The view of Auckland from the boat to Rangitoto Island After Samoa I was back in Auckland for another two days to meet my Irish friend Kelly who I had met onboard the Trans Mongolian Railway a couple of years ago. Kelly was working as an architect during the day so I was off to...Read More
After having just finished my journey with Stray in Wellington I was on a bus to Napier. I had contacted some friends of friends who said I was welcome to stay with them. Carol and Bruce were in their early forties and had a beautiful house on the country side with two dogs and a...Read More
Hawkes Bay and its surrounding areas has some of New Zealands most stable climate and is therefore an ideal place to grow wine grapes. Tour operators running wine tasting day trips are plentiful, but renting a bike will save you money which instead could be used for the two to ten dollar fees that most...Read More
Even with only two hundred thousand inhabitants, Wellington manages to boast a lot of cafés, bars, parks and museums. The city center has a lot of art around on the streets as well as nice places to meet, have a picnic or just relax. One of the days, despite winds and only 10 degrees in...Read More
An hour driving on narrow gravel roads from National Park Village we got to the Blue Duck Lodge in Whakahoro where we would be staying the next couple of nights. Upon arrival we where told a little about the endangered Blue Duck and why the lodge was named after it. The people in the lodge...Read More
New Zealand is known for its nature and good hiking possibilities. The most famous of the day hikes being the Tongoriro Crossing that starts and ends outside a small town simply called National Park in the middle of the North Island of New Zealand. At first I thought I would be okay with my simple...Read More
Before getting to Rotorua I spoke to some people who had been there and advised me not to go. My guess is that they must have just judged the place from the smell of the sulfuric geothermal pools and not really looked around as there is heaps of stuff to do here! The main attraction...Read More
What I love about traveling with Stray is that they take you to places off the beaten track. The buses don’t just go from city to city like the local buses, but they make sure to stop for nice small walks and places of interest along the way to break up journeys. Our next stop...Read More
Just a twenty minute bike ride from Rotorua you find some fantastic bike tracks in what is known as the Worlds biggest man made forest. The bike park is free to enter, so all it costs to go would be the rental of bikes. Half a day set me back thirty dollars including a helmet...Read More
For the Lord of the Rings enthusiast the highlight of a trip to New Zealand would probably have been visiting the Hobbiton movie set. The tiny hobbit village lies on quite remote farmland between Rotorua and Auckland and day trips for around hundred New Zealand dollars are available from both these cities. The drive from...Read More
New Zealand has been the country to get the first sunrise in the World until 2011 when Samoa decided to jump across the date line. Not everyone here seems to know that and on a lot of the places visited around the Eastern Cape people seem to still brag about being the first. The fact...Read More
Gisborne is known as the surfing capital of New Zealand and the regional capital of New Zealand’s Eastern Cape. The region is known for its good conditions to grow fruits, nuts and wine grapes. Right when we got to Gisborne we went to a place called Smash Palace where we had ordered wine tasting, which...Read More
New Zealand has been the country to get the first sunrise in the World until 2011 when Samoa decided to jump across the date line. Not everyone here seems to know that and on a lot of the places visited around the Eastern Cape people seem to still brag about being the first. The fact...Read More
I am happy that all of Stray’s buspasses include some unique stop where travelers get to learn about the culture of the Maori people and stay in a traditional Maori Marae which is where the Maoris usually have their social gatherings. For us this place was Mourea, a small village on a lake where our...Read More
Wataimo town is a tiny place. There are just a few houses, a shop, a couple of cafés and then there are glowworm caves. For those of you who do not know what a glowworm is, it is a kind of a larvae that has a tail glowing like a led light to attract flies...Read More
When our Stray bus rolled up at the Kariori Lodge we had a quick introduction about our accommodation for the night before it was time for us to get ready to do what we came there to do, which was surfing. Board and surfboard hire was super reasonably priced at 20 bucks for an hour...Read More
Before getting to Auckland I had thought that the place was just another business city with nothing to do, but I could not have been more wrong. My couchsurfing hosts Jan and Matylda from Norway and Poland were both quite outdoorsy and showed me all kinds of hikes and day trips that could be done...Read More
