Cathedral Cove, Mount Maunganui and White Island

Stunning memories I am able to write about today.

Alright, since there were requests that I should write in English I will follow to do so.

First of all: Milena and I really enjoy the time in New Zealand. This is such a stunning country with so many different facets and sites that you never get bored. Actually sometimes you just need to take your time to process what you just did for the last few days.

Greetings from Mount Maunganui

Since the last post quite a lot of time passed so it is hard to write in a very detailed manner. However I will try my best.

Cathedral Cove

However, what I remember is that we headed from Auckland to Whitianga on a scenic road which was beautiful. When we arrived there unfortunately the weather wasn't really good but anyway we decided to go to Cathedral Cove which is supposed to be a very requested tourist attraction. When we arrived there, we were quite by ourselves with a lot of rain. We tried it again the day after and the weather was better so we could do a short hiking tour to the Cathedral Cove. Just have a look at the pictures :-)

First try to do the walk.

No reason for bad mood!

Walking towards the Cathedral Cove.

Mount Maunganui

Oh and just right now I realized while looking through the pictures that we also had a stop at Mount Maunganui on our way to Whakatane which is a little mountain (or hill) with a stunning view. Lots of crazy locals were running up and down to work out of enjoy the view as we did. Maybe you could compare it to the Karren in Dornbirn to have an idea of the height - but definitely not the view.

Stunning view from the top.

White Island

This little island is actually an active volcano in the pacific ocean. It is located around 90 minutes by boat from Whakatane where we stayed to get there. The guided tour was supposed to start at 8am in the morning. The weather was fine, we just got up but surprisingly the sea conditions were apparently to rough to get on the volcano. So the agency delayed the start to 11am and said they would call again to inform us if we can start or if there is another delay. We were a little bit unlucky with the sea conditions. So it took us until 1pm to get on the boat and start to the island.

On this 90 minutes ride with the boat we surprisingly saw dolphins which appears to be much more entertaining and stunning than if you see them coincidentally instead of if you go and really look out for them.

When we arrived on White Island we could already smell the sulphur which you could definitely compare with bad eggs. It just itches a lot more in your throat and nose. Therefore we got some breathing mask. Actually it feels quite strange to walk on an active volcano because you know - it is a volcano. But the guides made us feel quite safe so we didn't worry too much.

I couldn't imagine that years ago there was actually a Canadian company on this island mining for sulphur. The guides told us that every half year they need new boots, shirts and backpacks because the conditions on the island are so rough the heat of the volcano and the sea damage their clothing. I can't really imagine how the people worked here years ago.

The tour was really fantastic and we had a great time. Actually we would have planned for this night to stay on the East Cape. But since we started with a delay of five hours we decided to skip the East Cape and drive directly to Gisborne. But how this was you will read in the next post. Milena is already waiting for me in a cafe.