so, last day in NZ. Have had some cool last days, met an awesome dude called Kris, and we've been hanging out.
Leaving this magnificent country at 2300 tonight (give or take some minutes), for China.
wish me luck :)
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
New zealand in pictures
here ye go!
http://picasaweb.google.com/joenass/Nz
here you see EVERYTHING!
the first people in the piccies, are my first roomates, from the first backpacker-hotel I stayed at.
following that, there's a bunch of pic's from Auckland Zoo!
Then I hit the road, and all the pictures following that, is me in different locations of NZ, ranging from outskirts of Auckland,
to Hunua National Ranges,
to Tauranga,
to Mt. Maunganui,
to Rotorua (the place with the smokey lakes),
to som random Llamas,
to Orekai Korako where I met Felix and Kevin,
to the Thermal Trip I went on with those 2 guys,
to Tongariro Crossing (the 7 hour walk, with MT. DOOOOOM in the background),
to Wellington,
To Turangi,
to Mangakino (the wakeboarder place),
to back to Auckland where I went to the kindda Boring, but really pretty aquarium,
to Central Auckland once again.
woowwwweeee!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
weelaaaah!
Back in Auckland after 23 days on The Road!!!
and what a trip, yo!
bear in mind, that I left my camera in my new Motelroom here in Auckland, so there won't be any pictures yet. I've got hundreds, and I will find an easier way to upload them all, another day. So hang in there, you WILL get to see them. Until them, enjoy this upcoming wall of text:
After my latest update, from Rotorua, I've had the best time of this trip. When I left Rotorua, after... 3 day?... I decided to head for Taupo, a large city on the North-Eastern part of Lake Taupo. But on the way there, I stumbled upon a small place called Orekai Korako, meaning - The Hidden Valley. And with a name as The Hidden Valley, I coulnd't resist going there. So I did.
And it was the most WONDERFUL lake in the world, with free camping grounds, and nice sunny weather. I met a Canadian guy while I was there, who turned out to be really really cool! so I hung out with him, and a French guy as well, at Orekai Korako for the rest of the day, and slept at their camp as well. I didn't have a tent though, but it didn't really matter, as it was a nice a warm evening, with a really intense starry night-sky. Not a cloud anywhere, and the area was incredibly dark, so you could see billions of star, and the Milky Way, and everything. Oh, and 2 shooting stars.
The next day we (me, the canadian and the frenchy) went on a tour of Orekai Korako. It is one of the most active and wellhidden Thermal Areas of New Zealand, so it was really quite a tour, with geysers, bubbling steaming mud, colourful lakes, and a lot of other cool stuff. As earlier mentioned, pictures will arrive later.
So, after our Thermal Trip, we decided that, "Hey, we should totally hang out some more!", so we split my bike apart, and put it in Kevin's (the canadian) car, a lovely 1986 Mitzushitty, and hit the road. We ended up in Turangi, which is a tiny town 50km south of Taupo. Here we stayed with some of Kevin's family, and that was really neat, since we had big comfy beds, and got to eat tasty tasty TASTY food that evening. The next day Kevin's mother's aunt's sister drove us to a great big national mountain-range, where we would do some trekking.
GAH, BRB, MY LAUNDRY IS READY! will continue my blog-update later, or tomorrow.
and trust meh, I've got a lot of further adventuring ahead!
k, laundry has been laundromated. By that I mean, it's clean. Which it really really needed!
back to the storytelling!
The trekking, the day of trekking! We went to a great place with huge mountains, called Tongariro Crossing. With Tongariro being the very same volcano-mountain the Frodo and friends climbed in that movie about a Lord and his obsession with a Ring that is said to Rule Them All, and perhaps even In The Darkness Bind Them. and that is one sweeeeeet looking volcano.
So yeah, we walked in Frodo's footsteps for about 7 hours (Frodo whines too much btw, it really wasn't that hard...) and we had GREAT fun and it was all really cool and sweet as.
