A few strikes of bad luck, beautiful sceneries and soaking up some sun

We did the drive up to Tongariro National Park in two days, since we left Welly only in late afternoon. The easiest stop would've been Palmerston North, but we thought that Wanganui had a nicer sound to it so headed that way. Quite a detour, but on a road trip you just go where you want to go, right?
Glad to have chosen Wanganui. The city had a pretty nice atmosphere to it and the backpacker where we stayed (Tamara Lodge) was simply perfect, a grand Victorian house with large rooms, a cosy kitchen, friendly staff and a cute back garden. Shame we couldn't stay any longer!
After Alex' morning run and my sleep-in, we hit the road again for Turangi, where we wanted to prepare everything for the Tongariro Northern Circuit (a three-day-track which would pas around two active volcanoes) - only to hear that the weather would be terrible and we were not at all advised to go there. Yours truly got really disappointed but had to settle for the one-day Alpine Crossing, which is only a part of the Circuit. Unfortunately, even for this trip the weather was too bad and we had to cut it short when we were about halfway - too much wind, snow and fog which tampered with visibility (I almost lead the two of us in a ditch after about five minutes...)
So, Tongariro wasn't a big fan of ours so we headed off again. The backpacker owner in Turangi gave us a little tip to go to Gisborne through the Whirinaki Forest Park and do a few walks there. Of course we did that. The Forest Park turned out to be a very remote, quiet place, with only a few (predominantly Maori) settlements. The walk was nice, but not really breathtaking. What wàs though, was the trip continuing out of the park, which lead us into Te Urewera National Park. Had we known this before, we wouldn't have bothered with the Forest Park and we would've done some walking around here. A very beautiful place ...
After this came the city of Gisborne. Because we didn't do the Northern Circuit, we got here a bit early for our meeting with Penny, an Australian girl. We wanted to meet her on the Gisborne Food and Wine Festival, but this appeared to be sold out - which, according to Alex, was a real shame since 'the line up was so awesome dude, New Zealand's best bands in one day!'. So we hung around here for a few days - the city has a nice vibe - but apart from a beach and the odd walk here and there, there wasn't much to do for us, so we didn't wait for Penny and headed off to Rotorua.
What they say in the guidebook - that you can smell Rotorua before you see it - is really true. The whiff of rotten eggs is a nice hello from the city. We wanted to stay here for the night in order to see some boiling mud pools the day after, but hey, what do you know! There were about three activities going on in the weekend, so the city was literally fully booked. We tried about fifty places and everywhere we got the same answer - 'Sorry, we're tjokkers for the weekend.' (nono, literally). So we had no choice but to leave the stinky mud pools behind, unseen, and continue to Tauranga, an hour north in the Bay of Plenty, where we were booked in a perfectly decadent hotel called Sebel Trinity Wharf (down with Novotel, long live Sebel!).
Due to another unlucky shot we had a bit of a car crash in Tauranga on the way to Mount Maunganui, so we're stuck here for at least a few days. Luckily, Tauranga is another city with a lovely vibe so there are worse places to get stuck. But still. Ii
Depending on how fast the great white truck gets fixed, I may or may not extend my stay here. It may come as no surprise that time has flown here and that, although I am really looking forward to Australia, I don't have the feeling that I'm done here yet. So hold on to some wood, get those fingers crossed and hope with me that the damage to the truck isn't so substantial that there's no choice for me but to leave.
All car crashes aside, Tauranga is a nice place and the weather has finally turned gentle on us: perfect blue skies, bright sun and perfect 22 degrees. Let the sunshine in!

PS: photos of the north island can be found in a new album on Facebook.

27 - 10 - 10
Just a small note to this entry: as it turned out, the truck was too heavily damaged and our plan to keep on going north and after that back to the South Island to Arthur's Pass couldn't go on. This means that yours truly had to take the Intercity Bus today from Tauranga to Auckland in order to catch the plane tomorrow to Sydney. A very abrupt end to another perfect two weeks here in New Zealand ... But I'm sure that Australia will treat me well.
So here we go once again, saying goodbyes, parting ways ... Thanks Alex for the perfect two weeks and catch you later dude. Chea ;-).