At first I have to mention that the birthday-greeds are really, really awesome!!!!! Many thanks to my family and all my friends!!!! I was really pleased to read all the greeds!! ;)

Well ... Today I report in English , otherwise my new friends wouldn't understand my reports -> hi David, Aaron, Judit ... :)
But for all of you who don't speak English or who are too lazy, I'll translate it into English - hope, there's enough time to do it today (I'm in an internet-cafe ...)
Okay, let's start (ah .. please don't mind all my mistakes - I'm still improving ...): The farewell at Katherine's house in Waihi was quite sad - I knew that I would miss her company as well as the 2 Germans Andi + Caro. And I also got quite tired of travelling and leaving all the time! But there's no way out, so we left, heading towards the south; our next destination always having in front of us: Rotorua. We arrived there, couldn't find a farm once again, tried to find my mum's cousin once again without luck and found ourselves back in Taupo. Exactly in Acacia Bay, which is a part of Taupo, one hour of Rotorua. We stayed there at Tauhara Centre - a meditation retreat centre - quite nice actually, but a bit strange at the beginning: all these people, trying to find themselves, being tolerante all the time ... :) Well .. doesn't matter at the moment: We stayed there in our own house - the Wwoof-Lodge!! We came and 5 others left, so we still were 4 (Anna/Germany, Judit/Hungary) We had a good time there, working was fine, people quite nice! Durin the afternoons we started our trips to see more of the country every day once again. So we relaxed at lake Taupo, visited the "Craters of the moon", had an awesome day at "Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Reserve" and, of course, we went rafting!! Yes - it was gorgeous!! Really fantastic! We did a 2 h -tour, including 3 waterfalls and stories of the Raft-guides! At the 3rd (7metres!!) waterfall, we went upside-down and you can imagine, how paniced you get if you're somewhere in the water under the boat, trying to get out, coming to air ..! :) Well .. without that I couldn't tell you another exciting story ..! *g* After that we went to Helga, my mum's cousine. She as well as the whole family are quite cool: We ate Fish'n'Chips (mhm .. nothing's better), had a good conversation and went to the Soda Springs in the evening! Quite cool, if you can relax in the darkness in hot water!
And after the farewell (only till Sunday), Bastienne and I went to town to the Lava Bar which the raft=guides recommended to us! Wow - how great it was! Dancing and being under nice, young people again!! It's just great how open-minded people here are! We spoke to lots of people, danced and just had fun! I really enjoyed being there! I met 3 other guys who celebrate their birthdays on the same day as I do, so you can imagine how great this was!! You have to imagine: You're somewhere in NZ and you meet 3 other guys who celebrate their birthdays on the same date!!! Wow -was real fun - we just had a great night!
So we got home late, had to help with the cooking and went to bed at 5.00 pm. We just wanted to sleep for an hour, but yes ... As we're both long-sleepers, we got up at 8.30 and found 3 new guys in our lodge! What a surprise, that they were already here!! ;)
After some minutes, we changed our plans and decided to stay at the lodge together with the boys instead of going out in the city! So we just went into town for buying some winge and celebrated my birthday once again! The 3 guys (Simon and Hannes/Germany, Aaron/California) are really great fun and we all had a good time together!!!
On Sunday we headed off to Helga once again, where we stayed till Tuesday morning - had a good time together, being at the beach and so on! After leaving her house, we drove back to the guys and spend the afternoon at the Hot Springs! Wow - these springs are awesome! They are really hot, nearly boiling water which runs down into a lake. So you can sit on stones or in the sand ...
On Saturday we left our next farm in New Plymouth. As we had a bad start (changed our arrival date twice and came very late) the host-mum wasn't pleased to have us here. We could do, what we wanted - it was always wrong. But we can't change it - her husband's a nice guy as well as the artis Janui who's living there, so we had some good conversations with them. But New Plymouth itself is a nice place to live in: lots of sea around, mountains (Mt. Taranaki) and nice shopping-roads!
Yesterday we did the "Stoney-River-Walk" and enjoyed it a lot. I hope I can send you some pics soon - just wonderful.!
And you know what? Today we're going on the South Island!! After 5 weeks here in the North, we're really looking forward to see more of NZ!! We're going to work there, because some money's never bad! Fruit picking .. yes! ;)
Well ... at the moment we're in Wellington - horrible! As we're used to small, nice villages, a huge city is really too stressy for us now!! Bastienne and I are really pleased to leave here this evening! I hope, the trip on the ferry will be great - but us 2, we've always lots of fun!! ;)
Ah .. I haven't told you about our weekend: Well .. we went out in Wanganui and had a great night in the bar Bull'n'Gate! We met once again nice people from England and all over New Zealand - great fun!! So we're trying to improve our English .. :)

Well .. I have to leave now! I hope, at home everything's alright! I got the news that it is snowing already! Wow - must be quite cold at home! We've a nice weather, forgetting the heavy wind .. we wear short trousers and t-shirts and my new flip-flops!! ;)

Okay .. hope to read news of you soon and I hope, I can translate this report for you as soon as possible!!

The best wishes from Wellington of your tramper-girl,
Dani