The day after that, we drove to Taupo city, where we went to a free outdoor spa-bath. i unfortunately didn't bring my camera there, so I will only be able to show pictures from there, when Kevin sends them. We rented some movies afterwards, and spend the night in Kevin's mother's aunt's sister's house drinking beer and vodka and watch movies. What a DAY!
Day 4 in Kevin and Felix's (Felix is the French guy, duh!) company, ended up with them driving me to Wellington, the southernmost big city in North New Zealand. We spend 2 nights there, just hanging out, meeting people, drinking beer and generally having a blast of a time. This is where I said my goodbyes to the two mates, since they were continuing on to The Southern Islands! And frankly my dear, I didn't have time or money for that. Unfortunately!! But I'll just save that for next time I'm in NZ!
So I caught a bus back to Turangi, where Kevin's mother's aunt's sister lived (maybe I should just call her Sue, which is her name), and spend one last night in he and her husbands company, before getting back on the horse, metaphorically speaking of course. So I left Turangi, and headed north again, towards Auckland, going on the west-side of Lake Taupo. (FACT: Lake Taupo used to be a volcano, but it erupted many many many years ago. The crater is what is now the lake. Now THAT is a seriously big explosion! Woowee!)
I drove and drove and drove, and had a night of camping in a nice farmer-family's backyards. I was gonna rain that night, so they borrowed me a tent for the night. I love the local Kiwi's of this country, they are always so nice! next day, I set off for a small place called Mangakino. I knew nothing about it, except for the fact that it looked like it had a lake according to the map. The map turned out to tell the truth, so I decided to stay and camp by the lakeside of Mangakino Lake for the night.
But destiny wanted otherwise!!
As I said there and enjoyed a WONDERFUL dinner (spaghetti with nothingsauce and airspices), this British Bloke walks up to me. Hilarity ensues:
"Hey mate, have you seen my dog? Also, my name is Ki! " (strange name, eh?)
"Hei mate, I'm Jonas, and nope, can't say I've seen your dog.!"
"That's allright, she'll come back! Do you have a place to sleep tonight?"
"Nah, was just planning to sleep here by the lake, under that tree over yonder!"
"Allright! But why don't you join me and my friends over here for some beers! Pack up your stuff, and we'll have a cold one open for ya when you get there"
and so I went and packed up my stuff, and went to a bunch of people close to where I intended to camp, and had beer and they were really really cool to hang out with. Then Ki asked if I wanted to sleep at his place, which was a place he had just bought, and was now renovating, so I could sleep on the floor on a mattress. I said yes, of course, since I had begun raining, and there was no way that I would wanna sleep in the rain!
Si I stayed at Ki's place for 3 days, and helped him paint, and walked his dog, and it was all cool and stuff. One of his friends then decided to give me a lift to Auckland, since he was going there anyways, and it would be raining for the next couple of days, and I reeeeally didn't wanna bike in rain. So i accepted the lift and when back to Aukland. When I got here, I remembered a woman I met on the very first day of my biking-adventure, who said
"Come back and say hi when you're done with your biking-adventure"
so I decided to do that. Why not? Maybe she would even let me stay for a couple of nights, at her REALLY AWESOME HOUSE! GRARGH!
so I got there, and we talked and talked, and then her daughter came home, and I said hi, and told her of my adventures as well, and about how I met a bunch of cool people in Mangakino.
"Wait, you know Ki as well?" Mia the Daughter would say, rather surprised.
I was surprised as well of course. But yes, it turned out that she, in a 1 to 4point5million chance, knew Ki (and some of the other wakeboarders (I forgot to mention that most people in Mangakino are wakeboarders)) as well, and that she was going there the next day. So I decided to get in her car and go with her, down to Mangakino once again.
Once again, hilarity ensues!
I got there, and Ki was all surprised and stuff, and we hung out for a couple of days, and it was all really cool and junk. When that was all done, Mia gave me another ride back to Auckland, and baddabimbaddabum.
