Day 7: Life in the suburbian bubble

It's my fifth and almost last night in Northcote, a suburbian neighbourhood in Northern Auckland. I quickly realized how things are going on here. People (with good salaries) live in their houses with their spouses, their children, their dogs, their cars, their children's cars and their large beautiful, green gardens. They have their houseparties to which they invite their friends and neighbours over. They have their garden work or gardener who does the garden work. They are far, very far away from this world's problems. They live in this typical suburbian bubble.

Sometimes it's hard to believe that Mongolian street kids and New Zealand Suburbian kids share the same planet.

#newzealand #northernisland #auckland #northshore

Day 6: Black sand beaches

Today's weather was just perfect for a one-day tour to a nearby beach - Piha Beach. A surfer's paradise...and generally a paradisiacal place! Black sand, rough waves, a light breeze and nothing but the endlessness of the Tasman Sea in front of me. It was one of those wonderful hikes I was intending to come here for.

#newzealand #northernisland #pihabeach

Day 5: Rainbow on the horizon

Even though I was born and raised at the Baltic Sea, I think I have never seen a rainbow diving into the sea on the horizon. Ironically this happened to me on my 5th day in New Zealand. Right after a few hours of heavy rain the sun came out again, allowing me this beautiful short at Milford Beach (North Auckland) shortly before sundown.

(I have to find out the name of this typical NZ tree on the right...)

#newzealand #northernisland #auckland #milfordbeach

Day 4: So much green here

When I used to live in Mongolia I almost forgot how the colour green actually looks like. Coming from a place that dry, that flat and that empty, NZ is like a huge rain forest to me. Everything shines in bright healthy green. Nature is in full bloom, spring is knocking on the door. The chilly wet times, which New Zealanders call "winter" is about to come to an end (not that winters aren't green here as well...).

#newzealand #northernisland #auckland #northcote

Day 3: Beautiful places you weren't looking for

You can find the most beautiful places when you're actually not really looking for them. Just like I found this quite peaceful and abandoned place while I was on my run through some rich Northern Auckland neighbourhoods.

#newzealand #northernisland #auckland #northcote

Day 2: Spring roll with a view

So yesterday I decided to leave the busy streets of the CBD to see the quiter parts of Auckland. I also made it to Mt Eden in the evening to catch the sunset over the city from top of the vulcano. The atmosphere was even better with this Asion food dinner I got myself beforehand. And since the Internet has tons of pictures of Mt Eden to offer already, I decided to take one with my dinner. So here's my daily pic...the spring roll with a view. Yum yum...

#newzealand #northernisland #auckland #mounteden

Day 1: So...here I am, Auckland

Isn't it crazy (and scary) a plain Boeing 777 can carry you over the Indian Ocean for more than 16 hours nonstop? I think it is. But my time on the plane was actually quite okay, since I had a row of three seats all for myself, allowing me to actually lie and sleep, dream away for a few hours. Board entertainment and service made my flight a quite pleasant experience.

So...on Thursday morning at 4:15 am I was in Auckland! It was a chilly, dark typical Southern hemisphere winter morning. But later it turned out to be a quite mild and sunny day, so I could be outside most of the time to kill my jetlag.

#newzealand #northernisland #auckland #cbd

Day 0: Taking off for the edge of the world

You all know this pre-travel fever kind of feeling? Rushing getting all your things back home done, speed-dating people and friends, waiting for that 100%-ready-to-go moment...etc.?

The departure date is so close and then...all of the sudden - it's there! You're sitting on the plane, watching your place from up above getting smaller and smaller and eventually disappearing. And now you know: Yes - you're off again! Off for something new! Off for New Zealand! Wohooo!

#newzealand