The grass was greener....and the water hotter

Hi everyone !

It’s time for me to tell you all about the second part of our road trip! Unfortunately Liz wasn’t part of it, I gotta say I really missed her, it was weird not having her around and not hearing her sing the Arctic Monkeys :p We still managed to communicate and send each other text messages (ouais on est un concept, un concept qui s’assume ^^).

So I left Wellington with Marine and Flo very early in the morning since Marine was expected at Kate ‘s( her ex-flatmate) in Te Awamutu in the early afternoon, which was like a 7 hour drive from Welly. Flo, our only driver, drove all day long and was tired as hell but the day ended well for her as she got her Benny back. Indeed after dropping Marine at Te Awamutu, Flo and I made it to Tauranga. Benny would be hosting us for a couple of nights at his house. That was great to see Benny and to meet his family and friends. During our stay, Benny took us to Mt Maunganui (next to Tauranga), once again I hiked with my flip flops but it was ok since it did not take long to climb up and the view was amazing from up there. Then we went to Benny’s grandparents’ holiday house, which is situated right next to the beach! The next day we had to leave Tauranga to pick Marine up. Benny decided to join us in our road trip which was really cool, especially for Flo as she would not be the only driver and she would be with her boyfriendJ. Once we picked Marine up, the four of us headed to the Coromandel peninsula. That night we slept on the beach for the first time^^. We drove around the peninsula for about three days. We went for little walks, to Hot Water beach, and to Cathedral Cove. The walk in Cathedral Cove was so great and led to a splendid beach; the scenery reminded me of Abel Tasman! We then had to go back to Tauranga because Benny was about to start a new job the next day. He offered us to stay at his place for the night and even invited us to his friend’s 21^st ( a real celebration for Kiwis). We agreed and as soon as we arrived at Benny’s we got ready to go to the 21^st! The party was awesome, it was a big celebration. Ashton, the birthday boy, was very nice (and drunk:p), he was always trying to do the best he could to remember our names lol. There were free beer and free food. Lots of people were attending the party, even the parents. We liked being only with KiwisJ

The next day, after waking up very late and watching the Miss World election :p, we left Benny for good this time and headed to Rotorua! It only took us 45 minutes; we camped at the YHA (only $9/ night!).I warn you, if you ever come to Rotorua, this town really stinks due to its geothermal activity (geysers, hot mud pools..). We stayed there 4 days. We really liked it there. We did luge riding and skyswing, which was absolutely awesome!! We were a bit scared but in the end the sensations were just amazing, now I can’t wait to go skydiving.. We also visited a Maori village and took a ride around the lakes, even went for a swim in the Blue Lake as the weather was very hot! We also had the chance to meet up with our Dunedin friends Marek, Tim, Janka and Sarah (a German girl, friend of Tim’s, they met up in Australia). That was so great seeing them again!! We had a BBQ at the YHA and spent the evening in the spaJ Too bad Marine lost her favorite ring that night... The next morning we said goodbye, for real this time, to Marek, Tim and Janka. Flo, Marine and I went to Wai-O-Tapu, an active geothermal area, the hot springs and their colours were very impressive. After that we decided to stay in a spa which also had a camping site. That was so relaxing to spend the day in the hot water pools :D.

Our next destination was Taupo. Unfortunately when we got there it was raining cats and dogs. We could not do anything. The weather forecast announced rain for the next days to come, and the thing was that I would be going back to Dunedin in a few days... The girls tried to figure something out while I was calling Air New Zealand to know how much it would cost me to change my return flight. The girls found a place near Turangi to do some WWOOFing (voluntary work with hosting and food included). I was upset ‘cause I couldn’t go with them as you need to be available for at least a week to do that, and I had only 4 days left. So I ended up alone in a backpacker in Taupo. I met nice people there, and in the end I didn’t get too bored. It’s easier to meet people when you’re travelling alone actually..

Four days later it was the end of my road trip! It felt great to be back home in Dunedin! Yet it was hard to believe the road trip with Frenchies was over and that Australia was already on its way!

Yep...Sydney.....D-2!!

check out the best of my pictures of the road trip:) here