Here I am now. For my last 5 days of adventuring. I'm planning on going to some walks and bikes on the nearby Islands (I'll get there with ferries!!), and check out some museums. Oh, and the aquarium of Auckland is said to be pretty cool, so I'll go there as well.
also, I'm PLANNING ON WRITING THOSE POSTCARDS BEFORE I LEAVE!! STOP BOTHERING MEEEEEEE...
*cough*
hope you are all enjoying the really bitterly cold and unpleasant Danish Winter!
and the English one of course, for those of you from England who also happens to read this blog.
oh and the American Winter as well, Luke!! though that one is not really that cold...
LOVE
_Jonas
hurgh, all that writing! And as said, I'll try and get the 400tonnes of pictures uploaded somehow. Flickr?
ciao
and what a trip, yo!
bear in mind, that I left my camera in my new Motelroom here in Auckland, so there won't be any pictures yet. I've got hundreds, and I will find an easier way to upload them all, another day. So hang in there, you WILL get to see them. Until them, enjoy this upcoming wall of text:
After my latest update, from Rotorua, I've had the best time of this trip. When I left Rotorua, after... 3 day?... I decided to head for Taupo, a large city on the North-Eastern part of Lake Taupo. But on the way there, I stumbled upon a small place called Orekai Korako, meaning - The Hidden Valley. And with a name as The Hidden Valley, I coulnd't resist going there. So I did.
And it was the most WONDERFUL lake in the world, with free camping grounds, and nice sunny weather. I met a Canadian guy while I was there, who turned out to be really really cool! so I hung out with him, and a French guy as well, at Orekai Korako for the rest of the day, and slept at their camp as well. I didn't have a tent though, but it didn't really matter, as it was a nice a warm evening, with a really intense starry night-sky. Not a cloud anywhere, and the area was incredibly dark, so you could see billions of star, and the Milky Way, and everything. Oh, and 2 shooting stars.
The next day we (me, the canadian and the frenchy) went on a tour of Orekai Korako. It is one of the most active and wellhidden Thermal Areas of New Zealand, so it was really quite a tour, with geysers, bubbling steaming mud, colourful lakes, and a lot of other cool stuff. As earlier mentioned, pictures will arrive later.
So, after our Thermal Trip, we decided that, "Hey, we should totally hang out some more!", so we split my bike apart, and put it in Kevin's (the canadian) car, a lovely 1986 Mitzushitty, and hit the road. We ended up in Turangi, which is a tiny town 50km south of Taupo. Here we stayed with some of Kevin's family, and that was really neat, since we had big comfy beds, and got to eat tasty tasty TASTY food that evening. The next day Kevin's mother's aunt's sister drove us to a great big national mountain-range, where we would do some trekking.
GAH, BRB, MY LAUNDRY IS READY! will continue my blog-update later, or tomorrow.
and trust meh, I've got a lot of further adventuring ahead!
k, laundry has been laundromated. By that I mean, it's clean. Which it really really needed!
back to the storytelling!
The trekking, the day of trekking! We went to a great place with huge mountains, called Tongariro Crossing. With Tongariro being the very same volcano-mountain the Frodo and friends climbed in that movie about a Lord and his obsession with a Ring that is said to Rule Them All, and perhaps even In The Darkness Bind Them. and that is one sweeeeeet looking volcano.
So yeah, we walked in Frodo's footsteps for about 7 hours (Frodo whines too much btw, it really wasn't that hard...) and we had GREAT fun and it was all really cool and sweet as.
The day after that, we drove to Taupo city, where we went to a free outdoor spa-bath. i unfortunately didn't bring my camera there, so I will only be able to show pictures from there, when Kevin sends them. We rented some movies afterwards, and spend the night in Kevin's mother's aunt's sister's house drinking beer and vodka and watch movies. What a DAY!
