Hello there guys, how was the first update? Nothing too special, right? The good thing is I think it is getting better en better. So enjoy week two!

On day 8, I travelled from Hahei to Raglan. Maybe some of you known Raglan, it is one of the best’s spots in New Zealand to surf. After four months I was between and on the waves again. Yes it reminded me how much fun it is, I still need to practice.. practice.. practice and practice, but I enjoyed every single second!

The next day we drove to Rotorua but before we arrived there, we had a couple of activities to choose from. We arrived in Waitomo, which is famous of the glowworm caves. I had chosen for the activity called TumuTumuToobing. I didn’t know the details of it, but I went for it. And yes what a great choice. It was like a bootcamp in a cave. It was about; crawling, swimming, climbing, driving in a tube and while we were doing that you could watch the glowworms on the ceiling of the cave. After this we jumped back on the bus and arrived in Matamata, the place of the Hobbiton Movie Set. Not that I have seen any of the movies, it was still pretty cool to see a real life movie set and the view was stunning! I learned a little about the movies, so who knows I will watch them some day.

Time for something different: rafting on the highest river to raft on. Why not? After an explanation and some safety instructions we went on the river. I was in a raft with two instructors, pretty lucky I guess. It was a challenge because the waterfall was 6,5 meters high but we managed it without flipping over. What an awesome activity is this! In the evening I went to the Maori Village. I learned more about the Maori culture, I saw a show of them and ate their food. A really special experience but I wouldn’t miss it for a second!

On the 11^th day I started my East Coast tour of the Northern Island. This night we had an accommodation literally at the bay of the sea. We could use the kayaks for free. I don’t let them say it twice, so changed clothes and tried out the kayaks together with Heidi. They were quite comfortable so we explored the sea a bit. We went through some rocks and arrived at another beach. We made it a little bit adventures for ourselves and took a lot of pictures. We spend hours on the water, such a good day!

The next day was a long day in the bus. We stopped a lot for seeing “The horrible disgusting New Zealand views”. For one of them we needed to climb 800 stairs, but the view was epic! We also stopped at the longest wharf of New Zealand.

The last day of the East Coast was in Tatapouri, the place where you can watch the first sunrise of the world. It sounded like it supposed to be worth it to get up really early, so that was what I did. It is still cool to see the sunrise but again there were clouds, nevertheless the sky was beau-ti-ful! After that I did something totally different. I feed and padded wild stingrays. They were really slimy and their faces look like a smiley. In the beginning of the evening I arrived at Rotorua again.

The next day I visited the famous geothermal parks. Started with bubbling mud pool, visited the geyser and hiked through the Walamunga Valley. It was nice to see but not that special for me. Luckily I could make a couple of nice pictures. And with this volcanic activity I am ending my second week. More pictures of week two are added in Album New Zealand 2.

Thank you for reading again, and hopefully till tomorrow. Have a good day. Cheers, cheers!