Chillin`in Piha

After surfing up in the Northlands, I was feeling knackerd and was hoping that Claire and Alec was feeling the same..! I had already planned to meet up with two friends from England in Auckland and to go away and do something. The two of them work on an outdoor centre on an island all to themselves just outside Auckland.



It was brilliant seeing them again, and we discovered we hadnt actually seen eachother for two years! Time flies! But it felt like we were never apart..!

We sat off to fetch George, their fancy van and headed towards Piha, a surf spot on the east coast of Auckland. We spent the weekend lying on the grass catching up on everyones plans and gossip,drinking red wine and watching the stars..
Just as I hoped it would be!

Surfing is sweet as..!

After the strenous trip around Tongariro, I sat off to Auckland and the Northlands. I had booked myself on a 5 day surf camp, hoping I would be able to get the hang of surfing! And i did..and i LOVE it!

Our instructor, Rangi, picked us up in Auckland and we sat off for Ahipara, the district of Twin Coasts. The group was a mix of solo travellers, and we all turned out to go well together! The group fortunately consisted of two medical students, Paul from England and Jeroen from Holland, because Emile, 2m high, hungry giant from Holland, was not feeling well in the start of the week and managed to pass it on to the doctors! Julie had already spent 3 months of surfing, so the rest of us deadly didnt see much of her since she was out in the back! Everyone made sure to become friends with the french relestate salesman to secure someone to go surfing with on the french riviera in the future! Christof from Austria was a quiet man, but an decent surfer! And Livy, the english girl who seemd to spend most of her time in her own thoughts and philosophies! But lets not forget Rochelle.. IceIceBaby..Shes Rangi's wife and tagged along for this trip to try to get the hang of surfing!

After 5 days of early surfs, big breakfasts..mid day surfs..big lunches..evening surfs and big dinners.. we sadly headed back to the city! We had been in our own little surfing bobble, and had not noticed that our neighbour town had nearly drowned from flooding the day before! We were shocked, and a bit upset that the flooding had gone down soo quickly that we hadnt been 'forced" to stay at our lovely beach house one more day!


Well back in Auckland, the group met up for a couple of drinks and boggie dancing at a very posh(and expensive) bar in the Sky Tower! We were easy to spot..in our jandals and salty hair amongst the stillettoes and diamant earrings! But we rocked the dance floor.. IceIceBaby!

Vulcanic Tongariro!

MOUNT DOOM!
Or Ngaruhoe(?) as the non-Lord-of-the-rings-fanatics call it..






The Emerald Lakes









Red Crater







Mount ruapehou

hiking.. vulcanic rock..mount doom.. moonlandscape and craters.. food and beer.. workers.. sun..

Mount Taranaki

After some amazing weeks on the South Island, it was finally time for me to experience the rainy days of New Zealand! And this hit just when I was planning on climbing Mount Taranaki..but beacause of heavy rain, low clouds and severe winds..thing changed! I therefore stayed a couple of days in New Plymouth doing my laundry and jogging! Yeah! (if you read jogging..then yes, you did read correctly!) New Plymouth is a beautiful place and it has an amazing wind wand!

Swimming with dophins in Kaikoura!

I got up super early in the morning and went swimming with dolphins! It was absolutely amazing! The boat drowe us out to the tip of the peninsula where we found a group of about 400 dolphins! As he slowed down, we all found a seat at the back at the boat with our feet tracing in the water behind the boat.. All we could hear was the sound of the dolphins coming to the surface to breathe and all we could see was them doing acrobatics in the air! Then suddenly we could hear the signal and out we jumped! Everyone swam as fast as they could over towards the main stream of the dolphins.. and they were absolutely everywhere! Beside you, underneath you, behind you, over you.. soo unbelievably close! We werent allowed to touch them, but they kept poking us! At first i got a bit afraid..but very excitet! So excited that i forgot to breathe.. which wasnt very clever, so i hyperventilated abit!

They are absolutely amazing animals! And they were so curious.. they would come all the way over to you, and it was up to you to keep them there! So I was trying to entertain them by diving down with them, swimming in circles and making funny sounds! We must have looked soo stupid..!

