After I spent some time at the east coast, I was ready to leave and make my way towards new destinations. But before I left, I was able to see an awesome sunrise at the beach.
I then got my car ready and I was on the road again. My plan was to drive to a DOC campsite and stay there for three nights and just do nothing. Except a little bit of reading.
The campground was called Arohena Campground and it is situated right next to a beautiful lake.
And for three days I did exactly what I had planned on doing. Nothing.
I just relaxed in the sun, finished some books and took a swim in the lake as well.
When the time to depart to my next destination came, my emotions were split.
On one side, I wanted to stay there and relax some more, but I was also eager to get going again.
But before I could travel to new destinations I first had to get away from the campsite. The DOC campgrounds are often only accessible through a gravel road, so the approach is sometimes a little bit tricky.
After I got on a paved road again, I made my way towards Raglan, New Zealand’s surf capital.
And as I experienced it before, the day when I arrived in the afternoon, it was sunny, but the next day was filled with rain. I stayed only two nights in Raglan as the weather forecast wasn’t that promising, so I was on the road again on the 26th of November. Luckily I stopped at a lookout over Manu Bay, the best surf spot in Raglan and got to see some surfers.
One experience I definitely wanted to make, was watching an All Blacks game in a pub. But the game on the 27th was in Europe, so it was 10 am in NZ, when the game started. And there was no pub which was open at 10 am.
So I made my way towards Pureora Forest park, where I stayed the first nights out of Auckland, as I wanted to hike Mt Pureora. But history repeated itself and I woke up to rain and low hanging clouds again.
So I made my way towards Taupo, where I am right now.
I plan on staying here for at least 3 more days and there is definitely another blog post planned.
Until then,
Cheers
Max Abbe 