Month: February 2019

Cast Away Island

Beautiful weather, 31°C air temperature, 29°C water temperature, snorkeling and coconut drinking – why can’t every morning be like this?

  • Sea life
  • Nudibranch (?)

In the early afternoon we went on a short trip to the island where Cast Away (starring Tom Hanks as modern Robinson Crusoe) was filmed – also with great snorkeling possibilities. Fun fact: the island is not that remote, Tom Hanks could have swum to the neighbour island and enjoy a cold drink. 😉

  • Cast Away corals
  • Snorkeling in a natural aquarium

Wonderful sunset in the evening – no photoshop involved!

Paradise found!

Fiji – Matamanoa

Bula! (Fijian for «Hello»)
Matamanoa is a small island, about 1.5 boat hours away from the main island and contains just one holiday resort. We can enjoy our private plunge pool or go down to the beach and snorkel in the blue, warm water through the corals. Amazing.

  • Private plunge pool
  • Diving is actually not required
  • Jellyfish (not dangerous)
  • Corals
  • sea life
  • Almost an aquarium
  • Under the sea…
  • starfish
  • Colorful fishes

Auckland

Auckland’s Sky Tower is 328 meters high, observatory deck is at 220 meters above ground level and offers a great view over the city.

City view from Sky Tower

Auckland was built upon volcanoes: the Auckland Volcanic Field counts 48 (dormant) volcanoes. Why not climb on some of them?

We took the ferry to Devonport and walked on Mount Victoria which is fortunately only 87 meters high, but providing a good view on Auckland’s skyline.

Next one was Mount Eden with its very obvious crater.

Mount Eden crater

After a Mexican dinner we enjoyed the sunset and a light show from Sky Tower (again).

Light show

Hobbiton

Both “The Lord of the Rings”- and “The Hobbit” trilogies have been filmed entirely in New Zealand. “Hobbiton” is a movie set with guided walking tours. It was amazing to see the original film sets used in the film and to get some background information about the tricks used in the film.

A Hobbit Hole

The tour ended with a nice brew in “The Green Dragon” inn.

Hobbit lake and mill

Not surprisingly, we had to watch “The Hobbit” that evening. It was also the last day with our campervan, which we returned in Auckland, before doing a quick stroll through the city and watching the end of the Superbowl LIII (the New England Patriots won).

Wairere Falls

Another day, another hike, or, as the Kiwis say, good time to tramp. The Wairere Falls are the highest waterfalls of the North Island. It is a nice, but quite steep track. It took us three attempts to see the falls: the first time we skipped the lookout intentionally, on our way down we missed the side-track but finally on third attempt we saw the falls. We also saw where we have been before: at the edge of the creek, just before the water falls 153 meters down.

Wairere Falls (153m)

We ended the day in a hot-water pool near Matamata.

Coromandel

First stop today: Hot Water Beach. Well, that was literally hot! You need: low tide (plus/minus 2 hours), a shovel and you’re ready to dig your own hot water pool. The water pouring out is either cold, warm or boiling hot. But you’ll realize it soon enough.

Hot Water Beach

Close to it is the Cathedral Cove. Very picturesque – very touristy. But again, just do the side-walk to a lookout and you’re alone.

Sailing Rock

On partially unsealed roads we passed the Waiau Falls (good for a short swim) and reached our campground at Shelly Beach near Coromandel just before the nice sunset.

Shelly Beach