Im getting an even flatter bum..if thats possible!

I am famous(?) for not having a bum..but now I am afraid that the little I do have is fading even more away!

I dont think I have ever sat down on my A** as much as I have done lately in my entire life..!

I wish I was a millionair and could spend loads of money on keeping me entertained every day! Its only so much you can do of free stuff every day.. and I always tend to end up in a park or on a beach.. Yesterday I nearly read an entire book in one go!! Thats alot of sitting down! Too much! I wouldnt think I would say this.. i miss working.. wow!

But, tomorrow, after swimming with the dolphins at 06 in the morning, I will be going to Wellington.. perhaps it would be better getting back on the North Island.. even though i do prefer the south island.. very much! Ill be heading eastwards.. and maybe those beaches will be more interesting!

Christchurch!

Christchurch is a wonderful city!

I spent quite a few days there..Met a german girl, Tina, there and we spent the day together..just walking around the many markets and playing around in the parks!We finished off the day by going to a Chinese Lantern Festival in the park, eating lots and lots of chinese food and watching the asian show! Those asians can really bend their bodies in odd ways!! We saw a carpet-girl, a chandelair(?)-girl, drummer-girls(very impressive) and lots of dancing groups! And then they lit all the lanterns! It was beautiful! Then in the evening, the two of us decided to go out! We met up with some other people in the hostel, and suddenly it wasnt just the two of us any more, but all-in-all we were 7! And what a group we were!One awesome norwegian(!!), Two girls from Switzerland, Denise and Madeleine, One boy from germany, Carlos, One boy from Switzerland, Ben, Tina from Germany and a guy from Japan! Take! He was of the quiet sort of type, but boy could he drink! He would normally stand a couple of steps behind us, drinking his beer, vodka or whiskey, and we would call him our bodyguard! He looked like a kamikaze-fighter in his leather jacket and sunnies!

Tina practicing "the devil-stick".

The next day I went to Akeroa, a beautiful place..but in the end it was a little bit boring! Akeroa is the french district in New Zealand, with french street names, french cafe's and so on.. I was supposed to meet up with Tina, but her hostel turned out to be located 30 min away from Akeroa it self and without any reception! I therefore spent the day trying to look as sophisticated as I could by reading my book and drinking tea at the many cafes.. after getting bored with that, i decided to practice my "devil-stick-skilles" in the park..and despite i hardly have any, i think that if i ever run out of money, I can earn some by just finding a busy spot and practice it! To my suprise, a few of people(older!) thought I was a street performer, and came over to ask how long i have been doing this for and wondering where my hat was! The hat to put money in, that is!!

Mount Cook

After two days of vomiting and no intake of any food, but fortunately it was horrible weather so I didnt really miss out on much.. I finally woke up to a absolutely gorgeos day and I was feeling fine! During breakfast I met a guy from Israel, Nimrod, who was travelling with a guy from Taiwan(what a mix!), and he convinced me to join them for the day! And that was a brilliant choice! The guys were hillarous, dont think I have ever laughed as much going up a hill before! We climbed to The Mueller Hut, and the view was amazing! Everywhere we turned it was snow capped peaks and glaciers, and in the distance we could admire the high and mighty Mount Cook! It had snowed the night before, so sprinkled everywhere was just a little bit of icing! It all reminded me of skiing during easter in Norway, and fortunately I had brought with me an orange, but no "kvikk lunsj" or hot chocolate..! We spent almost 2 hours at the hut, just taking in the sun.. and i thought Carlos, the taiwanese guy, how to make snow angels! You might think that Carlos is a funny name of a taiwanese guy, and it is.. his real name is Lin Ching Chan, but thought Carlos might be easier for us western to remeber! Yeah!

We met loads of other israelis, and Nimrod and his friends told me loads about Israel and the jews. Nimrod is 23 years old, and is now travelling after 4 years in the army. As a 20 year-old he was an officer. Everybody, boys and girls, in Israel has to go to the army. Boys for 3 years and girls for two. So in a good couple of years, if thing does not quiet down, Israel will probably have an entire nation of military or ex-military people.

