going to stay at a couchsurfer’s in Napier tonight. He’s called Dave and seems quite nice.

Today I got up at 7:30 am to catch my bus at 9:20 am from Taupo to Wellington. We had been waiting for 2 hours (two English girls and me)  at the bus stop, no bus had showed up, when we decided to go to the I-Site (visitor information center) and called Nakedbus. They apologized for their mistake, and we were booked without extra-charging fee for the first bus tomorrow. So we went to check in at the Base hostel for another night. The girls were called Heli (21) and Josie (24). We spent a nice evening together, and went to a Turkish restaurant. We had a meal called cish- grill-plate which was really delicious.

Back in the hostel I enjoyed good conversations with the two girls, who are sisters. At about 9 pm I went to the bar of the hostel and enjoyed a great night celebrating my 21. birthday.

The next morning I got up at 9:30 am, checked out at the hostel and Heli, Josie and I went to a nice cafe to enjoy my wonderful birthday breakfast.  I had a muesli with fruits and joghurt.  For drinking I chose a hot chocolate.

Today the bus showed up in time, and I met the two German girls in the bus again. It was quite funny and we had a good time on the bus ride.

When I arrived in Wellington I checked in at my hostel and did my laundry. Tomorrow I will call Tradestaff to get a job as soon as possible down here in Wellington.

Today I got up at 7:30 am to catch my bus at 9:20 am departing from Rotorua to Taupo. I safely arrived in Taupo at about 11 am and met two nice German girls,  Anna and Julia from Dortmund.

Lake Taupo

We decided to hitchhike to the Huka Falls together and started directly  after I had checked in at my hostel.

Our first stop  was at about twelve midday by a riverside and  I went for a swim. It was quite hard because there were strong currents, but I took it as a challenge and a work out.

Then we continued our trip to the Huka Falls, which were really beautiful and there we spent the rest of the day. The weather was perfect and so was our mood. We had a really nice time, good

conversations and a lot of fun together. Then we returned to our hostels.   I had just entered the hostel, when it started to rain.  Later on the sky looked just awesome.

In the late evening I went out to discover some Taupo nightlife and went to an awesome Indian restaurant.

On my birthday I will catch up with the girls in Wellington again.

After I checked out I decided to visit my two German friends, who I met at the caravan parc. Isabel and Laura are from Bavaria and have wwoofed in a huge house in St. Helliers where they have to take care of cats. They stay  on the other side of the city and so I had to take buses I have never taken before. When I finally had arrived at the bus stop where they live, I couldn’t find any street names, and so I decided to hitchhike at about 8:30 pm. This time a nice old woman picked me up (her name was Sandra) and gave me a lift to the house of the girls. It wasn’t at all on her way, but she was happy to have somebody to talk to. When she dropped me in the driveway she gave me all her personal details and invited me to her house in St. Helliers whenever  I will come to Auckland again. I was very glad that I had got this lift from Sandra, said thank you and goodbye, and walked along to the house, where the girls were already waiting for me. We spent a really funny night playing all kinds of games, we played with dices, UNO and I enjoyed a fabulous dinner. I could print out all my tickets for my trip and had a nice place to stay over the night.

Today I got up at 5:30 am, had breakfast and caught the bus to downtown. After a 25- minutes-drive I arrived at the bus stop and realized the nakedbus to Rotorua was already  there. I checked in and we departed at 7:15 am. Four hours later I arrived in Rotorua.

After I had booked the tour to Te Puia and had checked in at my hostel, I met a nice Japanese girl called Ayli and told her about my plans. She wanted to join me and so we arranged the booking together. We started the tour by bus to Te Puia. Te Puia is a Maori cultural place with hot geysers, mudpools and Maori cultural perfomances. There, first of all, we went to see the Maori perfomance, which was due to start at 12:15 pm. It was really interesting to see the Haka, a traditional Maori dance to scare away their enemies,  different dances for the men and for the women.

Both of us, Ayli and me, took part in the different kinds of dances and the Maoris showed us and other tourists (most of them older than us), the dance moves. One dance position I definitely liked best, maybe you will find out which one it is in the pictures.^^

Marcel the Maori

Dancing for 40 minutes was quite hard, and so we decided to walk to the Pohutu Geyser and the mudpools. Since I’ve never seen an active geyser before,  that was an exciting experience for me. It’s so impressive to watch this hot mixture of water and air splashing out of the earth. The blue pool had a really nice colour and a little waterfall was coming down to it.

The mudpools were also very impressive to see. But I was a little bit disappointed because I had expected to take a bath in them or go for a swim. :/  Unfortunately thas was not possible, or we missed the right ones, I don’t know.

