Well, well, well, what a trip! But as always, everything ends. I am sitting at Auckland airport, ready to board my flight home. It has been almost 40 days now since I left home and went where not a lot of people have been. It will be difficult to go back to work, but probably all will feel like a dream in a matter of a few days when routine takes over again…

Let me recapitulate my journeys last stage,when I was making my way through the North Island:

Napier
Napier is a remarkable little town at the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. In 1931, an earthquake of 7.8 (or 7.9) destroyed large parts of it. though New Zealand was going through the same difficulties of the depression, in an unseen effort the city was mostly rebuilt in just two years. Having a tabula rasa in front of them, the city builders decided to make it the most modern city and to follow the latest methods in building and architecture. So, Napier (and partly Hastings) are probably the only cities in the world, that were built according to the Art Deco movement. The city is very proud of that and is celebrating its uniquiness with the Art Deco weekend. And guess what? I stumbled right into it! This resulted in a very entertaining evening in downtown Napier, listening to music in the streets, watching people dressed up in 30s clothes parading around, and enjoying the classic car show. As a final treat, my host gave me a lift to the bus station in his old Austin Seven 1937. Cool, ey?

Rotorua
Rotorua lies in the heart of volcanic New Zealand. Well, at least it is rather volcanic… It also is one of the centers of Maori culture. I spend three nights there, enjoying a Maori culture evening with dinner, traditional song and dance display and a formal welcome to the lands of the Mitai family. Sure, the whole thing was rather touristy, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. The following walk through “Rainbow Forest” in the night was interesting as well, since I got to see one of the shy and cute indigenous bird of New Zealand: the Kiwi. The other day I visited the thermal park Waimangu. Boiling springs, hot steam vents and acidic lakes are a few things you can see there. It is located in valley where in 1886, Mount Tarawera erupted and reshaped the landscape massively.

The final treat in Rotorua was in the same time my second indulgence into the Lord of the Rings: Hobbiton. Lying in the rolling hills of Matamata, this private property was the location of one of the most beautiful sets in the whole trilogy. Though most of the sets were removed, it is the only place where some things were left to be seen by the curious traveller. Besides, it is a gorgeous place! Pictures will come when I am home….

Auckland
On my way to Auckland yesterday we stopped at Waitomo, where you can enjoy beautiful caves that were carbed into the limestone by water over ages past. Between stalagmites and stalagtites you can also see hundreds and hundreds of glowworms, silently emitting there bluish light to attract flies and other small insects for food.

Auckland is New Zealand’s by far largest city, a third of its population lives here. So, civilization had me back for good when I was wandering around downtown today. Since I didn’t see much, I won’t pass judgement on it, I just like to point out that it was probably the least interesting place I have been to in the past six weeks….

That’s it, folks. Levent’s on his way back home. Nothing else to report.

Kia ora.