Creative and a little crazy...

No, I'm not talking about me... I mean Wellington of course! The last stop of our spontaneous road trip was New Zealand's capital city on the southern edge of the North Island. After only five minutes driving through town, Bryana Nick and I all agreed: Wellington is awesome! There's so much creativity and so much energy in the city, it is absolutely enticing!

The ever busy Cuba Street

We met yet another one of Bryana's friends in a very cool reastaurant called Southern Cross. They have a nice outdoor area where we had dinner and chilled for a bit, before our "guide" took us to the waterfront. Maybe it's the harbor that makes me like Wellington so much, maybe it's the similarities with San Francisco... I don't know but I loved it!

I'm a harbor - fan!

A little bit of sunset romance...

The best part about being in Wellington was that a bunch of other couchsurfers we had met before were there too! We met up with Peter first and then I met up with Glenda and Jorge again *yay* funnily enough, they were also at the Southern Cross, so we went back there...

We exchanged Nick for Peter somewhere along the way...

Couchsurfer Reunion @ Southern Cross!

On our way down to Wellington, we had found out about the Rugby Seven's, an international tournament where a bunch of teams play a special kind of Rugby (only seven players per team). Not that we know much about Rugby, but Bryana wanted a ticket anyways :) It's supposed to be the biggest party in New Zealand and I actually believe that! The best part was, everybody came dressed up! The entire waterfront turned into a circus on friday ;) here are some of my favorite impressions....

(un) fortunately I had to leave Friday night and take the nightbus back to Auckland where I spent one more night at Carmel's and said goodbye to Thomas before I left New Zealand on Sunday morning.

New Zealand, it was a pleasure to get to know you ;) The country is absolutely amazing, the people are super nice and the couchsurfers have made my trip better than I ever thought it would be! Special thanks to Carmel, Thomas, Warwick and Chris, Carol, Glenda and Jorge, Bryana, Denise, Nick, Markus, Jargil, Simon, Aaron, Anna-Marie, Gerrard, the Annas and all the other amazing couchsurfers I met along the way! You rock! Hope I'll see you again some day somewhere ;) 

An unexpected journey...

The good thing about having no plan is that somebody might come along with a plan and just take you with her ;) That's what happened to me when I talked to Bryana on Sunday and she said "Yeah, come with us, it'll be fun!" She wasn't joking! What a fun way to end my time in New Zealand, traveling along the east coast with a Canadian with Kiwi Connections, an American from China, a German dishwasher ;) and a reliable old Campervan :) That's the life!

We started our unexpected journey after the white water rafting in Rotorua on Monday afternoon. Bryana knows people all over New Zealand (or so it seems) so our first stop was Opotiki where her relatives offered us the Bachelor pad for the night :) Jane and Steve were awesome hosts and so one night quickly became two! It was nice to just chill out after so much excitement over the weekend. The only problem was that well all fell asleep on the beach... DON'T FALL ASLEEP ON THE BEACH! Let's just say we all bought Aloe lotion afterwards....

chilling on the beach

As I said, Steve and Jane were awesome hosts and had a nice barbecue for everybody on Tuesday - just what we needed before hitting the road! 

meat anyone?

On Wednesday, we hit the road through the gorge towards Gisborn with the guys in the back and my phone as radio replacement... 

Don't tell anyone ;) 

I wanted to get up in the middle of the night and watch the sunrise in Gisborn (first sunrise on the planet) but my idea wasn't very welcome (too early...) so we had an easy start instead (oh well... I'm not so much of a sunrise person anyways...) In Gizzy we met up with another one of Bry's contacts who offered us coffee and home-brewed beer (and a hyperactive dog who couldn't stop playing ball with us ;) ) It's always great to hang out with locals! 

Reunion in Gizzy!

"Give me the ball!" 

We hit the road again to make it down to Naples - the Art Deco capital (or something...) very cute little town BUT we got there around 5 and EVERYTHING closed at 5:30! The guy in the hostel was not kiddin when he said "you're not gonna do anything tonight..." Luckily, we were quick to find a place to hang out (the Irish pub) and entertained ourselves with some pool and a surprisingly intense game of MONSTER JENGA :) Good times guys, good times!

Fun times!

I don't mean to brag but technically, I was the last one to pull out a block before the whole damn thing collapsed... So, technically, I beat the guys... just sayin' ;)

I got it!

Thursday was road day again. The guys were chilling in the back while Bryana manoeuvered the van through the hills. You're an awesome driver Bry, I'd be your co pilot any time! We "lost" the German in Lower Hutt and later lost the American somewhere in Wellington, so our fellowship was finally broken on Thursday night BUT I had an AWESOME time with you guys! I'm glad I ran into you at the CS event and I think our road trip was pretty epic :) I hope to see you again somewhere down the road! Bry, Ireland is still waiting ;) 

THANKS Bryana, Nick and Markus for a fun week of traveling! Enjoy the rest of your stay here, I kinda wish I could have stayed too... 

The Couchsurfing Campervan Crew! *yay*