The beautiful North Island

Getting to the north island by plain to Wellington cost as mutch as taking the ferry from Picton. But taking the ferry would have cost me a (lost) day in Kaikoura and I wouldn't see anything new. That was the reason why I took the plane. In Wellington I collected my rucksack and made my way first by foot towards town. After 10 min walking I realised I went south and not north, directions still confuse me on the southern hemisphere. I'm sure by the time I get used to them I'll fly back home. Anyway, I turned back and passed the airport again. The time I got there a fire alarm was going on and everybody was standing outside, so I had more than enough people to ask for the bus station towards town.
In town my busdriver forgot to tell me where to get off and I was lost for one hour or so looking for my hostel, and at the same time did a sightseeing tour. Unfortunately my photo was in my rucksack and I didn't even think about making photos.

The first bus on the north island our bus driver, called Yongjoyong told us his bus rules:
- If you bring milk & cornflakes he'll bring the cochroaks
- Sex at the backrows is no problem, but somebody has to make pictures, since he is driving
- If the bell rings you have to put on your seatbelt. But only the front rows had some.
- And never ever use the word actually, if you do you have to say it another 7 times (I sayed it 16 times)
- ...
He was by far the best driver I had yet.
And while we had a stopp in a Kiwi resort, we heared a loud bang. That was one of our bus tires and we had to wait another 30 minutes till he has changed it. But nothing else happened, as far as we know.
Napier itself is a nice little town with some Adeco houses. Lena and me went on a selfguided tour with her travel guide and got lost several times, but it was lots of fun. After dinner Regina wanted to do a tour as well and I showed her the buildings from Lena&s tour and were wondering about the flowers in the rubbish bin.
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On the bus we played bus bowling with half liter cola bottles and tennis balls. It was just fun.
In Taupo I organized another hike, a customized Tongariro crossing (Doom Mountain from Lord of the Rings) and in the evening Maarit, Julia and me went out for a pint and playing pool. Always keeping in mind that we have to be ready for our hikes at 6am. But it didn't prevent us from drinking 3 pints each.
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Starting at 6:15 am in Taupo by bus towards Tongariro National Park. At 6:30 am we were back in Taupo, our busdriver forgot two people :-(
Finally at the park (it is 9:30 am by now) he insisted that I fill out a form at the I-Site what my route is, contact details, ... in case something happens. Somehow he didn't believe me that I told the hostel owners where I go and that if I don't show up they shall call the DOC office or call home.
On the track I looked for a hiking stick as always and found it very fast. It was a bit heavier than neccessary, but it will do. While I did the fine tuning an elderly man stopped and we were talking for the next 6 Km. He is an almost retired priest, and loves hiking. Almost retired because he still performs weddings on the Tongarira crossing. He is 70 years old, and does it about 3 or 4 times every season.
The track itself is breathtaking, every 5 min the landscape changes completely. After walking in a rain forest you enter a dessert, then a gras landscape after the next summit and vulcano rocks after the one after that. And I always had a nice view on the snow covered Mt Ngauruhoe (Doom Mountain in Lord of the Rings). And the first time on my hikes I didn't meet more than 20 people on the track, maybe just because all day-walkers do the crossing.
But it was definitely worth doing a longer tour, the sunset was so beautifull with the mountains covered in red clouds, ... As always there are too many impressions to tell all of them, get there and do it yourself!
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Birte and me got up at 6 am to start our trip early, and since we were walking the same route we deceited to walk together. To our suprise it was very worm in the morning and we haven't had any problems start walking. We crossed beautifull, almost dessert like landscapes and reached the Emerald Lakes after a steep and hard ascending (~320m) which were very nice, but somehow strange with the steam sorces which seems to be directly in the mountains and of course the strong sulphur smell. In Germany it would be impossible to walk through an area where an active vulcano is. At least not without a special permission I think, and here you can walk around one. After another ascending of "only" 200m to Mt Tongariro at 1967m we were able to see Mt Rupaheu in the distance (the single peak). And we first realized how bizzar the landscape is we are walking in.
Descending Mt Tongariro was more sliding/skying down on the sandy/rocky path than walking. And of course my shoes were full of stones, but it was fun. Passing the Emerald Lakes again and having lunch break at Blue Lake we enjoyed the landscape around us before I had to go on to catch my bus and left Brite sitting at the Blue Lake.
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Back at the bus after the 40 km hike in two days it was very relaxing for me just to travel around and go for a short walk with Maarit. But the sign pointing towards the summit was strange.
In the evening we had a funny time while cooking only the wine we bought for dinner was dissapointing. It was a kiwi fruit wine and tasted more like a dry white wine and almost no taste of the kiwi fruit. The only remainder were the fruit fibres we could see.
In the morning while waiting for the bus Sara danced in the rain, just for us. And we weren't bored anylonger, thanks Sara!
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Finaly meeting my brother in Aucklan after a long time was very nice. He recently wrote his last exam and we (his friends, him and me) went out eating at the steack house where we had a delicious dinner and enjoyed ourselfs in a pub afterwards playing pool and having a Weissbier.
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