Day 4 in Kevin and Felix's (Felix is the French guy, duh!) company, ended up with them driving me to Wellington, the southernmost big city in North New Zealand. We spend 2 nights there, just hanging out, meeting people, drinking beer and generally having a blast of a time. This is where I said my goodbyes to the two mates, since they were continuing on to The Southern Islands! And frankly my dear, I didn't have time or money for that. Unfortunately!! But I'll just save that for next time I'm in NZ!
So I caught a bus back to Turangi, where Kevin's mother's aunt's sister lived (maybe I should just call her Sue, which is her name), and spend one last night in he and her husbands company, before getting back on the horse, metaphorically speaking of course. So I left Turangi, and headed north again, towards Auckland, going on the west-side of Lake Taupo. (FACT: Lake Taupo used to be a volcano, but it erupted many many many years ago. The crater is what is now the lake. Now THAT is a seriously big explosion! Woowee!)
I drove and drove and drove, and had a night of camping in a nice farmer-family's backyards. I was gonna rain that night, so they borrowed me a tent for the night. I love the local Kiwi's of this country, they are always so nice! next day, I set off for a small place called Mangakino. I knew nothing about it, except for the fact that it looked like it had a lake according to the map. The map turned out to tell the truth, so I decided to stay and camp by the lakeside of Mangakino Lake for the night.
But destiny wanted otherwise!!
As I said there and enjoyed a WONDERFUL dinner (spaghetti with nothingsauce and airspices), this British Bloke walks up to me. Hilarity ensues:
"Hey mate, have you seen my dog? Also, my name is Ki! " (strange name, eh?)
"Hei mate, I'm Jonas, and nope, can't say I've seen your dog.!"
"That's allright, she'll come back! Do you have a place to sleep tonight?"
"Nah, was just planning to sleep here by the lake, under that tree over yonder!"
"Allright! But why don't you join me and my friends over here for some beers! Pack up your stuff, and we'll have a cold one open for ya when you get there"
and so I went and packed up my stuff, and went to a bunch of people close to where I intended to camp, and had beer and they were really really cool to hang out with. Then Ki asked if I wanted to sleep at his place, which was a place he had just bought, and was now renovating, so I could sleep on the floor on a mattress. I said yes, of course, since I had begun raining, and there was no way that I would wanna sleep in the rain!
Si I stayed at Ki's place for 3 days, and helped him paint, and walked his dog, and it was all cool and stuff. One of his friends then decided to give me a lift to Auckland, since he was going there anyways, and it would be raining for the next couple of days, and I reeeeally didn't wanna bike in rain. So i accepted the lift and when back to Aukland. When I got here, I remembered a woman I met on the very first day of my biking-adventure, who said
"Come back and say hi when you're done with your biking-adventure"
so I decided to do that. Why not? Maybe she would even let me stay for a couple of nights, at her REALLY AWESOME HOUSE! GRARGH!
so I got there, and we talked and talked, and then her daughter came home, and I said hi, and told her of my adventures as well, and about how I met a bunch of cool people in Mangakino.
"Wait, you know Ki as well?" Mia the Daughter would say, rather surprised.
I was surprised as well of course. But yes, it turned out that she, in a 1 to 4point5million chance, knew Ki (and some of the other wakeboarders (I forgot to mention that most people in Mangakino are wakeboarders)) as well, and that she was going there the next day. So I decided to get in her car and go with her, down to Mangakino once again.
Once again, hilarity ensues!
I got there, and Ki was all surprised and stuff, and we hung out for a couple of days, and it was all really cool and junk. When that was all done, Mia gave me another ride back to Auckland, and baddabimbaddabum.
Here I am now. For my last 5 days of adventuring. I'm planning on going to some walks and bikes on the nearby Islands (I'll get there with ferries!!), and check out some museums. Oh, and the aquarium of Auckland is said to be pretty cool, so I'll go there as well.
also, I'm PLANNING ON WRITING THOSE POSTCARDS BEFORE I LEAVE!! STOP BOTHERING MEEEEEEE...
