New Phone

I just got a new Phone. The number is +61 411 491 834. So now you can all txt and phone me again.

Arrived in OZ

Yes I made it to OZ - even with my 20kgs of diving gear.
The first two nights I stayed with Frank from couchsurfing. He was such a great host - showed me around town and help me a lot to get myself set up here. He went flat hunting with me today and sure enough I ended up moving into the first place I looked at. I did look at some more flats but I had a feeling that this will be the place. I straight away got along with my new flatmates. And how could you not if you get offered a cold beer when you just moved in with this heat.
Unfortunately I haven't found a job as a Dive Instructor jet - it's slow season right now - but there are lots of other jobs available, so I might just do something else for a couple of months before I get a job on a dive boot.
Last night I went to a couchsurfing BBQ on the Esplanade - Cairn's Waterfront - it was really nice to meet some like minded locals and travellers. And I even got do some fire twirling.

Counting the hours in NZ

Just 19 hours until I leave New Zealand again. Almost exactly one years I have been here and so much has happened in this last year. What will the next one have in store for me. "Es bleibt spannend" (It keeps being exciting).
My Van is sold and I'm pretty happy about the $3950 I got for it, that should get me started in Australia. My Backpack is almost packed and my dive gear is ready too. I think just the dive bag is like 20kg, so I hope the airline sticks to their word that I can take it at no extra charge.
So tomorrow at 7:25AM! it's off to Brisbane and then on to Cairns. Sanchio will drop me off at the airport where he picked me up almost a year ago - I think this will be a nice way to say goodbye - no I mean "See you" - New Zealand. I hope I'll be able to get some sleep tonight, well at 3:30 in the morning it's time to get up anyway.

Update Piha

I finally managed to rotate the little video I took at Piha Beach.

Small World

Last Friday I was walking along Queen's Steet in Auckland with Sanchio and my parents and who do I bump into - Matthias - a study colleagues from Agilent back in Germany. What a small world. We exchanged phone numbers and decided to meet up when he is back from his trip to the Bay of Islands. Yesterday we met up and went on a little road trip. After a shot trip to (N)One tree hill to get a good aerial view of Auckland...
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...we drove out to Piha on the West coast.
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After some hours on the beach watching the surf and enjoying the sun we went to the Kitekite Waterfall just around the corner. What an amazing place. I walked up a little track to get to the top of the falls and the steep climbing was rewarded with stunning views and a refreshing bath in a private pool on top of the falls.
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On the way back we paid a short visit to Karekare Beach.
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Back in Auckland we had dinner in Mission Bay - what a great day!

Update

I know it has been a while since my last post....
Well I'm back in Auckland and getting ready for Australia.
My parents came to visit me for two weeks and I took them around the Coromandel. Was so nice to see all these familiar places again, but also a bit sad to have to say good bye for now.
Now I'm selling my Van and sporting everything out for OZ and on the 14th of February I'm gonna jump on my plane to Cairns.