The Northern Island of NZ

I would lie if I would say that I had a time as good in the North as I did in the South. First because I was pretty unlucky with the fallout of pulling out my wisdom teeth that meant teeth pain for a week (gone by now) and the worst weather in 35 years according to the locals. Secondly because I visted first the Southern Island, and sometimes I felt a bit like drinking a good beer just after drinking a good champagne...(to use a comparison that everyone can relate to) so you understand that I was a bit struggling to get excited. Thirdly I did a skydive from 3,600m (12,000 feet) but I would need to do another one simply because I could not really breathe during the freefall (my nose was scratched to my face) and then I had motion sickness when the instructor pulled out the parachute. So the idea would be to do it again in Nazca in Peru so I could see the drawing when I jump. For those who think I was disappointed I would say just a bit because for the 5 mns that represent the freefall + opened parachute, I had 20 mns when the pequeño plane went up and I had an amazing view on the Bay of Island with no clouds. Furthermore I will take a pill against motion sickness next time so it should be perfect.

In short here are a few pictures of what I saw:

When I was not in the sky overlooking it, this is what i saw of the many bays of the Bay of Island.

Cape Rienga is where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea (hence the waves). It is a holy place for the Maori. Personaly I loved the difference of the blue on the water (right) just because one part was overcast and the other not.

Taupo, Rotorua, well the weather was too bad and these places felt too touristic for me so I more or less skipped them. Just went to see the big Huka Falls, nice!!

The most popular one day trek in NZ: the Alpine Crossing that goes between two cones of a volcano. It was even used in the movie Lord of the Rings and is supposed to have great views at the top. Well, on the left you "see" a sapphire lake. It sums up well the day: rain, wind and poor visibility. I'll do it again but the 3 days version next time (with sunshine)

But the sun came back for my last stop, the Coromandel peninsula and it followed me to Chile!!

I did again everything with hitch-hiking (more than 3,000 kms in total in NZ) and I met wonderful people. I got picked up only by locals so I got to know many sides of the Kiwis (their work, their opinion on many things) that I would never had seen if I had taken buses. My favourite story is this man who went to travel in the late 70's in Europe and did some organised tours of the USSR (Soviet Union). He told me how they smuggled jeans (one per person not to be caught) into the USSR and sell them for the equivalent of a year salary. Since tourists were not allowed to take money out of the USSR they would then live as kings because they had to spend everything. But hitch-hiking is also demanding. First you usually need to walk a couple of kms on a big journey because you do not usually start at a convenient place to get picked up (especially in big cities) and secondly you need to talk to the people who pick you up, whether you are tired or not or worse, whether you feel you have something to say to them or not. For instance I was once picked up by an accountant whose accent I could not understand at all (and I really mean at all) and I had to pretend to talk with him for 20 mns. God I was exhausted when I got out of the car.

Finally I know that I will come back, start with the Northern Island, and this time I will get good weather and I will go to many places a bit less touristy. Then I know I'll enjoy it even more than I did.