What to say here… Another nice walk on the beach where we discovered giant as well as mini-mussles 
before heading to Tairua for an amazing  360° view of the coast. On our way we came accross many old or funny cars before arriving in a really crowded city – unusual for New Zealand! - Whangamata…
Lazy day at the beach… We slept again on a forbidden place, on purpose - this time – as we were too tired to find another space at 2am. It was so nice to have a short walk on the beach under the moon… And what an amasing morning when seeing the sun rising over the ocean… We woke up really early despite our late evening, with no alarm clock needs! Following a nice breakfast facing the beach, we went for a long walk watching the sun going up.
As weather was really nice, we spent nearly the all day on the beach… Like kids: jumping into the waves, playing castanets with shells, writting funny stuff on the sand, trying on Hobbits ears that  Ariane found… and after boiling ourselves in the hot water, we burned ourselves under the sun… Aïe, aïe, aïe… As we say in French, Ariane was “red like a crayfish”!
In the afternoon we found a really nice place to write all our stories in front of Lake Okareka. There were no cats but Ariane was pleased to find plenty of ducks – a new language for her! – and some black swans… No worries, we didn’t eat them even if there were a free bbq provided by the community, we just cooked our corn.
After a good breakfast – luckily we managed to get dressed before a stange group of gardener arrived in the area… we went for a loop walk around the Blue lake where we encounter the National Secondary School Waka Ama Regatta!
In the afternoon weather changed again and as my friend David advice us we went to boil ourself in the hot water surrounding the Thermal Explorer Highway. I mean… Ariane succeeded in burning herself with hot mud, despite the DANGER sign – when I heard her screaming I was a bit scared but too far away to give her a hand… She lost one of her shoes
in the battle and nearly one foot…Â After putting some cream on her damage foot, we drove to the absolutely beautiful Waimangu Volcanic Valley – where I would have loved to enter for free when finding out that we could open the closed door, but we didn’t know if we were filmed and when Ariane heard some voices – no cats this time – we decided to carry on on the road, which was already a good reward for Ariane as it looks like her favorite countries: a mix between Ireland, Switzerland and Austria… We even found an amazing place to stay overnight but unfortunatly it was forbidden to camp 
So we moved next to Tarawera lake and slept on the lookout between the Blue and Green Lakes to discover in the morning that it was also forbidden to camp… Oups…
Just to show you some nice pictures… Huka Falls where we’ve seen some nice mushrooms – as the one you see in Disney moovies – and the Craters of the moon where we could have stay for ages as it was so warm… I have to say there were more security rules than the geysers I’ve seen in Bolivia!
 Rainy day again… Still, we managed to have a short walk in the scrubland zone with stunted trees and woody bushes as in the Scottish Highlands before heading to Turangi where the alpine weather changed – Synco you were right… – and enjoyed a nice walk which ended up by a cuddle cat time for Ariane… Of course if the cat would’nt spoke with her, it would’nt have happened… Don’t worry she is not completely a fool, she is just missing her cats… 
 Next day it was rainning again… We stopped in Taihape and unexpectedly found a nice café, Soul Food Café: with good english breakfast, nice music, friendly people, great cakes and among all that free internet access!!!
As funny as it could be, Taihape is the gumpboot capital of the world…
Luckily the evening was sunny and we could enjoy a nice walk around Ohakune, seeing for the first and last time, the summit of Mount Ruapehu before our nice pumpkin dinner
 Early Monday morning – I mean, we put an alarm clock on holiday! – we left David’s parents cosy house to reach Mount Bruce and the Bird Sanctuary in order to finally see some kiwis - don’t worry Grégoire, they are protected, we cannot eat them I have to say Ariane was a bit disappointed… – Unfotunately the weather wasn’t good at all, even if we waited… (As Synco said to me: “In NZ, if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute”) so we continue our journey up to one of NZ “big” city: Palmerston North… A bit scared when reading the Lonely Planet guidebook with a citation of John Cleese: “If you ever do want to kill yourself, but lack the courage, I think a visit to Palmerston North will do the trick.”
Actually – some might be happy to know that – I never wanted to kill myself but I could have kill people there as it was impossible to find internet access… However, we were not in the gumpboot capital…
Arriving in Wellington, I contacted David : I met him in Dublin – more than 7 years ago ! - with my friend Wafaa when going there for the St Patrick’s day and hosted him 1 or 2 nights in Boulogne-sur-Mer when he did his own trip to Europe.
Ariane & I were kindly invited to stay at his parent’s place where he is leaving at the moment with Tessa his wife and their lovely little girl Frances while waiting for their new house. We spent a great time with them on the beach in the morning and had a nice bbq in the evening with some friends who gave us many tips for our trip to Auckland… THANK YOU SO MUCH for this great time and all your advices ! We wait for you in Europe anytime J
