Leaving the big city!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

A lot has happened since we are traveling again and we will start to update the blog bit by bit, beginning with our departure in Auckland on 15th december...

Packing up all our stuff in Auckland felt weird. We lived here for several months and it was like home for a while, we got to know awesome people at work and around it and had something like an everyday life within the working holiday. From time to time, we even forgot that we are in a foreign country.

Still, getting out of the big city was a relief and we were very excited to hit the road again and discover all the beautiful places that are waiting for us!

Auckland Impressions November

A cloudy day at Karangahake

Karangahake Gorge is a beautiful area of steep hills south of the Coromandel Peninsula, covered in native bush and divided by the winding Waitawheta river. There are old railway tracks and mining tunnels you can follow and everywhere the rusty remains of pipes and other constructions peek through the rocks.
I definitely want to do one of the walkways when I'm there again.


We were there for the climbing - which gets you to even better views of the gorge on top of the cliffs!
We only managed one climb, though, because our map (and our orientation :) led us through the bush for more than an hour before we actually found the rock - and after the first climb it started raining. We were warned that this is the wettest spot in the North Island :)
Still it was beautiful and I'm looking forward to go there again!

Sun and Rocks - Day Two at Froggatt

Sunburned and exhausted, but happy we left Froggatt this monday, after almost nine hours of climbing, cheering, laughing, lying in the sun and enjoying the views. It was quite a contrast to the last time we were there: Blue sky and a hot sun instead of wet walls and rain.
We did some great climbs and came to the conclusion that the grading doesn't really make any sense at Froggatt - but it's fun anyway :)

We left late in the afternoon and were rewarded for our climbing efforts with a beautiful rainbow and a glowing red sunset behind the hills. (And an icecream at Mc Donalds. :-)

Here are some pictures...

Climbing at Froggatt

I had my second outdoor climbing trip last Friday, and it was amazing!
Froggatt has great rock, nice views and all kinds of different climbs from super easy to super hard :D
It was worth going there only to see this beautiful place. The weather wasn't perfect and in the end we had to run from the rain, but before that it was a lot of fun!

Smiley Face

Found in Britomart Train station, Auckland.

Who can see the photographer? :D

Lights in Auckland

Diwali - The Indian Festival of Lights

Last weekend Auckland celebrated the Indian Festival of the returning light, with a lot of music, performances, vegetarian food, henna tattoos and colorful clothing around the city square. Diwali (coming from deepavali, 'row of lights')  is the festival of light's triumph over darkness. It's one of the most important festivals of the year in India. The atmosphere was great and so was the food :D And, finally, I found one of the comfortable Indian style trousers I love so much - ready for summer now! 

Halfmoon Bay

My last day off work I spent exploring the area by bike and rode to Half Moon Bay via Pakuranga. I'm always keeping an eye open for interesting houses, mailboxes, etc - I am building up a nice collection and it's amazing what you find when you really look around.

Spring is showing itself slowly and the days are getting warmer. I'm really looking forward to summer!

Waiheke Island impressions

These are from our trip to Waiheke Island. We only managed to do one bushwalk this day but it was beautiful and we will probably go there again - if only the ferry weren't so expensive :)

Houses of Auckland Series - September