After a full day out in the mountains, the guys cooked me a BIG meal! This was soo good! It did not come out of a can, you did not just pour water in a bag, and it had propper meat in it! I dont think I have had a propper meal in ages! It was nice..

The massive Albatrosses, seals and the Penguins!

Took a detour to Dunedin and the Otago Penisula! This is the capitol of the Speight Beer and the yellow-eyed-bandit-penguins! I also went to see the albatrosses..and they are impressive! And mahusive! They have a wingspan of 3-3,7m!! Its like a mini areoplane is swoshing over your head! And the sunglass-wearing penguins are tiny and soo cute! But the coolest might have been the unbelivably lazy seals laying on the beach next to the albatrosses.. i got very close! (Should have had my club with me!) Since this is the base of NZ expeditions going to Antartica they had a big exhibition about it in the museum! And the hero of the exhibition is of course an norwegian! Roald Amundsen was the first man to reach the South Pole!

Disapointing Queenstown..

To enjoy Queenstown, I think you will have to be loaded with money or.. loaded with money! Since Im neither, I was struggeling to find things to do that didnt cost more than 100NZ.. Its a very commercial city, and wherever you turn youll bump into someone who wishes to book your bungy jump, your skydive, your water jet tour or whatever they can charge you money for!

Soo.. i ended up doing a hard core climb up to the summit of Ben Lomond (1750 m!!) and thats about it!

Beautiful Wanaka!

Hitch hiked my way from Franz to Wanaka..took me 4, 5 h!! For the last couple of days I have been hitch hiking with a guy from Finland, Ilemare.. we thought we would look more reliable for people to pick us since we looked like a couple, and it worked for quite a while! But today, our good luck stopped! (But I also blame it on a couple of Israelian guys who promised us a lift the night before, but changed their minds just as we were leaving.. it was then 10:20, which is far too late to get a decent hitch hike! Soo.. i guess I still cheer for Palestine!)

Anyway, 2 friendly indians on their honeymoon picked me up and dropped me off at the doorstep of the hostel in Wanaka. During the trip they offered me loads of different indian foods and when I arrived in Wanaka, I was desperate for Chicken Korma!!

Spent the saturday, eating korma, and just relaxing in the beatuiful surroundings of Wanaka! Its the most amazing lake surroundet by snow covered peaks! The next few days I have spent hiking in absolutely gorgeous weather! Who said South Island would be rainy.. havent seen a drop yet..! (But after saying that, I am sure I will..!)

The Franz Joseph Glacier

Despite the fact that I am Norwegian, I have never been on the Blue Ice of a glacier..! But now I have! I spent a whole day on the Franz Joseph Glacier and it was great! I was very fortunate with the weather, it was a clear and sunny day which happens rearly in Franz ive been told..! The guide, Cliff, must have been the craziest guide out of them all..but still brilliant! He kept chopping steps for us all day long, and never got tired! Half way up the ice, well half way through the day.., he decided that he was sick of the normal routes and wondered if we wanted to go on a bit of an adventure! Of course! But it took some time.. since noone had walked the route we now chose, he spent a LONG time filling up the crevasses and chopping steps for us! We ended up going through the narrowest gap of them all..in my opinion at least.. and if my boobs were a little bigger i would have been stuck!! But we survived!Since it was such a nice day, noone had brought their waterproof trousers and were soaking wet an cold..except me! Im used to the rainy days of Bergen and was well prepared!! ;)

Pancake Rocks!

On the way from Nelson to Franz Joseph, we stopped by the Pancake Rocks! These are the craziest rocks I have ever seen! They are totaly flat and piled upon eachother like a pancake stack.. hmm..think i might have pancakes for dinner today!

We stopped in Hokatika, a beautiful town with loads of Jade Factories..but not alot more! I did some laudry and we watched some movies! Katie left super early the next day, and i caught a lift with a finnish boy, Ilemare, to Franz Joseph!

