A trip to the south - New Zealand, North Island, part 1

New Zealand... difficult to be more far away from Europe. I arrived in Auckland, the biggest city of the country, in the early morning. After a long identity check, I got the keys of my best friend for these three next weeks: my car. No time wasted, I left the city and the heavy rain to the top north part of the northern island. Along the western coast, the road is really good, with nice outlooks on the different landscapes crossed. This part of New Zealand remembers me the Basque Country. Everything is green, very hilly, with lots of sheeps and cows. The only difference would be the forest, where you can find the massive kauri trees (some of them are just enormous). In the evening I arrived in Pahia, a small town on the east coast and oh ! surprise, most hostels were already closed at 8 p.m. Hopefully, one was still open and I got a warm bed to sleep in. The jetlag made me wake up early, and I took the first boat going for a discovery of the bay of islands. We were lucky enough to meet dolphins during the cruise and the all trip was really nice, but wet... this place must be really beautiful with a bit more sun. In the afternoon, after a nice lunch with some french and swiss guys met on board, I left to the south to a place called "Tutukaka". The main (only) attraction of this place is its proximity with the Poor Knight Islands, a marine reserve known as the best diving place in New Zealand. I slept there and I went for two dives the following day. It was really cool, with a lot of fishes, colorful reefs, morays and so on. The only reason why I did not stay one more day for extra dives... was the water temperature, 15 to 16 degrees. Even with the wet suit provided and the hot chocolates it was really cold after each dive. Even german lakes are warmer !!! In the evening I was in Auckland, a city which looks much smaller than it really is. The view on the city arriving from the highway in the night was great, and walking through the city on a saturday night gave me an overview of the intense nightlife, with a lot of bars, clubs and discos located in a quite small area.

NB: ok, the lakes in Germany can be colder than 15 degrees... I assume there are some new PADI divers in Muelheim ! Congratulations !

By www.comboost.com - Diaporama pleine page - Visiter les albums

By www.comboost.com - Diaporama pleine page - Visiter les albums

Comments

[Binomon]

Tu m'étonneras toujours mon petit binomon !! Un tour du monde, fallait le faire ... En tous les cas, profites en bien, continues de faire de belles photos qu'on puisse en profiter à distance et mettre tes plus beaux clichés en fond d'écran ... A ton retour, t'as intérêt à tout nous raconter !! Et si tu attéris à Paris, pas d'excuse je t'attends de pieds fermes !!

Gros bisous, éclates toi bien et surout ouvres grand les mirettes ...

[larsito]

Hey Ahnu,
just coming from a 12 degree-dive in a german lake..... ;-)