01/02/2017

From flying to work to walking in the main crater of an active volcano, I have done it all! The last month was incredible. From celebrating Christmas and New Years in shorts at the beach with a group of friends to doing the Tongariro Alpine crossing and climbing Mount Doom I enjoyed every second of it! 

After a couple of weeks working on the orchard, I got to help my boss at his place in his garden. After spending a morning working we got some beers and enjoyed the afternoon on the beach, since they literally live on the beach! During the weeks we worked we had a bonfire at the beach every Saturday! The group at the bonfire expanded every week with new people! 
For Christmas we planned to have a big breakfast, organized by all the girls, and a big dinner organized by all the boys, this was a great success! On Christmas Eve we had a great beach bonfire with everyone and on Christmas I went with a smaller group to a river nearby and spent the afternoon there. 

The following day we decided to go to Rotorua where we wanted to go White water rafting! We spent our day at the Okere Falls and went to bed early to be fit for the rafting the next day. The rafting was so amazing making a free fall from 7 meters and racing through a river with a raft! After that our next destination was Reid's farm in Taupo, this was a big field near a river where we could camp. After doing some sightseeing like visiting the Huka falls we spent the afternoon by Lake Taupo. 

The next day Clara and I had to go back to Tauranga because we had to work at an avocado farm on Motiti Island, and so we had to fly to work how amazing? Motiti Island is a small private island in front of Tauranga, after some hard work we spent the rest of the day on the beach and flew back in the afternoon! 

And then it was already New Years! We got the amazing opportunity to spent New Years at my boss his house with all our friends! Here we enjoyed the evening on the beach with another bonfire. Amazed by the idea of standing in the sea while saying happy New Years! I felt so blessed at that moment my year was amazing and the next year started already great! 

The following day we had an goodbye party at our old campground because the group was going to split up! I went back to Taupo with a small part of the group to do some more sight seeing! And after this we decided to go to Tongariro to do the Alpine Crossing! An one day hike, with amazing views. Anna already did the walk and warned us that is was a hard walk. Well that was true! With a little bit too much wind it was incredibly hard to get up the volcano, Mount Doom! With every step we took we slipped half a step back and since there was no track but just gravel it was incredibly hard to get there! On top of the volcano we were so proud of ourself that we made it! The view on top of a 2300 meter high volcano was definitely worth the hard climb! And after skiing down on the gravel we continued our hike with still more than 13 kilometer to go! We had to climb some more mountains before we got to the end, which never seemed to come any closer. It was definitely hard but the whole day was unforgettable!

And then I did’t even tell about the small things we did like craters of the moon, or the beaches we visited, or the dinners by the lake or at the campground, or even about spending an evening in a hot river or going to kerosine creek! 

After the Tongariro crossing it was time to say goodbye and start my travel alone! 
I headed back north to Whakatane from where I could go to White Island. White Island is a big active volcano 49 kilometers of shore! After a boat ride from 1,5 hours I had to put on a gas mask and a safety helmet to be allowed on the island. On the island we walked around in the main crater and the smoke of the volcano, it was so amazing. The photos will tell how incredible it was!

After White Island I went to Gisborne a small place on the east coast, here I did some sightseeing and most of all enjoyed the amazing beaches. After Gisborne, Napier was the next place I wanted to visit. And I fell is love with that place, such a cute town, with a lot of art, fountains and next to the beach. Most of the days I spend there I was just walking around in town and going to the beach. After visiting Cape Kidnappers I already had to go back to Whakatane because I had a new job as a fundraiser. On the way I did some more sightseeing since I was driving though an amazing forest and along beautiful beaches. 

When I arrived back in Whakatane I met the team I was going to work with for the week three guys one from Mexico, one from the United States and a guy from France. The work itself existed out of promoting a charity, but after five days we decided that it was not working for me so I stopped working and decided to travel and not work for a while. 
And there my travel alone started again. Heading toward New Plymouth, mostly to see mount Taranaki, a 2900 meter high volcano. But of course when  I arrived in New Plymouth it was so rainy and there were to many clouds so the mountain was nowhere to be seen. Finally after three days the mountain appeared and I decided to do some hiking. 

After Taranaki my next destination was Whanganui, and so it went in I traveled from Whanganui to Palmerston North and from there to Masterton, and on the way I enjoyed the views, the hikes and the beautiful area. Most of the time I ended up in a small town like Featherston or Greytown. In Featherston a couple said that I should go to Cape Palliser. So the next day I went and what a beautiful place is that. I spend the night at the beach and did the Putangirua Pinnacles a day after that, this was a hike through an area where a part of the lord of the rings was recorded. 

After going back to Featherston I decided that it was time to go down to Wellington, so now I am in Porirua, a small place 20 minutes form Wellington. In a few days I will leave the north Island and start a new adventure on the South Island!