The Abel Tasman

After notorius packing and planning, we finally set off on our adventure! We were to be exploring the coast of the Abel Tasman National Park (together with 1000s of other tourist) by kayak and by foot! We kayaked for two days up the gnarly coastal waters, and then hiked back to the civilisation. We were well excited!

But of course, being the experienced campers as we are, we forgot the matches..and yep, even the lighter..But we kept our hopes up, and charming as we are, we managed to light our stove both the first nights seeing as we stayed at campsites with more experienced campers! Thank you, Sue and Rosie from keeping us alive!!


On the last night we ended up at a campsite all to our self! It was the most beautiful campsite in the world.. we fell asleep to the sound of singing bugs(and smell of insect repellent) and woke up to the most amazing sunrise and a cold morning bath! But despite the fact that this was the beach of our dreams, seeing as we were the only campers, we had noone to steal matches from! So we ended up eating what we had.. we had 2 slices of bread which we made really tasty with the half pepper we had left, we finished all of our cereal bars and shared an orange! We couldnt fit anymore in our bellies!!!

Still Taupo, but soon 14 hours on a bus!

So what to do.. after falling out of an aeroplane everything seems pretty boring..

I chose to hike to the Haka Falls just outside of Taupo before i decided that I would spend the next 14 hours on a bus to Nelson on the South Island. I wanted to meet up with Katie, from Rotorua, and go kayaking and hiking with her! Hopefully the extremely long bus drive would be worth it!!

Skydive Taupo!

Tihi!!

I did it and i survived..!

I hadn't really planned it..just thought about it a little..but as i checked in at the backpackers in Taupo, i just asked the receptionist how it was with the skydiving..does it need prebooking, how often can you sign up and so on.. she only answered: ill find out for you! So a few hours later I find myself in the aeroplane on my way up to 15 000 feet! S***!

I was terrified in the aeroplane..but it was still the best thing ever! As I sat with my feet dangling outside the aircraft I felt really safe..certain that Mike, my instructor, would take care off me! And before I could give it another thought, he pushed me out!! And it was soo fast!! And soo cold! And just absolutely crazy! Here I was falling, at least 200 km/h towards the ground! I suddenly realised I had to scream! Cause thats what you do, isnt it..? But realised quickly that screaming didnt help much! And soon I realised that Mike was actually controlling the chaos! We were spinning and turning and gliding through the air..extremely fast, though! And as i felt it was under control, he pulled the chute and it was chaos again! But this time going up instead of down!

But then it went soo quiet.. we were just sailing through the air! Amazing!

I might have found a new hobby..so..Leo Holding, here i come!! ;)

Smelly Rotorua!

I spent most of the day enjoying the sun and dipping my feet in a hothothot pool in one of the parks of Rotorua!

The smell of Rotorua is horrible as you get in to town, but after a while you get used to it..but it is not the place to do laundry!! It smells like rotten eggs or worse..it reminds me of Tjyllaren, the inlet just next to my old school back home, goes off!

In the evening i met a american girl, Katie, and together we went to a Maori Show at the Mitai Heritage Village. Lots of maouri men, splitter pine nakne..nesten.., running around, singing, dancing and performing the Haka! And in the end they served us their traditional meal, the Hangi and it was soooo good!!

The Coromandels!

I am truely on the other side of the world.. even the christmas trees grows up-side-down here!

The Coromandel penisula is absolutely beautiful! If I have the time, I think I want to come back here! Stayed in the On The Beach Backpackers, which truely is on the beach! And because it has been quite windy it was lots of swell and a great surf! Lots of surfers around..! ;)

Spent quite a lot of time on the beach..and there I discovered one of the disadvantages of travelling by yourself..no one to put sun lotion on your back! - I looked like a lobster! So after that i decided that i preferred the beach at night times! You'll find an an amazing sunset in the Coromandels and an even more amazing sunrise! Beautiful!

Rented a bike to go to Cathedral Cove, but my bum regretted that sorely.. it was a bit further than i thought! Met a couple of Canadian guys, Jeff and Ryan, during the walk and tagged along with them.. It is soo easy to meet people down here! Everyone is just so friendly! But there is a lot of dutch and german people..and swedes! More than the kiwis, i think!