Report from 29 December 2023 to 11 January 2024
From: Indonesia
Important info
New Year's Eve
Hobbits
Tent with underfloor heating
-Important info
The posts will no longer be published weekly in the near future. More about this at the end of the article.
-Havelock
The city of green-lipped mussels. Apart from this culinary speciality (which you can also get from many other places), there is not much to see, at least on New Year's Eve.
Instead of exploring the hiking trails in town, we decided to take it easy on New Year's Eve. One last barbecue of the year, something to toast to and hear that 2-3 rockets had been set off in the neighbourhood.
I then called a few people back from the future.
With the summer temperatures, you don't even need a new year.
-Old MacDonalds Farm
The Abel Tasman is a large national park in the Marahau region. During peak season (which we are currently experiencing), it is almost impossible to get a pitch, let alone a tour of the park. Fortunately, we asked at one of the "I Site's", which are certain tourist information centres. We were able to stay at Old MC Donald's Farm and book a tour of the park.
In the morning we drove a few minutes to the provider, after a short briefing we were given a lifejacket so that we could get on the boat. However, it was parked on a trailer.
So we crossed the road to the beach with a full boat. Backed up to the water, the boat was released. We quickly combed into the bay where we switched to kayaks.
Our guide took us out into the countryside and explained all sorts of things to us. How the colour of the water is caused by certain minerals in the rocks, which birds nest here, where we can find the seals, and that the many withered trees we see are not sick, they are not secret and are poisoned.
After paddling through the waves for about 1.5 hours, we arrive at a beach. Here we take a lunch break. Our kayaks are taken over by others who will row in the other direction, and we hike further through the park to a certain bay until we are picked up again.
-Picton
The ferry to the North Island departs from Picton. We actually only had a little waiting time here. But I wanted to have a look at the city centre and the harbour.
One harbour basin is a little off the beaten track and there is a footpath that crosses the entrance. As we were standing on this bridge, we heard a child shouting excitedly and pointing into the water. So we also say over the railing what could be there. A ray was swimming below us. Well-lit and in the clear water, we were able to observe this animal right in front of us until it dived back into the darker and deeper water.
Somewhat astonished, we take off into the water for a moment.
Another ray just came by.
And another one...
Sometimes from one side and sometimes from the other we saw some small but also some big rays gliding through the water.
-Wellington
Te Papa and then onwards because of too much wind.
The ferry departed at xxx o'clock. Unfortunately, this meant that we had to get up far too early, but we could enjoy watching the scenery as we travelled past. So we made our way to Wellington, where our first destination was "Te Papa".
a large museum with many different exhibitions.
We then take a look at the colourful and diverse city centre.
As it is very unusual for Janine and me to be travelling with other people for so long again, Janine decides to spend a few days on her own.
So from here on, I'm alone with my parents.
-On the trail of hobbies
In Blenheim, we have already passed a location where parts of the Hobbit tribology were filmed. But on the North Island, we first see one of the most famous film locations.
We are lucky and arrive in good weather at the so-called Tongariro, a volcano that is far from inactive and can only be climbed in good weather. We are repeatedly told that we absolutely need warm clothes if we want to go up there, even if it is summer temperatures down there. Now comes the strenuous part". Or: "If you can see the top, you can go on. But if you can't see the top, the weather is too dangerous."
but we have the best conditions and we hardly get cold.
so we can explore the dystopian landscape known in Lord of the Rings as The Mountain of Calamity.
This is where Frodo and Sam ran to throw THE ONE RING into the blazing flames.
A few days later, we also arrive in Hobbiton. This is where those in the Shire were filmed in the first Lord of the Rings. When the Hobbit films were to be shot, everything was rebuilt. After fans kept making the pilgrimage there, it was simply turned into an attraction. Today you have to dig deep into your pockets, but in return you get a free drink in the newly built tavern. I could go on and on here, but I'm sure you can find it a thousand times on the internet.
What I found very exciting was the hobbit huts that have only recently been opened. They have recreated houses there, as a hobbit might live, and you can touch everything! the taps work, and the fire has to be lit. You can read the newspaper or simply lie down in one of the beds.
-Tents with underfloor heating
Our further route took us to Rotorua, where there is a treetop trail. The special thing is that there is a redwood forest here. The immigrants who came to New Zealand from the USA 400 years ago not only helped to decimate the local Kauri trees, they also brought some of their own giant trees with them. The plants, also known as sequoias, have good conditions here. There are platforms and bridges at a height of 6-10 metres to explore the trees with various information boards. There are also light installations in between to create a spectacular scene. It has been my wish for many years to see these trees in person. so despite a certain fear of heights, it was an inner flower-picking experience for me to walk around here.
and as the tickets are valid for 3 days, we were able to watch the lights in the evening and 2 days later in the morning we could watch the trees again.
One of the trees here could just about hug the three of us.
A tree disc imported from the USA was marked with different time stamps in order to be able to place what happened on earth when this ring grew. And Jesus' birth was not in the centre. So the tree was already well over 2000 years old when it was felled.
There is still a lively Maori village in this area today, Maoris are the "indigenous people" of New Zealand. They arrived on the island from Polynesia around 800 years ago. (Until then, New Zealand was not inhabited by humans).
In this village we watched one of the typical dances, while old stories were told and rituals were explained.
We spent the evenings at a campsite where I had underfloor heating in my tent!
A magma chamber is so active under this region that you can see traces of it almost everywhere. The stream next to which we are standing is steaming. You can always see how vapour rises from manhole covers, hedges or simply from gaps in the paving stones or cracks in the tar, and sulphur is deposited.
You can smell the sulphur in particular everywhere. And the floor was heated from below.
I actually sleep on a pile of several sleeping mats and sleeping bags to block out the heat because I'm too warm all night.
From here we continue northwards, and Janine will join us a few days later. I think she'll write about that in a separate post.
-Important info
We've been trying to publish the posts regularly for a long time now, but we've been having a bit of trouble with it recently. Everything was so different in Asia that we always had something to achieve. But now we're travelling in a van and New Zealand is very westernised. It doesn't feel so different anymore and sometimes we don't really know what to write.
As we also see the blog as a travel diary, we will continue to write, but perhaps not as often.
We do not yet know exactly how often the contributions will be made.
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