Summing up I can say I had a fantastic time in America! I got to see most of the places which I wanted to visit and met lots of great people. The good thing about not having been able to visit all the places which I planned to see is that I surely have to come back to South America :o) Next destination will be Columbia :o) My Spanish certainly improved but I haven't reached the level I wanted to reach. Have to continue studying back at home ... but Spanish Spanish!!! ;o)
Another thing which I really liked about South American countries is their visa policy. It's based on the "you fuck us, we fuck you" idea ;o) Since the US raised visa fees for South American countries, they did so as well ... but only for US citizens and Commonwealth countries. Being a European citizen I can enter any country for free ... being from the US you have to pay more than a 100USD for each country you enter ... hahaha. That makes budget travelling for some backpackers a surprisingly expensive experience :o)
A week ago I flew with Aerolineas Argentinas from Buenos Aires to Auckland. I was a bit worried since the reputation of this airline is similar to that of Alitalia (not the only similiarity to Italy)... but surprisingly there was no strike, we arrived on time and I still had my luggage.
Being back to the so called first world I have to get used to the price level. Goodbye cheap food, goodbye cheap accomodation, goodbye cheap adventure sports. 3 USD for a bottle of water is too much! Not even supermarkets in Zurich charge as much! Well, the times when I only went once a week for an ATM are definitely over. Internet is extremely expensive as well. Sending SMS with my Swiss mobile is cheaper than quickly getting into the internet! And internet is slow here ...
Suffering from these cultural shocks I tried to sort out my getting around in NZ and I got a suprisingly good deal. At least backpacker buses can be cheap at some time. I bought a ticket for Magicbus which is now carrying me allover North and South Island. The advantage of Magic compared to its competitors is that there are not only 18 year old kids from London and Manchester on the bus. So far it has been fun ... though I miss the travelling the way I did it in South America. Here everything is simply too easy. It is just like holiday ... I prefer travelling!
Cities in New Zealand are not too interesting. Auckland is nice ... but only nice. Wellington the same. But nature came up with some really beautiful spots here. Big parts of the North Island seriously look like the Shire in LOTR. Oh yes, I also visited the set for the new "The hobbit" movie. Looks pretty nice. But I had to sign a contract not to upload any pictures in the internet ... but they said they will start shooting the new movie shortly.
Some other day I spent in thermal baths called "Hell's Gate". Allover you find boiling hot pools of mud and you can take a nice bath. Pretty relaxing. Though one week later my clothes and towell still smell like sulphor! But at least my skin did not peal off ... that would have made me look as red as my fellow travellers from a big European island ;-)
On the last bus stop we spent some days in Tongariro National Park. This is where Mt.Doom aka as Mt Ngauruhoe can be found. And if two tiny hobbits can climb Mt.Doom I can do so as well. Was pretty steep but from the top we had a fantastic view. Unfortunately some tourists felt invited to take pictures of their naked butts on top of the vulcano ...
Now I am heading for the SOUTH Island. Yesterday I did the big mistake to call it SOUTHERN island in public. It took the next Kiwi only a few seconds to correct me: We call it SOUTH island, mate! ... Thanks a lot. Will not dare to say it again!
My expectations are high! SOUTH Island has to deliver some damn good scenery to excite me ... I have seen to many overwhelmingly beautiful places in South America! Don't you disappoint me, SOUTH Island! Tomorrow I will visit Abel Tasman National Park. I only heard good things so far...
Hasta luego and Cheers!
