Western USA

Hallo,

Rainer and me spent the last 4 weeks traveling around the western part of USA, visiting many National Parks and doing a lot of miles with our camper van.

The landscape was amazing and incredible vast. We enjoyed it very much. Although we often wished we had had more time to spend, doing some trekking or other.
We visited Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco, which you will recognise in the pictures.

Our time in the US comes to an end and soon we will be home again.
We are sending you regards from the "currently not so sunny" Californian coast. :-)

Regards, Renate

Cast away on the Cook Islands

Hallo,

I know I have you waiting for a long time for the "Cook Island Blog Entry" :-)
I am sorry. But now here we are:

I have visited three different islands of the Cook Islands: Rarotonga, Aitutaki and Atiu. There are several more, but even more difficult to reach and even more remote. So I settled for these three.
Each islands was totally different from the other. One thing they had in common though, was the abundance of churches and mosquitos!
Rarotonga was a "metropolis" compared to Atiu. Moving from Rarotonga to Aitutaki to Atiu brought you in a slower and slower pace every time. When they told me on Rarotonga, that on "Aitutaki" everything is going to be "slow"....I already wondered ..but then on "Aitutaki" they told me that on "Atiu" everything will be "slow"...I could not believe my ears....how should this be possible, as on Aitutaki everything was already incredibly "relaxed and slow"... but it was definitely possible to have everything even slower. :-)
Returning from Atiu to Rarotonga for my flight to US, I was shocked by the number of people and cars! ;) I was really afraid of continuing to US...me being in that state of "relaxation" :-)

All islands had their own charm and were very beautiful, although I liked Atiu the most.. it was the quietest, most rugged and wildest of the islands. We were 3 tourists on the island when I was there and they told me that they never get more than 10 tourists at any point in time at the same time on the island :-)... very cool!

I have uploaded some pictures for you!

I am now in the US and have another 3 weeks to go... but then my trip will come to an end as well :-(
I hope you are well and am sending you my regards!
Renate

Diving in Fiji

Hallo,

I am back from the diving boat! And it was great!
Fiji is a very beautiful country, consisting of hundreds of islands and I am very sad that I cannot spend more days here exploring the islands, highlands and villages.

Fijian people are the most friendly, welcoming, smiling and heart warming people I have ever met. So it is a real pleasure to meet them and spend time with them. They gather together, play music and sing nearly every night...just because they love to. And they have a "national" drink which is called "kava", which they drink every night. It has no alcohol ;) and serves as THE socialising part. And they love it if you join and take part.
I enjoyed their company very much and I will surely come back spending more time on Fiji and with the people. Made a lot of friends here already :-)

Diving was great as well! A lot of colours, corals, huge schools of fish and an incredible number of amazing animals. So much to see!
The sea was pretty rough most of the time, so diving was not easy...but every dive was more than worth it!

I am happy to present you with some amazing pictures, also underwater, which, thankfully, my fellow divers provided me with, as I have no underwater camera!
Please enjoy! :-)

Tomorrow is my last day here and I will continue to Rarotonga(Cook Islands) on the 23rd of April.
I hope you are all well and am sending you warm regards and hugs!

Renate

Leaving New Zealand

Hallo,

These are my last days in New Zealand. I will leave New Zealand on the 9th of April, continuing to Fiji. I will be on the diving boat for 10 days hopefully doing a lot of dives in warm, clear water and sunshine.

So saying "Good Bye" to New Zealand, what could my summary look like...?

New Zealand has:

• a very vast as well as beautiful landscape
• a lot of well maintained but also over-promoted tourist attractions
• too many tourists during the season
• a weirdly, restricted attitude to alcohol
• overpriced accomodation
• decent white wine
• a very impressing coastal scenery
• very expensive restaurants and food
• an unpolluted and carefully protected environment

New Zealand does not have:

• interesting food
• cheap and good kiwi fruits in the market :-) (though one might expect otherwise)
• a lot of public transportation
• a reliable weather forcast
• good red wine
• stable weather conditions
• any interesting culture to indulge, other than the culture of the Maori, which is not very visible and hard to find
• historical buildings in the european sense :-)

New Zealand on the one hand captures you with its natural beauty, vastness and emptiness, but on the other side challanges you with other things as e.g. very expensive food, limited public transport and limited accomodation or harsh weather conditions.
I personally think that New Zealnd was not the easiest place to travel, at least as a backpacker over a longer period of time. At times, this was more challanging than travelling throughout Asia.
I take with me many stories to tell, though.

I am sending you my regards!
I wish you that spring arrives soon and that you are all well!
Take care! Looking forward to hearing from you!

Renate

Tongariro - or my trip to another planet

Hallo,

I have done a treck in the Tongariro National Park, the "Tongariro Northern Circuit", which is 3 long days trekking in an incredible, otherworldly environment and landscape.

I think I was lucky with the weather this time, but it ranged from pure sunshine to rain, clouds, fog, storm etc... I had to change clothes and adapt pretty often :-) All in all, it felt like stepping in and out of a different world and even planet. Walking this treck alone, I sometimes had the feeling that there was no other human being left on the planet except me... and the rocks and mountains, especially if there was thick fog.
I enjoyed it very much, though is was a long walk.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Sending you all a hug!

Renate

Christchurch - Ghostcity

Hallo,

I have left the South Island after visiting Christchurch. Actually I didn't want to put an extra post for Christchurch. But it was such an interesting and weird experience, that I decided to do one post for Christchurch only. The sight of the city Christchurch is the strangest sight I have ever seen in a city in a rich country. Christchurch had to suffer two very strong earthquakes (one in 2010 and one in 2011) which left the city crumbled into a heap. There is really literally nearly nothing left still. There are nearly no buildings, empty slots big as football fields (where the leftovers of the buildings have been removed, but rebuilding has not started yet) and still buildings which have been untouched since the earthquakes. Nearly no houses, no shops, no restaurants, no...nothing... They have set up a few containers with shops and cafés but that's it. No companies, no business, no traffic, no traffic jams, no busses, no pedestrians...except tourists and a few ones working for those container-cafés or container-shops....and construction workers, working on the new building sites trying hard to rebuild the city somehow.
But Christchurch is now/still dormant or maybe "comatose" ??? :(

It was a strange feeling and the whole city had an indescribable eary athmosphere.

Talking to locals, they always freely started to talk about the earthquakes and their thoughts. Their stories and thoughts were really interesting... of how they live now, whats going on, what they plan to do etc. At least they really seem to make the best of it.
I have never been so "close" to an earthquakes aftermath as here.

The visit was worthwile, because of exactly this experience. You really can see and feel and understand what such an earthquake does to a city and a people.
It was incredibly impressing, maybe depressing, if not the locals were such a friendly, optimistic bunch. Made me contemplative and thoughtful!

Have a look at the pictures!

Regards, Renate

Nelson & Marlborough

Hallo,

After I finally managed to leave the west coast (roads were blocked due to slips and fooding :-O! ) I found myself  "on the sunny side" again, visiting the north coast of the south island.

 I did everything "one" has to do :-)
- some walking in the Abel Tasman National Park,
- visited the Cape Farewell (the northermost point of the south island) and
- did a boat tour and a walk in the Malborough Sounds.

Tenting was an option again as the sun was shining and I am now accustomed to sleeping using not more space than the 50-60 cm of my sleeping mat :) Finally managed also turning within this space. ;)
And as autumn is starting over here, I started to wear my thermal underwear during my nights in the tent... it is getting real cold sometimes.

These are my last days on the south island...I will continue to Christchurch and then go over to the North Island again.

Hope to hear from you!
If you want to see pictures... here you go.

Best regards, Renate