Addition: Our footprints at the Healing Retreat

A bit late, but here it is: my finished sign for the Waitapu Retreat.

Below are Maia, who came to our door each morning and guarded us, and the second, small sign pointing to the cabins, I painted as well. It was a great time we had there, we will never forget our two amazing hosts - and we have left an imprint of ourselves there with the signs, the totem pole and one of Kay's photo prints on their wall. Praised be the WWOOFing idea! :D

Strolls through the city

New things...

We are in Auckland again and we are looking forward to earn some money for our travels!
I will probably work in New Zealand's largest climbing hall and Kay is hoping for a very interesting promotion job - we let you know more when we have anything confirmed ;)

Mangawhai Cliffs Walkway

I did a great walkway along the coastline at Mangawhai today - finally a day of sunshine after a lot of rain. Isn't the water a beautiful color?

A look out of our window

Here are a few more impressions of the healing retreat.  We are happy to be here, but it is time to change places again this weekend. We are looking for jobs at the moment and will try our luck in Auckland.
It's easiest finding a job when you just walk into the places and ask, though we are also applying for jobs on websites such as Backpackerboard or Seasonaljobs. We will also try and get a job via an agency - we'll let you now how well this works out.

Collected impressions

Coast near Matapouri

Coast near Matapouri

Sunset at Cape Reinga

New looks

What do you think about our new Blog Design? We think it's a bit more friendly :)

And it's not the only thing we changed these last days: Sammy got a new interior! We managed to build in a bed and some storage room beneath it. Great, isn't it? Now we don't have to move all our stuff every night and have some more room for sleeping :)

Painting again

We are back at Susan & Tahe's Healing Retreat near Mangawhai. It is beautiful and I am doing my favourite 'work' again: painting. The current mission is a sign to Waitapu Retreat, supposed to stand next to the beginning of the driveway.

Wild wild (North-)West

New Zealand's secret desert

Blue sky, immense hills of sand stretching for miles, yellow rocks, wind blowing the masses of sand onto you with such force it feels like getting your skin rubbed off – it must be a desert! When you see the pictures you will believe that we felt like being in the wrong place. You really get every kind of landscape here, from jungle to volcanic rocks to desert dunes. Except that it isn't a desert, but Te Paki's giant sand dunes, stretching along the ocean for miles and miles on the westcoast. It was an amazing experience and such a strange sight, the ocean next to the desert, next to the deep green forest hills.

Where the Spirits go...

Cape Reinga & Far North

Blue skies and golden sand marked our way north, from Kerikeri up to Whangaroa Harbour, along the coastline to the cute town of Mangonui, where we had a classical Fish&Chips lunch, to idyllic Coopers Beach and finally to the single Highway leading to the very north of Aotearoa: Number one, direction Cape Reinga.

Bay of Islands by car and boat :)

Russel

Yesterday we very effectively emptied our tank by driving the long way to Russel. It was a beautiful trip, partly on gravel road, through the bush and some more amazing untouched landscapes.
We were forced to fuel up in Russel on the only gas station within miles - New Zealand's oldest gas station operating since 1930. The age added to the price, obviously: 14c/litre more than elsewhere.

Rainbow falls

Today we found the rainbow at Rainbow Falls and saw the natural habitat of New Zealand's Fairies. 

On the road again - up North!

After a week of housesitting, and sitting it was, mostly, we are very keen to be on the road again. Our goal now is to discover the Bay of Islands and go up to Cape Reinga, the most northern point of New Zealand and the unique view of two oceans meeting.

Collected Impressions