Clocks

Tuesday 3 February 2015

It's already been a year ...

Hey everyone - and sorry about the massive delay!

I can't believe it has already been a year since I came back from Australia and New Zealand, so finally here is what happened on the way back:

Because I cancelled my second trip to Fiji in January, my travel agency advised me to book a direct flight from Christchurch in New Zealand to Brisbane, Australia so I could still use the remaining flights for my return trip. Unfortunately, however, direct flights between Christchurch and Brisbane depart in the early morning, meaning that I got into Brisbane around 9:30 am local time with my connecting flights leaving at 2:30 am the next day: I was in for a 17-hour-wait.

With my Australian visa still valid, I could of course leave the airport. On the downside, that meant I couldn't buy any souvenirs in New Zealand like wood carvings or the famous Manuka honey. Instead, I got to spend the afternoon in the botanical gardens with Özlem and Jan-Henrik, two fellow scholarship holders who studied in Brisbane. Time-wise, however, I probably wouldn't do the same trip again - a 48-hour-trip is simply exhausting and nerve-wracking even if everything runs smoothly.



Brisbane Airport: Leaving Australia
On my connection flight to Singapore, the plane was more than half empty, so we all had three seats to ourselves and were able to stretch out. That changed once we reached Singapore for a short stopover of about an hour. Get off the plane, get back on, go! The flights themselves were very agreeable thanks to the fantastic service of Emirates - when I got to Dubai, however, I was desperate for a shower. And two hours later, I was on the final leg to Düsseldorf. After another hour's wait at the baggage claim, my family and friends welcomed me back to Germany with freshly-baked Swedish cinnamon buns (explained further below). 

Approaching Singapore - one of the biggest ports in South East Asia!
Singapore Changi Airport: Tropical Singapore
Approaching Dubai over the desert
"The World" - man-made islands in the shape of the Earth and its continents
Since then, quite a lot has happened as you might imagine. While I was overjoyed to graduate Sydney Uni with a Master's degree and celebrated my last day of university EVER (!!!), things worked out a little differently here. I worked on an educational project for a while, assessing Year 8 students' cognitive and manual skills before going back to Paderborn University as a Bachelor of Education student. In case it makes you wonder - if you want to become a teacher in Germany, you have to have studied an education-related programme and graduated with a Master's of Education, which is what I'm working on now. I managed to claim credit for many of my B.A. courses so I am expecting to complete my second Bachelor's degree this year, followed by the M.Ed.
German universities require education students to demonstrate their suitability and competence in a number of internships, one of which I am now doing abroad (yes, again!). It will only be for four weeks in March and it's probably in one of the places most different from Australia: Lapland in northern Sweden. For Lapland, March still counts as winter so I'm expecting to see a lot of snow, a lot of reindeer and hopefully Northern Lights. I will keep you updated on this in March!

Preview: Lapland in winter =)
As far as travelling goes, there have been a few trips that I would like to share photos and impressions of.
In June 2014, I went to Sweden's west coast with my Swedish class (oh yes, I missed Sweden!). Our teacher, who is from Sweden, invited us to join her and her family in their house for a week. And they don't just live anywhere, they live on an island. Probably the most picturesque Swedish island there is - but take a look yourselves:
Gullholmen, Sweden
Going out for a fishing trip
Successful mackerel fishing
View from kitchen window
Hiking

West Coast archipelago
Haga, Gothenburg
Biggest Cinnamon Bun in Sweden (yes, that's a dinner plate!)
Then, I went to the North Sea for a daytrip, which is something that I missed a lot when I was in Australia. Even though the Australian beaches are awesome, the beaches on the North Sea are different and probably more like what I am used to. Thanks to Dirk for the awesome day on the island of Spiekeroog!