*cough*
hope you are all enjoying the really bitterly cold and unpleasant Danish Winter!
and the English one of course, for those of you from England who also happens to read this blog.
oh and the American Winter as well, Luke!! though that one is not really that cold...
LOVE
_Jonas
hurgh, all that writing! And as said, I'll try and get the 400tonnes of pictures uploaded somehow. Flickr?
ciao
Saturday, February 16, 2008
meh
will be a while loger before i update again!
im trapped in a house with a soddy computer, so cant really upload pictures!
having a good time though, staying for free at a british bloke's place! all i have to do is paint his room and walk his dog, and then i get the accomodation! sweet as!
will be heading for auckland soon, for my final days of NZ!
hope all ya'll are having a good time!
love
_Jonas
ps. . . . i havent written any postcards yet!!! I swear that i'll get to it before i leave NZ
im trapped in a house with a soddy computer, so cant really upload pictures!
having a good time though, staying for free at a british bloke's place! all i have to do is paint his room and walk his dog, and then i get the accomodation! sweet as!
will be heading for auckland soon, for my final days of NZ!
hope all ya'll are having a good time!
love
_Jonas
ps. . . . i havent written any postcards yet!!! I swear that i'll get to it before i leave NZ
Sunday, February 10, 2008
hurray for mee
im having a great time
In wellington at the moment. I will write a blogpost some other day, about how I got here.
for those who can't be arsed to look on a map, Wellington is the southernmost part of North Auckland.
Will post pictures and stuff at another time.
love
_Jonas
In wellington at the moment. I will write a blogpost some other day, about how I got here.
for those who can't be arsed to look on a map, Wellington is the southernmost part of North Auckland.
Will post pictures and stuff at another time.
love
_Jonas
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
phew
after having slept 2 days in a park, on a bench, I decided to actually move indoors and pay for a room, since I'm leaving for Lake Taupo tomorrow, and it'd be nice to be properly rested for a long ride.
this is how I lived for 2 days :D Eating sandwiches, reading books and enjoyng some quality Netherlandish beer.
Rotarua is most famous for it's areas with socalled 'Themal Activity', which basically means that if you were to walk around barefooted in said area, your feet would be fried. This picture is from a small lake which was arond 90 degrees celcius warm. It is not fog you see, it's steam.
cya in Lake Taupo!
this is how I lived for 2 days :D Eating sandwiches, reading books and enjoyng some quality Netherlandish beer.
Rotarua is most famous for it's areas with socalled 'Themal Activity', which basically means that if you were to walk around barefooted in said area, your feet would be fried. This picture is from a small lake which was arond 90 degrees celcius warm. It is not fog you see, it's steam.A couple of times a week, you can buy corncobs, which will be cooked in a thermal pool such as this one. Now THAT is sweet as.
cya in Lake Taupo!
Friday, February 01, 2008
pictures!
Here's some pictures for all to enjoy.
Here I just left Auckland City. You can see the skytower in the background! For this entire day, I drove along the coastline, and ended up at several really nice and sunny beaches.
Beaches like this one!
I am now beginning my climb up into the mountains. Or very very large hills, if you like. In the background, yet again, Auckland is visible.
Lunchtime!
So, I made it up onto a hilly-mountainy-top-thing when darkness fell. And driving in darkness in NZ i scary, coz thay drive like madmen over here. So, I rolled out me sleeping bag in some guys backyard, (don't worry, he allowed me to), and fell asleep to the sounds of nature. Cikadees, wind, an occasional airplane passing overhead, those kindda natural sounds.
woke up with the sunrise! Seeing the sun rise above the mountains is something I'm never gonna forget, ever. Absolutaly magnifiscent!
