Wednesday, the 6th of January. We go to another island near Auckland: Waiheke. It’s a little bit farther than Rangitoto: we need 35 minutes to get there. But it’s also bigger: Contrary to Rangitoto, there is some road and some people live there. On the island, we take a first bus to go a little farther than the touristic place. About a half hour later we arrive to the terminus. The view is nice but there is not so many thing to see… So we take the bus in the other way to go to another beach: bigger but with more tourists! It’s a nice place. We try to go inside of the sea but I’s really to cold! We wet our legs but nothing more! We stay a moment on the beach and then we go back to the harbor to take the ferry back. Assess of this trip on Whaiheke: nice but nothing special! Back in Auckland, we look for a little present for Mickaël (we find a T-Shirt Kiwi) and the we go back home. Nothing on the evening.

Saturday, January 2nd. Departure for the North of the North-island with the car of Mickael. We have 3 hours of road of planned until Pahia (in the Bay of Island), where we reserved the hostel. Along the way, we stop to Whangarei, the last "big" city ^^. Finally, there is not so many things to do here; we go to the "i-site", corresponding to tourist offices in France. We take some flyers about the thereabout there then we leave. All along the road, the landscape is very attractive: many greenery, and it is very undulating. We do not see many houses!! Before arriving at Pahia, we pass by Tutukaka where we stop to admire the view and take the lunch. Our first meal in NZ, it is more expensive than in South America! On the road until Pahia, we make several stops by the roadside to take photos of the sea. Very beautiful! We make a small tour in a ferry to be able to cross the river with the car ( no deck).

Arrived at Pahia, we look for our youth hostel. Well, that changes from the hostels in South America! That makes much more great here … We settle down in our dormitory (there are already 3 guys, that smells not very good in there ^^), and we leave by foot to the city center. But “city center” it’s easy to say, it’s only a main street with stores for tourists. We go to see the harbour to confirm our reservation of the next day, then we are going to make some shopping for the dinner and the brunch of the next day. Then we bring in, we cook and we are going to go to bed fast. The time difference is still difficult to be done …

Sunday, January 3rd. We get up quietly before going into town to look for a rental car agency for the evening and the next day, because the car of Mickael has too much suffered on the roads with ground that we took the day before. As a result, we prefer not to take risks in order to avoid meeting out of order in the middle of nowhere! We find a car and we reserve it. Then we prepare the brunch. Indeed, our adventure begins at 12:30am, so we have to eat before. On the menu: the rest of spaghettis of the day before, the fruits … We prepare at the same time our sandwiches for the evening. At 12:15 am, we arrive at the port and we embark on the boat, with about twenty tourists. That's it, it left for swimming with dolphins!! We are in a hurry, we really want to swim with them, but 2 women of the agency say to us that that risks to be difficult today because the weather is not ideal. The weather is not too bad, but there is many wind, what does not sort out things to perceive dolphins. So it is even step on that we see … Let us hope that we are then lucky.

At the end of approximately one hour of search, we perceive finally some. We slow down the speed and we follow them pretty far. At the end of moment, the women say to us that we are going to try to look for it somewhere else because those do not want to contact us, so it is not worth to waste our time here. The boat restarts… The time passes, always nothing. Well, the landscape is all the same magnificent, the weather is beautiful and the sea is bright. To console us, the boat takes us to a small island with a hole in the rock, it’s the Piercy Island. It’s make like a tunnel so we pass below, and inside the stone there are magnificent colors. Finally we take the way back without having to cross the other dolphins. But just like that, they slow down the boat and we put ourselves at every edge of the boat, and we see them! In this case, they are closer and they pass even under the boat. Not easy to take photos because they move, but they are beautiful! Finally, we stay there only 5 minutes because the women inform us that they are not authorized to stay again with the same dolphins … What a pity!!

On returning to Pahia, the company announces us that it pays off to us the part for the swimming with dolphins (30 NZD by persons) and that it invites us to return free of charge for next time. It is very nice, but it is not possible for us … When we return in the hotel, it is already 7 pm, and the rented car waits for us. Let’s go for the North of the North! We arrive at Waitiki at about 7:30 pm. It is a really lost place, there is nothing else except for our hostel and a small petrol station! And furthermore it is a kid who hold the office and to whom we pay. Really strange here ^^. We just deposit our luggage and we leave for the Cap Reinga, the second point most to the North of the NZ. As Mickael drove a lot, Anaïs decides to take him place with a little apprehension. It is the first time to drive to the left, with a car automatic in more! Everything happens with no problem at all, and we arrive on the cap. The view from here is magnificent, even if we do not see very far because of clouds… As a result, the sunset is also not very beautiful. At the end of the cap, there is a lighthouse and panels indicating big cities of the world. We are close to the South Pole in fact! We sit down on a bench to picnic. We do not stay so long because with the wind which blows, it is not very warm. On returning to the hostel, we are going to go to bed, anyway there is only that here to do!