Frisian tea tradition
"Teatime in the white house" - Low German
Way to the beach
The beach as seen from the sand dunes
North Sea sunsets
In August, I visited my grandparents for an entire week to take "cooking classes" with my grandma (and write down all the yummy recipes!). To top it all, we made our own liqueur from my grandparents' mirabelles (small, yellow plums), which was ready for tasting around Christmas O:-)

Northern German architecture
Sunflowers
My grandparents' barn at sunset
Mirabelle jam
My grandma's blueberry pancakes
Self-made ice-cream cones
Speaking of Christmas - there's nothing like a cold Christmas, guys! I took the opportunity to travel to different Christmas markets, namely the one in Antwerp, Belgium (Belgian chocolate actually IS yummy!) and the one in Gothenburg, Sweden while visiting a good friend, Laura. The Swedish Christmas market was set up in what is usually an amusement park, with little coloured houses, lots of stalls and push carts where we could taste roasted almonds, whiskey jam, fudge and all kinds of little goodies. And I must say: I have probably never been to a better Christmas market - also because it featured a Lappish market where you could try "birch tree juice" (no, that's definitely no juice!). Funnily enough, the people there were actually from Arjeplog, Lapland, which is exactly where I am going for my internship. It's a small world after all :)

Julmarknad Göteborg (photo by skaraborgsresor.se)
Antwerp by day...
... and by night


What an eventful year it's been! Christmas and New Year's was rather quiet and here we are - all of a sudden, it's 2015. I hope everyone has had a good start - and as always, feel free to leave comments or share.

Greetings from the Shire this time,

Your Hobbit

Friday 31 January 2014

Queenstown, Christchurch and Ka kite ano / Goodbye

Hey everyone,

et voilà - the next blog post. Already! The past few weeks of travelling through New Zealand have been quite eventful, yet all good things come to an end.


My return to Christchurch after the Northland/Bay of Islands trip (described in the previous blog post) was rather short, as I left again for Queenstown last Sunday. Yes, I already went to Queenstown during this trip but it was such an amazing place that I had to go there again for a bit longer before leaving the country. Also, I met Baltazar there, a really nice guy from Chile with an affinity for all things German.
The delay of my flight, at this stage, didn't bother me at all anymore. It seemed to be more or less common practice with Air New Zealand and since I am on holiday, it doesn't really matter whether I arrive one hour earlier or later. This time, yet again, the delay was due to bad weather and - as they say - "the late arrival of the aircraft". This aircraft, a turbo-prop, had just arrived from Queenstown, making its way through heavy crosswinds and a rainstorm. When boarding was completed, a voice said: 
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard your flight to Queenstown. As we have just come from Queenstown on our previous flight, we would like to inform you that turbulence may occur throughout the flight and advise you to stay seated with your seat-belt fastened at all times! There will be no hot drinks service on today's flight due to the weather conditions over the Southern Alps. Air New Zealand apologises for any inconvenience this may have caused."
Great. A free roller-coaster ride for everyone on board! - In reality, however, no one seemed nearly as excited as me - except for the two kids on the other side of the aisle. A concerned voice behind me enquired "Is it really that bad?" - the flight attendant's reply: "Yes it's pretty rough down there. Strong southeasterly winds." - "That was not the answer I was hoping for." - Well, but that's what you get if you ask! In the end, it wasn't all that bad, a few squeals and screams and we touched down in New Zealand's Adventure Sport capital. No need for the sickness bags.

