The personal and professional website of Douglas Van Bossuyt
The road to Haruru Falls. I am pretty sure this voided the rental agreement for our campervan.
The falls are a horseshoe shape arrangement.
Kristen took an epic spill in the mud as we hiked down to the falls. I think even her purse got a little dirty. Epic fall.
Sad Kristen is sad.
Heading north, we hit the main highway of New Zealand. Yes, this is the equivalent of an Interstate Highway or the Autobahn. And yes, we are driving on the left side of the road. Good thing I got practice in Australia with Zach.
I can’t recall ever seeing a speed limit sign in New Zealand that allowed us to go faster than 80 kph. So quaint!
We stopped for lunch at a little bay and beach.
Our campervan. We rented it from Jucy. It was actually a pretty decent little vehicle that got us everywhere we needed to go and kept us warm at night. I think it’s definitely the way to go in New Zealand.
I am so incredibly excited for lunch.
Kristen is more cool about it.
After visiting and staying the night with Dominika, who I last saw in Poland five years ago, and her husband, Kristen and I headed out of the Auckland suburbs to Muriwai beach to check out a bird colony.
Now where are we? And how did we get here? Somehow, I convinced Kristen that it would be a brilliant idea for her to fly a third of the way around the globe, leaving her dog and (then) boyfriend behind in Seattle to spend two crazy weeks stuck in a campervan with me driving across New Zealand. Day two and Kristen is no doubt already regretting her decision. 🙂
On the beach with the bird colony on the cliffs in the distance. This is a black sand beach. It reminds me of a beach on the island of Tanna and a beach in El Salvador.
The Gannet colony at Muriwai Beach. Most of the birds live on inaccessible bits of rock that protect them against introduced predators. The birds are quite loud in person.
