Stab that dragon!

In Taiwan I encountered a fierce dragon.

I have a phobia of dragons, especially when they're made of empty bottles.


So I moved on to New Zealand. New Zealand doesn't have any dragons, snakes, venomous spiders or other creepy critters. It doesn't even have an ozone layer. Isn't that wonderful?
I roamed the streets of Auckland to find a place to stay. There were backpackers' places everywhere. But the inevitable question arose in me:

where do the frontpackers go?

Oh yes, I'm proud to say I'm a frontpacker!
But I failed to find a SINGLE frontpackers' place ANYWHERE in New Zealand, and the famous 'Frontpacker's guide to New Zealand' didn't provide any addresses of places to stay. It said you have to disguise as a backpacker and no one will notice. But believe me, when you're talking to fellow travellers in the hostels, you can tell when they're frontpackers. You can see it in their eyes. But I'm always too shy to ask the awkward question: 'are you a frontpacker?' and tend to avoid the topic. Instead I resort to more trivial chit-chat, such as assassination attempts, bloody terrorist attacks, World War III and all that.

So why are frontpackers frontpackers?

Well think of us as lazy folks. We like to travel, but not with heavy loads on our backs, so we don't get backaches or sweaty backs.
I wonder why there are so few of us. Frontpacking rules, yeah!

One Tree Hill

One Tree Hill is one of many volcanoes in Auckland. There are hundreds of trees on the hill, but there is one special tree, standing tall at the top.
This is the One Tree to rule them all:

Hmmm, I guess it's a bonsai tree.

Rotorua

I have to admit that I was a bit apprehensive about visiting the geysers in Rotorua. I KNOW there are fences around the geysers. But I was tormented by horrifying nightmares of ferocious water and raging mudpools climbing over the fences and attacking me....

... But I was reassured by the signs saying that water and mudpools do not climb fences. Quite a relief!

Wanganui

Statue of statesman John Ballance in Moutua gardens.

In 1995 the statue lost its ballance and broke off at the Achilles heels.

Wanaka

Little is known about the Roman presence in New Zealand. One of the very few remaining Roman structures is a public lavatory, which is, amazingly, still in use today. As a student of the classics, I just had to see it.

Hot link: Search the internet for more about Romans in New Zealand

We decided to pay a visit to Puzzling World in Wanaka. We entered the amazing great maze and tried to find our way to the four towers.


So how did I end up here?

I don't know. Sometimes you're so focused on finding your way out, that you simply lose track of where you actually are. And I have a natural tendency to end up in impossible situations.

Sailing on to new adventures.....


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