Queenstown. Blue skies, sunshine and a high of 18°C - the perfect weather to get sunburnt! Other than that, the weather was actually fantastic and I spent most of those three days relaxing near Lake Wakatipu, having one nap after the other (I don't think I have ever slept more in three days!), eating Argentinian "churros" with "dulce de leche" at a small café called Patagonia, listening to the beautiful sound of the Spanish language (I was hanging out with Baltazar and two friends of his from Spain, Jose and Paula) and watching two other Argentinians making colourful bracelets, anklets and necklaces. Not a hint of stress, not a bit of pressure - time to reflect, time to think, time for indulgence.
Downtown Queenstown
Queenstown Marina
The "Remarkables" 
Crystal clear glacial water
Time for Art and for living the moment
Sunset over Lake Wakatipu
What an amazing feeling to get up in the morning and have time, to go to the Lake before noon and stay till well after sunset, to be able to soak up the "there and then" and just be! A big thanks to Baltazar for that =)
Eventually, however, I had to go back to Christchurch, this time by bus. 8.5 hours, a working day on the bus - from 8 am to 4.30 pm, taking me past Cromwell, Twizel, Lake Pukaki, Lake Tekapo and Ashburton.
Snow-capped Aoraki/Mt. Cook behind Lake Pukaki
Lake Tekapo's Church of the Good Shepherd
And now, a couple of days later, I can't believe how fast those 4 weeks in New Zealand went by. I have caught up with old friends and made new ones, visited familiar places and explored unknown territory, I have done everything I have wanted to do in New Zealand while still leaving some parts to discover on my next trip - and I will not leave that for another seven years! I can now explain why the North and South Island still feel more like home than the West Island, although both have been a great experience to see, live and travel. Thank you everyone who has made this trip so special, yet again!
What it comes down to ...
In a nutshell, I have satisfied my yearning for this place. Temporarily. Because ultimately, any time spent in New Zealand is too short unless it is forever.

Ka kite ano au i a koe, Aotearoa - I will see you again soon, Land of the long white cloud! =)

Thursday 30 January 2014

Ki wiwi ki wawa i te Hiku-o-te-ika - travelling around Northland and the Bay of Islands

