NEW ZEEEEEALAND!!!

Oh God... where do I even begin?!? I've been in New Zealand for over 4 months now, and it's been such an epic adventure, that I'm not quite sure how to put it into words. This post is just the introduction to my stay in this beautiful country... 

I spent the first few weeks with my dad in Katikati, Bay of Plenty, which was truly great. He moved out here about 2 years ago, and is developing his (organic) property so that he and his partner Jo can be pretty much self-sufficient.

One of the first things I appreciated in NZ is the honesty box system. With so many people growing their own produce, any surplus that they have is put outside their houses with a price list. If you take anything (e.g avocados, oranges, eggs), then you simply put the required amount of money in a little box next to the produce. It oooozes trust, and I love it :)

Showing an honesty box for oranges

The run-up to my travelling was so hectic, and coupling this with my non-stop time in Japan, when I arrived in New Zealand my body really needed to just relax and recharge its batteries. Staying with dad was the perfect way to do this! After a week of him looking after me, it was time to get up and go! First place to visit: Mount Mounganui, a 'mountain' that can be seen in the distance from Dad's house; although how it can be called a mountain is beyond me. It's the smallest mountain I'd ever seen (until that point)! But Johanna (one of the girls WWOOFing with Dad) and I climbed it anyway, and it took us all of an hour. It gave great views of Mt Maunganui and Tauranga though...

Mt Maunganui

I also helped Dad out in his organic garden, helping to create ground stakes and planting trees.

Creating wind-breakers to protect the trees

The first tree planted - I think it was an olive tree

'Gone Flying' 

A few days later, I went flying with one of Dad's friends, Bill. He built his own microlite, and it was incredible!

We flew around the Coromandel Peninsula - an area I was planning to drive around the following week. It, again, was stunning. There seems to be little in New Zealand that isn't stunning. From the air, you could really see how dense and green the bush (kiwi and aussie term for woodland / forest) is, and just how small the 'towns' are! Colville, for example (which features in the Lonely Planet) only appeared to have about 10 buildings!!

Dad's house from the air

An aerial view of the shelter belts around Dad's house

The next day, Dad and I went for a walk to see some Kauri trees, and to go for tea with Bill and his wife Sue.

This kauri tree is 12.8m high before it even reaches its first limb, and has a circumference of 2.7m (at 1.5 metres up)

Bill and Sue have the most AMAZING house and garden! It reminds me of Hansel and Grettle's house of sweets, but even more beautiful, and they even have their own section of native bush!

Bill and Susan's house

They took us to see their 3 big kune kune pigs, and 8 piglets, which were just 6 weeks old... and SO cute! Bill and Susan were having trouble finding homes for the piglets, and so surprisingly, dad and Jo decided to have 2 of the piglets, agreeing to pick them up a few days later!

  

In the meantime, however, it was time for my first roadtrip around the Coromandel Peninsular...