I got picked up by a friend who I stayed with in Auckland, and she showed me the city and I stayed there for a few days, but it was not really why I came down under for... the amazing outdoor activities is what lured me, and soon made me leave the city. I was happy to find that Katia was just a few hundred miles north, she had meanwhile traveled to Fiji to meet her boyfriend for a 2 week vacation (sort of a vacation from travelling :), and was back. So we met up at 90 mile beach and took a day trip to the "end of new zealand" where the two mjor streams of the pacific and atlantic collide... amazing to see the large swirls....
Roger on 90mile beach (actuality its much shorter but kiwi's like to exxagerate :)
A little fun must be included... woohoo!
The end of 90 mile beach and new zealand...
I speed-travelled the north island in a figure 8 path, only had 8 days and then three weeks in Australia, I had spent too much time in South America and was running out of time to get back to CH, work for 2 weeks, get my visa's straightened out for the US (work) and Africa (travel), so oh well speed traveling it was!
Went down to Rotorua and Taupo, where I mountain biked, visited active crators, hiked the tongariro crossing, did some caving and my very first skydive!!
That was a whole lot of fun and action all packed into about 7 days. In Rotorura I met Karen and Mike from England and we became a good travel pack for those days, they were on their honeymoon, sold their house to travel for one year, and were adventure junkies like me. We had a grand time, and mixed our daytime adventures with pub crawls at night so there was no time to rest until I flew out to Australia. All in all a very good time, but way too short, need to come back some day, especially since I have not seen the south island yet.
Caving trip, amazing views but the darkness and water is not conducive to cameras!
Some mountain they used for Lord of the Rings
Tangariro crossing, bitter cold
Karen, Mike and I
Dont I look like one of the Armageddon guys?!? :)
Australia was not much different, you cannot see a continent in three weeks, so I did not attempt to do so and focused on staying with my friend Alexandra and her husband (she is originally swiss) in Sydney, and her mom Maggie in the blue mountains. I had a phantastic time staying with them, after months of no private room it was nice to have a home for a few days, and swiss friends to talk to!
The usual classic picture...
In the blue mountains with Alex, her husband, and Maggie
Three sisters...
Additionally I booked a trip from the northwest down to Sydney, taking a one-way flight up to Cairns. Up there I started off easy with some snorkeling trip, and getting ready to take the bus down to Airlie Beach where I would take a two night three day sailing trip to the whitsunday islands. Arriving in Cairns I realized that the laid back traveling of south america had given way to adventurous excursions in NZ and now wild parties in australia. Not that I am a prude but I saw more live $ex shows from travelers getting it on right there in the bunk bed next to me, and saw more live throwup parties (fortunately except for once they always made it out of the room) than I ever needed to see. See here is the deal, the trip you book is dirt cheap, and the quality you get is dirt cheap... not complaining, you get what you pay for. So 30+ bunk beds it was....
After that somewhat shocking first few days in Cairns I realized if you cant beat them (e.g really I felt like beating some of them... was I getting old and cranky?) you have to join them. After all I had two weeks left and then I was going to travel off the beaten path in Afria again....
So once I arrived in Airlie Beach after a 20h bus ride I was plastered, and checked into my gigantic bunk bed room and chose the bed the farthest away from the bathroom (that s where most of the action occurred at night, either or if you know what i mean). I met a german, english and canadian girl who were all about to head out to the bar, and they convinced me to go with them as sleeping now would not be smart, the only way to get a full nights sleep is to go out and be home last, most drunk.. hey, whaddayaknow? The english gal had gigantic knockers and ended up being harassed every 15 minutes by random guys who begged her to take part in the miss wet tshirt contest.. and finally caved, not because of the guys, but because of the rather impressive 1000 australian dollars first price.. heck I d consider showing mine if I had any :)
So Miriah (the canadian girl) and I, after having drinken several pitchers, proceeded to go to the contest to support the gal by telling every guy in there who to vote for.. once the thing started the commentator came to the front and started getting everybody fired up... people stared jumping around and the girls got on stage and it was too lound to hear what was going on but somehow he started pointing to me, maybe because I jumped the highest... but all of a sudden I realized I was the one that was supposed to pour the ice water (two pitchers each, in both hands) over the girls shirts.... yep, sure not something my mom would have been proud to see but probably one of the "top hunderd things to do before I die" off the list! :)
Believe it or not it was hard work, sure I got front row but had to slowly pour fifteen times two gallons of ice water over these girls, and my arms were hammered by the end. For my hard work I got even more free beer which tipped the scale to favor the idiot in me, there was random beach exploration with Miriah involved, and fence climbing which damn near killed her as she got stuck hanging upside down (only to find out the next morning that literally five meters next to there the fence was open)... needless to say I did have a good nights sleep, latest and drunkest.
The sailing trip to the whitsunday islands was fun, though it ended up not really being a sailing trip since there was no wind.
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