The next part of my journey took me to the northernmost tip of New Zealand's North Island, a region called Northland that includes the Bay of Islands area. The Maori name for this region is Te Hiku-o-te-ika, literally translated as "the tail of the fish". The fish that the Maori are referring to is the North Island itself, Te Ika a Maui, the fish of Maui.
The ancient legends have it that Maui was the son of Ranginui (the Sky father) and Papatuanuku (the Earth mother). Maui's brother Tane, the God of the Forests, separated their parents' embrace to allow light to enter their world. From then on, Ranginui's tears fell down to earth as raindrops, greeting Papatuanuku who returned the greeting by sending mists towards the sky. Maui's other siblings each had their own task - they were the God of the Sea, the God of the Winds and so forth. But Maui, being the youngest, was not very popular with his brothers. Only rarely would he go fishing with them, but the one day he did, he caught the biggest fish of all - henceforth known as the fish of Maui, te Ika-a-Maui, New Zealand's North Island. The canoe that he was in became known as the canoe of Maui, te Waka a Maui, New Zealand's South Island and the canoe's anchor, te Punga a Maui, is now New Zealand's Stewart Island. This trip therefore took me to the fish's tail, te Hiku-o-te-ika!
The Legend of Maui
Photo from: http://explore-nz.blogspot.co.nz/2010/12/background-of-new-zealand.html
Leaving Nelson in the morning and flying via Auckland, I would get into Kerikeri/Bay of Islands Airport around 2:30 pm - that was the plan. According to my schedule, I had a 40 minute stopover in Auckland which was a short time considering that my flight from Nelson already arrived 10 minutes later than planned. In a hurry to make my connection flight, I discovered that the flight had been delayed until further notice. Heavy downpours and strong winds in the Bay of Islands region made it impossible for the pilots to land on the very short 1.2 km / 3,900 ft runway. The morning flight to Kerikeri had been cancelled and passengers had to take a bus to get to their destination - a 4.5 hour drive instead of a 45 minute flight that I might be facing as well if the weather did not improve. An hour later, however, the decision was made to fly us to Whangarei, 70 km / 44 miles south of Kerikeri and take us to Kerikeri Airport by bus from there. Air New Zealand - amazing journeys every day!
Arriving in Whangarei
Of course, the plane was rather small: 19 passengers, one on each side of the aisle with great views into the cockpit (as there was no room for a door), no flight attendants (no room for them either), no in-flight service. When we finally got to Kerikeri Airport, I picked up my car that I was going to use for my road trip around the area. It was a brand new Toyota, less than 8,000 km travelled.
Taking the Toyota to the beach
I spent my first night in Kerikeri in a motel surrounded by subtropical rainforest before heading off to the northernmost point of New Zealand, Cape Reinga. On the way, I passed beautiful beaches, rolling hills and dense forests and made a stop at a Gumdiggers Camp. Gumdiggers dig for gum, the kind of juice that trees secrete when you cut them. This gum was later used to produce water-resistant clothing and footwear, which is why wellington boots are still called gumboots in New Zealand today. There was, however, much more to discover in this camp: ancient Kauri forests (Kauri trees are evergreen trees most common during the Jurassic period, some 150 million years ago) were once spread all over New Zealand's North Island. Two natural disasters (that no one knows the exact nature of) destroyed New Zealand's giant Kauri trees some 150,000 and some 45,000 years ago. In the swamps surrounding what is now the Gumdiggers Camp, these ancient Kauri trees were rediscovered - preserved in the mud for 150,000 years, making them the oldest non-fossilised wood in the world!
Gumdigger Hut and Gumboots
Holes were dug to reach the ancient Kauri wood
The oldest timber in the world - looking at 150,000 years of history
Petrified gum featuring a spider
Going further up north, my next stop was at Rarawa Beach, a silica beach on the east coast. To my surprise, I found it quite similar to some of the beaches I'd seen on Germany's North Sea coastline and on some of the Frisian islands, only that the sand was much whiter.
Walking through sand dunes
Rarawa Beach
Enjoying New Zealand's North Sea
Having a break =)
The day's goal, to drive up to Cape Reinga, was reached some two hours of driving on windy roads later. Passing the sand dunes of Te Paki on my left, I took the road leading to the Cape Reinga Lighthouse.
Te Paki sand dunes and Cape Maria van Diemen
Cape Reinga Lighthouse
Cape Reinga Panoramic View (click to enlarge)
Many miles from Sydney and a thousand miles from care
Te Reinga Point
Cape Reinga (or Te Rerenga Wairua) is an amazing place for various reasons. Firstly, it is New Zealand's northernmost point, 2,000 km / 1,200 miles east of Sydney and 10,000 km / 6,200 miles west of Santiago de Chile. Secondly, it is the place where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the swirls visible in the panoramic view of Cape Reinga above (note also the slightly different colours of the water). And thirdly, according to Maori legends, it is the place from where the spirits of the deceased travel home to Hawaiiki, the land of their ancestors. From all throughout New Zealand, they travel to the Cape where there are two springs, Te Waiora a Tane ("the living waters of Tane") and Te Wai Whero o Rata. Depending on which spring the spirits drink from, they will either return to the living or descend into the underworld. Te Reinga Point in the last photo features a dark rock in the sea with a tree growing on its easterly side. This tree is an 800 year old, ancient Kahika tree, a kind of Pohutukawa that has never been known to flower. The Maori call this tree Te Aroha - Love. The spirits, according to the Maori legends, descend to the water on steps formed by the tree's roots, turn back one last time to have a look at the land of the living and then carry on to Hawaiiki, the land of their ancestors. Te Rerenga Wairua is a very ambivalent place with most tourists coming to see the lighthouse and New Zealand's northernmost point. However, many do not take note of the spiritual significance of this place - and therefore its true beauty.

I would have loved to stay longer, however, my accommodation for the night was the Ninety Mile Beach Holiday Park, some 100 km / 62 miles south. Ninety Mile Beach is not actually 90 miles in length, but only 90 km / 55 miles. This is because in the early days of settlement, the missionaries followed the assumption that a horse could travel 30 miles (50 km) in a day and it took them three days to travel along the beach on horseback. However, they did not take into account that walking in sand takes longer than on solid ground, hence the name. The holiday park I stayed at was located right on the beach, allowing for a marvelous sunset experience.
Ninety Mile Beach - speed limit 30 km/h!
And yes, you can drive on the beach...
Sunset over Ninety Mile Beach
The next day took me further south, travelling via Kaitaia to the Hokianga Harbour. The Hokianga Harbour is an inlet from the Tasman Sea that extends about 30 km / 19 miles inland. It is in fact a river valley that was flooded after the end of the last ice age. I stayed the night in one of the most spectacular hostels I've ever seen, the Tree House in Kohukohu.
The Tree House

