I'm a hippi now

I proudly present my new car...a old Toyota HiACE. 2 beds in the back, a rack for storage and lots of camping gear. A good Van. Diesel engine with 322000 km :-/ Ok, what do you want for 4400 NZ$ (ap. 1600 €)

We left Auckland and drove up north direction "Bay of Island" and slept the first night without tent at the beach. The day we spend driving a nice trip trough the bays. On the way to the west coast our clutch stopped working. Shit... but a kind Kiwi showed us how to drive without the clutch in 3rd gear and we made it 15 minutes back to Kaikohe ( GOOGLE ). We found Floyed Car Mechanics and called his 24h service. It was already 6pm. He managed to repair the clutch. A previous owner filled water into the hydraulic oil tank... 50 NZ$ and 45min later we are back on the road. Happy again.

After an amazing sunset, we found a nice place up the hills to spend the night. This morning we drove trough huge forests when Stef wanted to speed down the road and up to a forest view point. On the top we found a good looking trail down. I tried to cycle it down. puhhh, that was the most difficult trail I've ever done. But cool !!
Later on we spend an hour at the beach with huge waves. The afternoon is just driving down south. Passing Auckland toward Rotorua where a hike is planed for tomorrow.

Currently I'm sitting in the back, read Mails and writing this blog while Stef is driving... Thanks to Vodafone, a 3G UMTS data connection is making this possible ;-)

So far. Here are some impressions of the description moments. Have fun. Btw, how is weather in good old Germany? I heard somthing...storm, rain, around 0°C *brrr* we've got 24°C in the shadow. Don't ask how much in the sun... it is just burning your brain....

Auckland view from Harbor side














Beach camping












Clutch repair












Bay of Islands

























Sunset at the west coast