NZ- week 1

After being a week or so in New Zealand, it's about time to write something of our travels here.
We probably should try to write something every day even if we do not put it onto the blog right away.
After arriving in our hotel (next to Auckland's busiest street (Queen st)) and relaxing for a couple of hours, we decided to make a plan for the coming days: buying cellphones + laptop and renting a car. We ended up with a prepaid cellphone, a nice white and shiny Mac-book, high-speed portable internet and an old (but cheap) rental car.

First stop after we left the hotel was an acquaintance we met trough one of Esther's' working colleague. His name is Jan and he emigrated 9 years ago. We were invited by him and his family to come around for some assistance if we needed any. So we graciously accepted and stood on their doorstep and rang their bell. A couple of hours later after onbijtkoek (typical Dutch sort of cake), dinner, a glass of wine, some borrowed roadmaps and many welcome tips we left again.

The next day we head north. Slowly but steady we were getting used to driving on the left side of the road. Once you are out of Auckland there isn't much traffic and the roads are quite in good condition. We were reading in the Lonely Planet about NZ's most famous toilet. It is in a small place called Kawakawa and it is on our way anyway, so we went to see it. It was designed by an Austrian artist named Friedensreich Hundertwasser who lived his last 30 years in New Zealand. It is an impressive place, colored bottles plastered into the walls, reflecting the light. Quite bizarre how a public toilet can turn into a tourist attraction!

Of course we couldn't pass by Waitangi, where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed on the 6th of February 1840. On this piece of (now deteriorated paper) the British accepted New Zealand as a part of the Commonwealth and therefore protecting it from claims of other nations as their property/conquest and simultaneously recognizing the Maori as their inhabitants and their claims to the land.

Waitangi is next to Paihia from were you can take the ferry for about a 10 minute trip to Russell, one of the former capitals of NZ. All that now is remaining are some victorian houses which are either a cafe or a hotel. But it is a perfect way to spend an afternoon enjoying the sun and a nice cold beer with a view over the ocean.

Driving towards Ahipara for our next touchdown, we decided tot visit Gumdiggers park. These buried Kauri-forests contained dried up liquids better known as barn-stone, but the kiwi call it gum. We walked around the sites were, around the 1900's, a lot of people worked to excavate it. Sometimes in swamps in quite harsh conditions.

The next day we went on a tour which would take us over Ninety Mile Beach. At the advise of one of the motor-camp hosts, we decided to book on a smaller, local (Apihara) tour-operator. We were not disappointed: it turned out we were the only customers, so we got a private tour in a 4WD car. He showed us the silica-white dunes (which, unfortunately are not accessible any more), Cape Reinga; where the Maori believe the souls of the deceased leave for Hawaiki (origin of the Maori) and where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. Having eaten lunch in a remote, beautiful bay, we were driving towards big sand dunes. They look rather misplaced, shiny and white next to the green grassland and forest. We were given a toboggan and had to walk uphill...rather steep! When you finally go downhill, the trick is to lean back as far as possible, otherwise you will get a facial sand scrub! Great fun to do, but walking up that dune reminds us of our poor physical condition... we will work on that! Finally, we accessed the beach. We drove the whole Ninety Mile Beach (67km)!