Happy New Year 2020 everybody! I hope it will be a year full of joy, adventures and creativity for us all.
As of yesterday, we have been in New Zealand for 2 whole weeks but it feels like we have been here longer. And it also still feels a little unreal. Are we really going to settle here in this gorgeous country for the next few years? I guess that once our stuff arrives from Shanghai and we find a home, it will all start to sink in.
We celebrated Christmas and New Year with good friends, and it could not have been a nicer way to end 2019 and start the new year. We travelled from our new hometown Whakatane down south to Palmerston North for Christmas, and then New Year's Eve we celebrated in Napier, on the east coast.
Now when the holidays are over it is time to start house hunting. I am really looking forward to that!
I leave you with some pictures from our travels in New Zealand so far:
View of Whakatane. (North Island of New Zealand)
Look at that water!
Hells Gate in Rotorua. These natural hot pools were between 40 and 120 degrees, and it smelled of rotten eggs.
Some of the hotter pools were actually boiling.
I liked this warning sign very much. That would stop littering anywhere I think...
Te Mata Peak in Havelock north close to Napier.
It was a hazy day, but still a great view.
Whakarewarewa Forest in Rotorua. Beautiful huge Californian Redwoods. They had built a walkway a way up between the bigger trees, and it was a wonderful walk.
Ohope Beach. There are lots of beaches in New Zealand.
I can definitely see myself having a picnic or two here in the near future! This is the beach in Coastlands, just a few minutes drive from Whakatane.
Beach with black stones in Napier. Free hot stone therapy right there with the sound of waves as background music! I could have laid like that for hours, it felt so nice!