Far North

So far, the quirkiest Kiwi saying we have heard is: “WE are not here to do bad things to spiders”

This means roughly let’s go down to business.

We got our “Rent a Dent”, which comes with full AA coverage (New Zealand’s AAA or ADAC). This is not a bad thing, because the car makes funny noises, has some dents and we have to drive on the left side of the road. Uli turned on the windshield wipers an estimated 243 times instead of the blinker. Everything is located on the wrong side of the car!

The last 70 kilometers on our trip to the Northland were over a windy and narrow road. We counted 734 curves. Very scenic: thru forests, hills and meadows. It was hot in the car, because according to Michelle’s rules the A/C stays off.

Beautiful isolated bays lined  the road and we stopped for a swim and were the only people on the beach.

Finally we arrived in Russell, on the Bay of Islands and had a sundowner at the wharf. You have to travel the whole world and drive hours of curvy roads to get a good beer. Erdinger on tap. It was brought in by the German owner and Uli asked him, if there is also Leberkäs on the island. Still no Leberkäs found on the world trip L.

On the next day, we went for tramp thru the hills and the mangroves. We walked past an oyster farm, where we bought fresh oysters. It started raining heavily and we got very wet. There is a reason this island is so green. They get about 150cm a rain a year on the North Island. Luckily, a nice gentlemen at a gas station brought us back to our Motel after Michelle tried to hitchhike and no one picked us up! Must not have been doing it right, definitely out of practice.