On the road again!
this day I decided to go trough a Natural Reservoir. This huge park-like place, which looked really awesome. I was expecting to go trough a big forest and that I'd spend a couple of hours doing it. Ooooh, how wrong I was. Turned out to be a non-bikeable mountain. So I had to drag me bike up neverending steep hills, to the very top of the montain. From there on though, it was all downhill, and awesome! From beginning to end, the trip trough the forest took me 8 hours. Yes, I was exhausted afterwards.
it was worth it though, coz the top was absolutely amazing! Realy nice view from the top. The mystical magical fantastical thing about this mountain though, was, that on the top it was all pine-foresty and stuff. But when you began biking downhill, before you knew it you were in the middle of nothing less than a genuine super-humid rainforest. It was amazing!
And in the middle of said rainforest was a lake. Most amazing place Ive been in my LIFE! No people, no noise, no nothing. Just a huge big orange beach made of CLAY, and the sounds of nature, and the scorching sun. Choice!
Ride downhill didn't go entirely as planned. First crash!!! I didn't get hurt though, landed in the grassy path to the left in the picture. And yes, I AM touring New Zealand in me jandals.
Made it to Taurangaaaaa, and here I'm just being cool with me mate Zeurel! Sweet as!
Mount Maunganui (or just The Mount for short) just 5 km North of Tauranga. AWESOME beaches, like 4 metre waves just thrashing the beach. So much fun. Oh, and a mountain. Which I climbed.
The View from the top of The Mount! Sweet as, eh?
this concludes my trip for now. I'm currently stationed in Rotarua, where I'm just running about, sleeping whereever I please, eating salads and pizzahs. Will leave tomorrow for Lake Taupo, or maybe in 2 days. We'll see.
Here I just left Auckland City. You can see the skytower in the background! For this entire day, I drove along the coastline, and ended up at several really nice and sunny beaches.Beaches like this one!I am now beginning my climb up into the mountains. Or very very large hills, if you like. In the background, yet again, Auckland is visible.Lunchtime!So, I made it up onto a hilly-mountainy-top-thing when darkness fell. And driving in darkness in NZ i scary, coz thay drive like madmen over here. So, I rolled out me sleeping bag in some guys backyard, (don't worry, he allowed me to), and fell asleep to the sounds of nature. Cikadees, wind, an occasional airplane passing overhead, those kindda natural sounds.woke up with the sunrise! Seeing the sun rise above the mountains is something I'm never gonna forget, ever. Absolutaly magnifiscent! On the road again!this day I decided to go trough a Natural Reservoir. This huge park-like place, which looked really awesome. I was expecting to go trough a big forest and that I'd spend a couple of hours doing it. Ooooh, how wrong I was. Turned out to be a non-bikeable mountain. So I had to drag me bike up neverending steep hills, to the very top of the montain. From there on though, it was all downhill, and awesome! From beginning to end, the trip trough the forest took me 8 hours. Yes, I was exhausted afterwards.
it was worth it though, coz the top was absolutely amazing! Realy nice view from the top. The mystical magical fantastical thing about this mountain though, was, that on the top it was all pine-foresty and stuff. But when you began biking downhill, before you knew it you were in the middle of nothing less than a genuine super-humid rainforest. It was amazing!And in the middle of said rainforest was a lake. Most amazing place Ive been in my LIFE! No people, no noise, no nothing. Just a huge big orange beach made of CLAY, and the sounds of nature, and the scorching sun. Choice!Ride downhill didn't go entirely as planned. First crash!!! I didn't get hurt though, landed in the grassy path to the left in the picture. And yes, I AM touring New Zealand in me jandals.Made it to Taurangaaaaa, and here I'm just being cool with me mate Zeurel! Sweet as!Mount Maunganui (or just The Mount for short) just 5 km North of Tauranga. AWESOME beaches, like 4 metre waves just thrashing the beach. So much fun. Oh, and a mountain. Which I climbed.The View from the top of The Mount! Sweet as, eh?this concludes my trip for now. I'm currently stationed in Rotarua, where I'm just running about, sleeping whereever I please, eating salads and pizzahs. Will leave tomorrow for Lake Taupo, or maybe in 2 days. We'll see.
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