TOP OF NEW ZEALAND

After two weekends in Auckland I thought it was high time I listened to my sister’s advice to go and see the Bay of Islands. As I was quite disappointed by the high rate of Swiss students at school (and even German speaking ones) I decided to go to this trip organized by school without knowing anybody. This decision was definitely worthwhile. I met a lot of really nice people and especially I found some Swiss people that spoke English, too. And although they were far older than I am, I had a great time with them and I am thankful for having met them. On Friday we left after school and set off for Paihia, the Gateway to Bay of Islands. As the trip takes quite long we made a few stops. One of them was in a Kauri forest, which was pretty impressive. As you can see on one of the pictures, the trunk of this protected tree is incredibly big. Once we arrived in the nice seaside village of Paihia we went out for a delicious, (and expensive) dinner at a seafood restaurant. A nice glass of wine with delicious fish pasta made my day. In the morning we got up at 6 am to get ready for our trip towards the top of New Zealand: Ninety Miles Beach and Cape Reinga. With a bus, rather looking like a truck, we made our way up through the stunning landescape and I found myself starring out the window thinking 'This looks like in the Lord of the Ring'. And then we arrived at Ninety Miles Beach: No words for that. Making our way up along the beach was an mind-blowing experience as you felt the waves splashing at the bus. Then we drove along a creek into huge sanddunes where we had the chance to go sandboarding. Good fun, but I was more afraid of this than I was before my skydive!!! At midday we reached Cape Reinga. To the Maori, this point means a lot as they believe this as the gateway to eternity. I just found it awesome to see how the two oceans crash together. In the evening, back in Paihia we made a promenade along the several beaches with a really nice Italian icecream before we popped into a bar to have a nice glass of wine. (two things I learnt I NZ: White wine is delicious, but: Like my mum I feel dizzy and get a little bit crazy :)) On Sunday we went for a nice bushwalk along a river. It was relaxing after doing so many things on Saturday. Then we took the ferry to visit New Zealand's first capital called Russel. We found a beautiful beach, almost abandoned, where we took a swim before we had to say goodbye to a paradise of little Islands. The good thing is that, when we drove into Auckland, that I for the first time had the feeling of coming home.