And there was joy, love and happiness

My first weekend here I went on my Famil trip with Stray. Holly put me on the TOM pass which meant that I was going to see a large part of the north island. Saturday morning the bus picked me up at the hostel where I was staying. Gollom was going to be my driver for the next days and everybody told me that he, for sure, was going to take good care of me. Remember, I will refer to this sentence later.

So, I left on the 3rd of July on my way to Hahei. A small town on the east coast of NZ. Some of you may not be aware of the fact that it is winter down here, so we where really fortunate to have such beautiful weather. This was the first time since I arrived here that I actually left Auckland. It amazed me that within thirty minutes you have a completely different landscape. No skyscrapers or endless neighbourhoods with one house after the other. It looks green out there, even in winter, with hills and small towns popping up once in a while. We drove east, stopped in Thames to do some grocery shopping, and continued our way through the Coromandel Forest Park. Somewhere, on our way to Hahei, we stopped to enjoy this amazing view of the Pacific Ocean. This was my first time to see this beautiful blue endless reaching surface on a incredible day. My holiday started here. All the pressure from the last months was falling of my shoulders and it was the first time I realized I was in NZ, I was on the other end of the world no chance of going any further. In Hahei an astonishing kayak tour was waiting for us (with a really good looking guide). We went to Cathedral Cove where we had a lovely cappuccino (made by our lovely guide). Even if it is winter around here it felt like summer. Board short, t-shirt, flip flops. Life is beautiful.

This evening we stayed at the Hahai Holiday Park, a camping which had some lodges as well. Gollom made us a great barbeque dinner which made me feel so unbelievable tired, as my jet leg was still holding on to me, that I (boring me) went to sleep very early. Although, this resulted in a very early wake up where I had to force myself to go back to sleep. At 8AM we were all back in the bus ready to go to our next destination. Raglan.

Love at..... second sight

Just to be honest, I didn't like Auckland at all the first days I was here. Boring, big, unattractive, grey city. This may have been caused by the horrible flight I had from which I will spare you the details. During my first days I stayed at Nomads Fusion, Fort St., where I got to know some backpackers. Some loved the city whereas others were happy to leave.

I was confused. This should have been my dream country ,the country which would take away my sorrows,which would put the biggest smile on my face ever! But.... no....it was not...I felt lonely, abandoned by a country I longed for so long. Desperate to leave again I got myself together and went to the office I was going to work in for the next couple of months.

Stray Travel & Space Ships in Penrose. I was on a mission. This was my second day in New Zealand (which I will refer to in the future as NZ) and my jet lag just started to get a hold on me. I dragged myself there as I wanted to make a good impression and appear a day before I had to start working. Introduce myself and get familiar with the transport system which turned out to be easy as pie.

In the end, my second day in Auckland, turned out to be fine. Not great but fine. I had a walk around the harbour and a good day and night sleep. From this day on my NZ adventure just got better and better.

New Zealand, my new home

As you may know, at the moment, my home is New Zealand. Aotearoa, 'The Land of the Long White Cloud'.

I flew down here in June to work for a company called Stray Travel. I will do an internship with them for the next three months in order to finish my Innovation & Management in Tourism study in Salzburg, Austria, next year.

Over the last five years I travelled around Europe although, as many of you may experienced before me, this became to small for me. I needed to leave Europe. Therefore, I decided during a (too) lonely evening in April on my couch in Rohrmoos, Austria, that I was going to New Zealand. I have to say this would not have been possible without the help of the best parents in the world. I think I owe them a huge thanks for all they did for me. Therefore, 'Dank je wel papa en mama!'

Since I was twelve years old I always wanted to go visit this country. Back in the days we had this travel program in The Netherlands which my parents and I always watched. At a particular summer Sunday New Zealand was in this program. I remember the presenter traveling through the South Island, visiting all these wonderful places. At that specific moment I told my parents this was the place I wanted to go when I was older. And look where I am standing (sitting actually) now. Im working for a great backpacker bus company called Stray. Living together with the greatest roommates ever, 10 min away from the center of Auckland, and working together with fantastic colleagues! My life is awesome!

Over the next period of time I will inform you about my (awesome) life in NZ. The thing I am doing, or did already, and the activities I am looking forward to do. I hope this will encourage everybody to visit this wonderful country and bring back memories for the ones who already visited 'The Land of the Long White Cloud'.