Steffi in NZ

Napier - bonfire, Gisborne - visited friends from Wanaka, East Cape - awesome beaches, Whakatane - burglars in the hostel, Rotorua - Waimangu Volcanic Valley, Taupo - Tongario Alpine Crossing
These are my highlights over the last few days on the North Island

After I finally left the South Island I made my way up to Napier and stayed there for a night. It’s quite nice and I was lucky - there was a bonfire at the beach because of Guy Fawkes night.

Napier Beach

The next day I drove up to Gisborne and visited Sam and Tina - friends from Wanaka. We had a nice evening and was great to stay at their house.

After that I drove via the east cape to Whakatane which was an awesome but also very long drive. The beaches along the east cape are just amazing.

Beach somewhere at the east cape

The next morning I went for a run and after I came back I realized that my food bag was stolen out of the hostel in Whakatane - lucky me it was only some fruits and coffee. The burglars stole also some shoes but they didn’t take mine - they are too old and duct-taped

From Whakatane I drove to Rotorua where I stayed in a very nice hostel (the first nice hostel on the North Island I’ve been to). I decided to stay three nights in Rotorua and do some of the volcanic stuff. I went to Waimangu Volcanic Valley which has some amazing geological things to offer.

Waimangu

After I left Rotorua I drove with Linda - a girl I meet in the hostel - to Taupo. We decided to do the Tongariro alpine crossing the next day - which was the best hike I’ve ever did!
The weather was just wonderful - blue sky, no rain, almost no wind!

The Crossing itself is just awesome! You’ve got stunning views all the time and I thought you can’t top this, but you just go a little bit further and the next amazing view followed. The only annoying thing was all the peoples on the track. Almost everybody takes the bus (like us) to the beginning and you get picked up at the end. So you can’t enjoy the stunning views by yourself but it’s worth to do it - and it’s not that exhausting then I thought.

Mt Ruapehu

Mt Ngauruhoe in the background

Ski stand with summit of Mt Tongariro in the background

Red Crater

Blue lake and Emerald lakes

Stunning view over Lake Taupo

The plan for the next view days is to drive to New Plymouth via the Surf Highway and end up in Raglan at the 16th of November and visit some friends from Wanaka up there - and I wanna try surfing - ohoh… I decided not to look for a new job - I just roadtrippin’ on the North Island till my parents arrive and/or I’m totally run out of money.

Well - that’s all so far!

C U later
Stef

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