maandag 25 februari 2013

04 New Zealand






































Summer! We took the Old Russell Road to Russell in the Bay of Islands and stopped on our way for a coffee with an amazing view over the forests and the sea. Further up North we loved the sunset down 90 Mile Beach and the large leaves in Ahipara. We drove down Waipoua Forest and met the immense Kauri Tane Mahuta! What a tree... the giant of the woods.. with a circumference of 13.8 meters of the trunk and about 60 meters high he is the largest and oldest (2000 years) Kauri alive!
We've visited Cathedral Cove in Coromandel and went for a final stop to our friends in Whangamata. Unfortunately to every journey comes an end but we've had the best holiday ever! Now, back to the wintery Netherlands again ;)

zaterdag 9 februari 2013

03 New Zealand


































Our third week already, time moves fast but we're enjoying our trip so much! Lake Tekapo was such a beautiful milky lake and icy cold! We tried to swim but it didn't last that long :) We went back to the East Coast and met some friends in Christchurch. It has been two years now since the earthquake but Christchurch is still left in ruins. Massive gaps where buildings once used to be.. but they're getting there. On our way up we stopped for a short visit in Kaikoura, the town of whales. Unfortunately we didn't see one. On Valentine's day we've visited Tongariro National Park and saw MT Tongariro smoking!
The stars are amazing here in New Zealand but it's hard to catch them on photo :) Auckland is a very nice city with beautiful bookshops and a really cool place we had lunch called: Federal & Wolfe. For our last week we drove further North and enjoyed the beach down Waipu Cove.

zaterdag 2 februari 2013

02 New Zealand
































New Zealand has such a wide variety of landscapes, rainforests, glaciers, volcanoes, long and deserted beaches... etc. This week we travelled down the West Coast (or Gold Coast) and sailed through the beautiful Milford Sound, how magnificent! We were surrounded by old and immense mountains and waterfalls and we felt so tiny being human. We drove down South to the Catlins and moved up the East Coast to Dunedin.