View from the kitchen
Funnily enough, the owners had family living in Newtown, NSW and went over to Kohukohu in 1981 to set up this special hostel. When asked about where the closest supermarket was, the owner, Phil, replied: "Oh it's best to take the ferry." Any bigger township was at least an hour's drive away from Kohukohu with the local grocer selling overpriced products. Instead, I actually ended up taking the vehicle ferry across to Rawene. It departs every hour on the hour from Kohukohu, takes 10-15 minutes across the Hokianga Harbour and departs Rawene every hour at half past, leaving me 20 minutes to do my shopping before catching the ferry back to my hostel.
The Hokianga Vehicle Ferry between Kohukohu and Rawene
The next day, I then took my rental car on to this ferry to continue my trip south to the Waipoua Forest, one of the few places that still features live Kauri trees. The biggest Kauri tree in New Zealand is Tane Mahuta, "Lord of the Forest", referring to Tane, the God of the Forest mentioned above. While this tree is "only" 51 metres / 168 ft high, its trunk has a girth of nearly 14 metres / 45 ft, meaning it would take at least 6 adults to reach around it. Its volume is equivalent to 517,000 milk cartons, 113,700 gallons of petrol or 7,300 kegs of beer - a truly amazing and awe-inspiring giant!
Tane Mahuta (click to enlarge)
Tree ferns in the Waipoua Forest
My way back up and across to Paihia led me past the villages of Opononi and Omapere on the southern coast of the Hokianga Harbour and to the Arai-te-Uru Scenic reserve with 360° views of sand dunes, a sheltered inlet, the open sea, forests, beaches and rock formations - to put it in a nutshell: a place that simply cannot be captured in pictures, not even panoramic pictures. But anyway, here are my attempts:

Arai-te-Uru Panoramic View (click to enlarge)
Arai-te-Uru Reserve facing inland
After an hour's drive from the west to the east coast (yes, it is that narrow), I reached the final stop of my trip, Paihia - the gateway to the Bay of Islands. Staying in a motel near the town centre, everything was within walking distance including the Marina from where passenger ferries depart to the township of Russell across the bay. Russell was the first permanent European settlement in New Zealand, featuring New Zealand's oldest church, oldest hotel and oldest petrol station. Owing to the early stage of settlement, the township of Russell was neither subject to Maori nor British law and soon became known as the "Hell Hole of the South Pacific". However, the architecture of this place remains as a silent witness of the early colonial times.
Russell Panoramic View (click to enlarge)
The Beach Esplanade in Russell
It was also in Russell that the British Governor Hobson read his Proclamations that constituted the beginning of the Treaty of Waitangi, the next and last stop of my trip. On February 6th, 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi established a British Governor in New Zealand, recognised Maori land rights and turned the indigenous population of New Zealand into British subjects. Different from the proceedings with other indigenous groups such as the Aboriginal people of Australia or the Native Americans on the American continents, this treaty provided the indigenous population of New Zealand with a supporting document to later reclaim their tribal land (because the British, of course, did not stick to the Treaty). The Treaty of Waitangi is considered the founding document of New Zealand as a nation, which is why February 6th, Waitangi Day, has become New Zealand's national day, with major festivities in 1990, the 150th anniversary.
The Treaty House on the Waitangi Grounds
Maori war canoes on display at Waitangi
The inside of a traditional Maori meeting house
The Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840
In review, I cannot believe that this was just a four day trip, yet such an interesting and intense experience. My way back to Christchurch passed without further complications or disruptions, taking me half-way over this beautiful country that I have come to love so dearly - for its nature, for its people and for its humour.
Air New Zealand sickness bag