ENG.
Only two weeks ago I was absolutely positive about my upcoming return to Europe and the weekly schedule, based on 5days work and a solid Baden-Baden week-end. Now, being already in Munich and just a week short of getting back to the Baden-Baden routine my feelings are a bit more diverse.
Before arriving to Munich airport and having my early morning Weißwurst (translates into: "Bavarian veal sausage") and Weißbier (I do not translate this one), I had a few further trips around the north island in New Zealand. Gisborne is one of the kiwi surf hot spots. Attracted by its fame and the weather forecast I went there to find a few waves after the Gentle Annie bike race. The surf was not perfect, but there was at least a little swell and a clean set-up for two days. Outside the water I went to the movies, checked the museum with its surf board collection and made the car ready for selling. I also met a few nice people at the camp ground. I did not meet very nice people in the surf, though. So once the big rain came in, I did not wait too long and moved away, further north again. My top surf tip in New Zealand remains Waipu Cove!
Rotorua is the capital of volcanic activities in New Zealand. Being on my way north, I stopped here for a quick visit. It was actually quite a stinky time. Getting close already to lake Rotorua the smell of sulphur is omnipresent. I still wonder how people can live in these kind of places. Well, there are of course a few advantageous though. Being surrounded by such a strong smell the trekking boots can stay indoors as well as the cycling outfit after a ride.You do not need to invest into Cologne or parfume. Furthermore one can fart here or there in the middle of the town, since nobody would notice.
On the other hand I was really struggling, for example running close to the bubbling lake shore. The smell is unimaginable strong and after 2minutes absolutely disgusting. I had to fight hard. Fighting, not to run faster but to keep the food in my belly.
Already in Rotorua I ordered a ticket for a game of the Chiefs, one of the 5 kiwi teams playing in the Super Rugby league. This league includes teams from Australia and South Africa, as well as one team from Japan and Argentina respectively. Super Rugby is based on Rugby Union rules. This is the game where the New Zealand All Blacks beat Australia in last years World Cup final in London. A huge moment in New Zealands sport history. The All Blacks are The Team every kiwi wants to play for. But the players can only play for the All Blacks, if they have a contract with a national club in New Zealand. Compared to football, Messi and Neymar would not be allowed to play for Argentina and Brasil, respectively. So this rule leads to very strong clubs in New Zealand, winning 13 of the last 20 competitions, although teams from the other side of the Tasman Sea might have more financial resources.
By the way; there is also the Rugby League (with only one team from New Zealand). The rules of this type of rugby favor rather for stronger and heavier players. Also in this kind of Rugby New Zealand won the last world cup. And there is a 3rd famous rugby type, the Sevens. Not surprisingly this game features only seven players per team (instead 15). This sport is much faster and the duration of a game is normally only 14 minutes (compared to 80). Here, a couple of world cup tournaments are played. In Rio's 2016 Games, a rugby7 olympic champion will be seen, too. New Zealand wants to win gold. But it looks as they could not get enough good players for their team. The only outstanding player is Sonny Bee Williams (remember that name!). Still a lot of the best rugby players decided to play a full Super Rugby season instead of switching to Rugby7 for half a yea. Funny enough, HongKong hosted the Rugby7 world cup on the day of my stopover there. I could see a few games on the screens, and even a German team trying to qualify for the best 16. They made it to the semifinal, losing against host HongKong. Beside missing the next world cup, Germany can still qualify for Olympia. Cross fingers.
Back to the Chiefs game in Hamilton. My expectations where not very high and did not increase seeing the semi-professional haka upfront the match. But once the ball was kicked, I was absolutely astonished by the speed, the diversity in the attacks and power of the game. Especially the Chiefs played marvelous - as far as I can judge. They faced the Force, a team from Perth, Australia. After the best guest player was injured, it was an easy 53-10 win for the Chiefs. It had been so much fun to see the guys playing that I had to see a few further rugby games until I left New Zealand. Still the chiefs will remain "my team", and I am pretty sure that they will win this year's trophy - with players like Sam Cane, McKenzie, Cruden and Ngatai; there shouldn't be any doubt about that.
From Hamilton I went to Auckland, where I spent a day cycling through the city. It was my purpose to leave car selling notices in the main hostels. So by the end of the day, I knew a couple of the city's backpacker locations and had a first impression of the main urban hub in the country.
Waiting for calls of new tourists and backpackers coming into the country, I went back to Mangawhai to help Johnny and family a bit more with their house construction. Well, their was also time to get a few nice waves in Waipu. Then it was time to finally say goodbye to this nice place - I thought. I headed to Auckland where I had one week to sell my car, before flying back to Germany. Only in Auckland I noticed that there was a couple buying backpacker cars in Mangawhai. So I went there a 3rd time and eventually was happy to sell the car at a reasonable price.
What to do with my last few days in Auckland? I tried to plan the excess luggage since both, surfboard and bike had to go on the plane. I did some tourism and cycling around the city and its long waterfront and islands. And I thought I could get over one of my fears - big animals, better saying big animals in the water. The Kelly Tarlton's SeaLife offered a shark dive experience and I did not hesitate to take the challenge. There was not too much time to be worried about the sharks, since the diving instruction took some time and concentration. So suddenly I was in the water tank. We were five (3instructors and 2 tourists) surrounded by some 20 sharks. Smaller Broadnose Sevengill sharks and School sharks but also the fancy Sand Tiger (the biggest was bigger than two meter length and 200kg weight) and a strange Wobbegong shark were around us. The sand tiger sharks with their outside teeth were not bad, but the biggest animal in the water was a huge sting ray, floating majestically through the water. It was just such a nice experience to see these animals so close, especially the sharks almost touched us. There was no room for thrill or angst, just respect and admiration. I did really enjoy the 30 minutes, lying on the ground and watching towards the fishs. It was actually so unreal, that I had to pinch into my fingers to make sure that I was in the water and not in a IMAX 3d movie.
It is hard to find a final comment, after almost half a year of travelling in Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Buenos Aires and New Zealand. Well, I am just extremely thankful that I had the chance to make so many nice experiences and meet so nice people everywhere. I hope I can takeover some of the kiwi attitudes I liked so much, just being positive a bit brave and just extremely uncomplicated.
Now there is a curiosity to see family and friends and the mountains&lakes in spring and summer. There is also the question if I can maintain the drive to look for the little adventures and "uncomfortable" situations once back in the routine. I do feel "being alive" especially in situations where I approach(ed) or even overco(a)me my own borders. So hopefully I am brave enough to look for a few of these little challenges outside my comfort zone.
Posting a few words in this blog was definitely something I liked quite a lot. So hopefully it was a bit interesting for you too. :)