For lunch we had Hangi (the traditional meal of the Maori). The meal was served in a handmade boule and the ingredients were pumpkin, sweet potatoe, chicken, pork, a special rice served with gravy and the typical Maori bread on top. It was really healthy and tasty,  but not enough for me, so I bought another pie and a muffin for dessert.

When we had finished I was full and we started to walk to the Kiwi station. That was quite dull because we just saw one kiwi and this one was sleeping. We waited really patiently and didn’t make any noises, but when a huge group of tourists appeared,  we just went off.

At the end of our Te Puia tour we took some beautiful photos with our guardian angels. Mine is the guardian angel of wisdom (April).

Back at the hostel I decided to go to the Polynesian Spa. It was just a few meters away from my hostel, and I chose the program “Lake Spa”. In the queue in front of the Spa I met a Swedish girl called Sarah. We spent almost the whole time of our stay together, had good conversations, enjoyed the different-temperatured pools (42-45°C) and took some beautiful photos.

In the end of my spa-stay I met a really cool family from California who invited me to stay with them when I come to California. I left my signature in the recommendation book of the spa and went home.  On my way back I realized, that my necklace has changed its colour. Now it looks more like an used “ old-travel-necklace” because of the hot pools. Actually in Te Puia, I had found out, that my necklace symbolizes the Hei Matau, a traditional Maori hookworm which signifies strength (Mana), prosperity and peace and harmony with all water elements. Blub^^

The last days (from Monday to Wednesday) I worked for Retail Dimension. After work I went to the harbour almost every day, enjoyed the beautiful weather and got to know a lot of nice people. On Tuesday I went out with a 28-year old Japanese girl to a really nice restaurant called “degree”,  which is close to the harbour, and we enjoyed a nice view, good conversations and had a lot of fun together.  The restaurant is famous for its stone-grill-setup. Kanoko chose a meal where they put a hot stone with fresh meat in front of you and you have to cook it yourself. It was quite funny and I found it really nice to see how everybody could prove his cooking skills. She did quite well.

When I went home from the bus stop, I realized that I lost my phone. :/ I tried very hard  to get it back, went to Starbucks coffee and asked if someone had found it and finally called vodafone to block it. They blocked it and  mentioned, that someone had tried to dial numbers from my phone after 12 (the time when I had used it the last time) but they weren’t aloud to give me the details of the numbers. Privacy laws… So from now on I have to live without a phone. I will try to get online as often as I can. I will start travelling tomorrow. My first stop is Rotorua, where I want to see the Pohutu Geysir and jump into the legendary mudpools. The next day I will catch the nakedbus and will go to Lake Taupo. After that I will take the bus to Wellington, where I want to work for some weeks.

Today I started to work at 10:00 pm. I worked for a company called Allproof Industries ( a new and young company) where I met a lot of guys my age or younger. In the beginning I had to pack different products from Allproof…

different endings…

…for plumbs

After lunch we started to unload the container. It was a 30 m long container full of insulation-mats which weight around 40-50 kg. We had to unload the whole container, to lift and carry about 1000 mats from the container to the hall.   We had started with 4 guys working together,  in the end it was just me and another guy from Tradestaff.

Carrying two mats was more fun and much harder

done

We finished at 5:00 pm and I took the bus home. On my way home I got a call from Retail Dimension. They wanted me back for tomorrow, I was such a good worker.   I agreed and will work there tomorrow again.

                                                      WOW that was a good workout.

Today I got up at 6:20 and caught the bus at 7:05. When I arrived at work Carl wasn’t there yet, so I decided to get a coffee. When I came back Carl was there and we drove to the gas-station “Caltex-Albany” with another man. We had to stick the new panels all around the gas-station because they switched there design from red to orange green.

before

So we had to measure, cut, glue, lift and carry the panels. I stood on the scaffold with Carl and sticked the panels to the wall. We had to work exactly and carefully.

Scaffolder No. 1                          some cones                     our truck

After lunch the work got really hard, because some wind had been risen and the panels almost flew away. So it got really hard to lift, turn and get them properly on the scaffold. :/ We were a good team and handled everything very well. See the results

after                                      our territory ^^              finished

The other man who used to work with us was from Fiji and I had really good and funny conversations with him. He told me a lot about Fiji and invited me to his daughters house. When I will be in Suva I will catch up with her maybe. I will see. He gave me a lift to my caravan park and I was really exhausted. 9 and a half hours standing on a scaffod in 4-5 meters is not as easy as it looks like.