We have been dreaming about New Zealand since we met in Australia, but there we barely had enough time to explore that country. So New Zealand had to wait. At the end of the first year of my PhD we finally had enough time and money to go. In the beginning of December we left the fresh snow in Zurich and started our trip with 30 hours on the plane. We did`t have much plans: landing in Auckland, leaving from Christchurch and in between ... Who knows. Renting a van that will be our home for one month and just enjoy the life.
After 11 months of work and barely no holidays it was so good to put my thought on off. I have been so happy when a friend of my mum picked us up at the airport and took us directly to the beach. I fell in love with this country immediately. With its mountains. Awesome people. Closeness. Thousands of cows and sheep. Easiness of travel. The ability to do so many things ...
We have traveled from north to south. Having 35 days, we thought we will have enough time to see everything, but we couldn`t be more wrong. We have done over 6000 km in this time, but we had left a fair bit of things to see next time. We enjoyed in the nature and amazing food. We did a fair bit of the adventure sports that New Zealand has to offer: rafting over the highest commercially raftable waterfall, blackwater rafting, surfing, skydiving (ok, only Mischa did that), ice climbing ... I was really happy that I took my running shoes with me when I woke up early in the morning and went for a run before breakfast. Especially after finding the best running spot around an old volcano next to the sea in Mount Maunganui. Since the pictures tell more than a hundred words, I will share this with you: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151945800514001.1073741827.595374000&type=1&l=bea26bcbba and finish with my blabbing.