Monday, January 4th. After the sunrise, a small fast tour in the minimarket of the petrol station to buy of what we need just for the lunch (it is so expensive here) then let’s go for return to Pahia. The car must be returned at 5 pm because we paid for one day. We have time to stop in several places on the road to contemplate the landscape. The only small problem, it is that the weather is not really with us: there are big low clouds and the rain comes along with us from time to time. We begin all the same to return to the North, in Spirits Bay. This time, it is Nadège who drives the car. We arrive at Spirits Bay with no problem at all either, even if sometimes Nadège drived a little bit too to the left! Here, the sand seems pink because of all the pieces of shells failed on the beach. Reputedly that when the sun shines, sunbeams are reflected on shells and the beach is illuminated. We are not lucky to see this show … But to walk on these shells is a very pleasant sensation. We take back the car direction Ninety Mile Beach. We take small roads by getting lost little, then we arrive there finally. At the time of going out from the car, Anaïs realizes that she forgot her flip-flops in Spirits Bay … She likes it a lot because they are souvenirs of Brazil. She so treasures it that after a small tour on the beach of the Ninety Mile Bay, we come back and see if her thongs are there always … At the end of 40 minutes of road, we are again on Spirits Bay. While Nadège and Mickael wait for her in the car, Anaïs goes to see if its flip-flops are always there where she left them. Phew!! Fortunately that ther is nobody in the area! And it restarted in the other direction, to Kaitaia. There is not much to see in this city, especially stores and restaurants, what is perfect for us to have the lunch. Especially that when we arrive there, it is already 14 am, and we have hunger! After a good meal in the KFC, we leave for Pahia. We arrive a little before 5 pm. We give back then keys to the guy of the agency, and we take back the car of Mickael to return in Auckland. The road is long and tiring after these 3 days. We arrive finally to Auckland at 8 pm. We eat little and we are quickly going to sleep. Hem, a good bed with a good duvet, that made so for a long time!!!

Tuesday, the 5th of January. It’s our first full day in Auckland and we decide to go to the island Rangitoto. It’s a volcano, the youngest in New Zealand: it was formed only 600 years ago! We take a ferry to get there and we find some cheaper price in internet. Before to take the ferry, we walk through the city center: Queenstreet (big street with a lot of stores but also a lot of cars!!), Sky Tower (it’s a tower to get a view of all Auckland but it’s to expensive to go on the top!) On the foot of the tower, we see a guy fall down. Secured of course! You have to know that in NZ, there are a lot of activities with hard sensations (buddy jumping, sky diving…) We would love to do that but it’s really expensive!

Then, we go back to the harbor to take the ferry and 20 minutes later, we arrive on the island. It’s green everywhere! A lot of people go out of the ferry and most of the tourists take a little train to go around the volcano, but we prefer to walk! The volcano is only 250 meters above the sea level so it’s easy! The way is very nice, the stone are totally black and to some place there is no vegetation on these stones. The crater is not really marked so we are a little bit disappointed. In fact, the totality of the volcano is recovers from a forest and also inside the crater. That’s why the contour of the crater is more difficult to find. But it’s still very nice! Then, we continue the way until the top of the island and from there the view is beautiful. With the sun, we can see different kind of blue in the sea and Auckland abroad. So nice! Our ferry to go back is late so we have to wait in the wind… Back in Auckland, we go shopping because we are cooking tonight!

Friday, January 1st, 2010. We arrive to Auckland at about 2:15 pm. Before being able to go out of the airport, it is necessary to declare all the objects which we can have in our bags or on us, in particular what makes reference to the walking or the camping. We thus wonder if we have to declare our walking shoes. To be sure and have no problems, we ask. Thus yes, it is necessary to declare them. Nadège has them in feet and Anaïs in its bag. The lad asks Nadège to raise his feet to be able to inspect the sole. For what he looks?? Anaïs has to look for them in her bag. She shows them to the lad who looks at them from every angle, and he says to us that he is going to give them in the service of biological safety of the airport so that they are cleaned. OK, it is true that they are a little bit red because of the stroll to Puerto Iguaçu, but that makes what?! Then, Nadège has to follow the lad to clean its soles. She passes on a sparkling carpet where she rubs her feet. In the end, it is a little cleaner but not as long as that … Finally! Before going out, it is necessary to make cross our bags in the X-rays … Finally Here we are, after all these inspections we can finally go out! Mickael waits for us there. We knew Mickael by internet, he had written us an e-mail further to the publication of our first article in the Progress, and friendly suggested us accommodating us for our stay in Wellington. In more he lives in Ain, that refuses itself not ^^. We wait for the shoes of Anaïs during good about ten minutes then we can finally go there.

Mickael lives in about twenty minutes by car. He is not used to still too much driving to the left, it is on that it is rather puzzling … Once arrived to he presents us to his South African roommates (but whiter than us!), then shows us our rooms. Finally a little of independence ^^. After the usual things (showers, a little of rest), Mickael takes us to make a tour on a small volcano near to him. From there top, we have a beautiful view on Auckland, but there is one of these winds!! In the evening, it is pizza to the menu, and dodo very early after these hard days of journeys.