Hallo. Welcome to my web-page 'bout my trip to New-Zealand. I wanted to write this page so I can put all my photos (well, just the good ones, actually) on the web so everyone can see them. I guess that if you're planning to go to NZ, this page might help a bit.
Note - well, I tried to put my whole trip into this page, but mostly I followed my photos. That means there are lot's of places that
I won't mention here, but that I've been to, and liked alot (or didn't, for that matter. Not that there was a place in NZ I didn't like, come to
think of it...) So there.
About New-Zealand
If you know me already, than you know how much I love NZ. This; trip was actually
my second one (The first was just a short 3 weeks one, but enough for me to realize
what a wonderful place new zealand is, and how much I'd like to go there again).
So I'm a little biased - I have never been in a nicer place. New zealand got it all - amazing scenery, (which is also easily accessible, a great place for trampers!), nice & friendly people, beautiful (& cheap...) backpacker hostels, and lot's of fun activities to do. NZ is quite far from everywhere (which is another good point. It's hard to find a more peaceful & quiet place). It's a big country (I think like england in size) - but only 3.5M people live there (loads of sheep though, around 50M). Mostly green, and lot's of mountains, and water (lakes, waterfalls, rain forests, whatever). Oh, well, just read about it in some guide or something. This is not the CIA report on NZ, you know.
My trip starts - Auckland
26/10/00 - Landing in Auckland. It was quite frightening to start the trip. I left israel alone, and it wasn't easy to start traveling. Luckily after a couple of days I met 3 great israelis (Ronen Dafna and Shira). All in all I spent around 4 days in Auckland (4 days too much...).
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Visiting Mt Eden. It's quite a nice little volcano, really. Oh, and there's Shira as well...
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Inside Mt Eden. If you look really good, you can see Shira, Dafna & Me inside... |
The Northland
The 'classic' NZ trip starts indeed in the northland. The guys (Ronen, Shira & Dafna. You're not paying attention!) had a rental car, and I joined them to the Northland. We spent 7 days there, and it rained the whole time. It is still a beautiful place. We've been to the Bay of Islands (not such an exciting place, really), then to Kaitaia (just a 'base' to go to cape Reinga), then to Kohu-Kohu (an extremely small place, with one of the most beautiful backpackers in NZ - the tree house). We also visited the Kauri forest (The Kauri are huge trees, native to NZ). For some reason I don't have many good pictures from the Northland. But it doesn't mean I didn't like it there...
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Halloween, somewhere in the Northland... |
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In a puzzle shop, near the Kauri forest. |
On the way to the South-Island
After the Northland, we went back to Auckland. We bought a car, said good bye to Ronen, and went south. Our plan was to reach the south-island as soon as possible. We did make a stop at Rotorua, Taupu and National-Park, to do the Tongariro track. Rotorua is a great place, and the thermal activities there are superb. We went to Hell's Gate (one of many places, I think it's nice). In Taupu we did some SkyDiving (cool!) and we also climb a small mountain (Tauhara - nice, a good exercise for all the tramps...). The Tongariro crossing is of course a 'must' - a beautiful one-day tramp, between 3 volcanoes. We didn't want to do the three day track (The northern circuit) - but now I certainly would have done it - it should be a beautiful track.
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Hell's gate. Nice, "active" place. |
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The rodeo near Taupu. Well, It's a rodeo, not much to say 'bout it... |
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Before jumping from the plane. Awful photo, but I had to
put something here as a proof of my skydive... |
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Mt Touhara. A nice place, just outside Taupu. Well worth the short climb. |
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The red crater, on the way up in the Tongariro-crossing track. |
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The blue lake. This is one of the lakes in the Tongariro crossing.
There are some more lakes, called the Emerald lakes, which are really nice. But I didn't take any photos of them... |