16102011

German backpackers, obviously.

Thames-Auckland

With only time to spend and a life to start, me and Maria decided to settle down in Thames for a while. We found ourselves a cozy hostel with an atmosphere that made us both feel like we would want to spend a Christmas there. With the other people in the hostel being so nice as well, we felt like we could stay for a while and get used to living in a Kiwi hostel and get some basic things done. Banking, mobile phone number, adapters, tax numbers and CVs were on the list of must-do's.

The time we spent in Thames was generally good for settling ourselves into New Zealand. The small town made it easy to get things done and we accomplished a lot in just a few days – resting being a major accomplishment as well. Now we have all we did to get our lives on a steady basis here. Except for a job.

Thames probably would've had some jobs but we took our chances and left for the Sky City to see if the Rugby World Cup was really turning the city upside down. The only things that were upside down in Auckland were the 6's in the prices of hostel nights. It was becoming incredibly expensive to stay in Auckland and with a noisy hostel packed full of backpacking teenagers drinking their mornings away was not for us anyway. With little elaboration and barely any discussion, we drew a line on our map, which pointed towards Northland.