Tasman bis Cromwell

After our week-long stay with Janina and Jonas in Tasman, we headed to Cromwell because our job on a cherry orchard there starts in December. Our first stop was Blenheim, where we actually had a job in the vineyard lined up. Since the job broker was quite unreliable and we didn't like it there either, we went straight on to Kaikoura after a day.

Kaikoura is best known for its wide variety of marine life. There are many dolphins and whales there, but seals and albatrosses can also be observed there. Of course, we took advantage of the opportunity and observed some seals on the beach and went swimming with dolphins. We booked a tour for the dolphin swimming. The provider doesn't feed the dolphins or anything similar, but knows where they are and then takes the boat to the dolphins. Since the dolphins are very curious by nature, they come to the boat and the swimmers on their own. It's really a great experience because the dolphins come within a few centimeters of you and play with you. We swam there with dusky dolphins, which are quite large and considered very sociable. The disadvantage of the tour for us was that it was around 5°C outside temperature and 13°C water temperature, which was bearable with the wetsuit. Otherwise, Kaikoura is a beautiful coastal town with snow-capped mountains in the background. We also climbed one of these mountains (it was a pretty steep hike). From Kaikoura we continued to Hanmer Springs.

Hanmer Springs is known for its hot springs. That's why we went to the thermal baths there for a day and relaxed. In Hanmer Springs we also had the most beautiful Freedom campsite (free campsite) to date. This was located directly on a river about 5 km from the town. We spent 4 days at the campsite. Other than a hike to a waterfall in the forest, we didn't do much else there. Because of the beautiful campsite and the peace and quiet, we really enjoyed our time there. About 1.5 hours from Hanmer Springs is Christchurch, which was our next destination. On the way there we made a stop at the Cathedral Cliffs (beautiful rock formation).

However, we only spent one afternoon in Christchurch because it is difficult/expensive to park the campervan anywhere, let alone camp. That afternoon we visited the Quake City museum. This is all about the severe earthquakes in Christchurch in 2010 and 2011. Afterwards we strolled through the city center a bit and ate something. There is a small peninsula near Christchurch. On this peninsula we drove to the town of Akaroa and went to a campsite there. This place is very popular among tourists due to the beautiful landscape and beautiful bays. Unfortunately we weren't so lucky with the weather. Because of the fog we couldn't see much of the beautiful landscape. In Akaroa we also received an email from our future employer saying that vineyard jobs were available in Cromwell until the cherry harvest started. The offer worked out pretty well for us as our money was slowly running out. So we accepted the job offer and then had to get to Cromwell within 5 days. On the route from Akaroa to Cromwell is the famous Lake Tekapo (beautiful lake) and Mount Cook (highest mountain in NZ). So our next destination was Lake Tekapo.

Lake Tekapo is probably the most famous lake on the South Island of New Zealand, which is also reflected in the crowds of tourists. Normally there aren't that many people out and about, especially on the South Island, but there are at Lake Tekapo. We then decided not to stay at Lake Tekapo for long but to drive straight on towards Mount Cook. After a short hike and a short detour to a gas station, we continued on to Aoraki. Aoraki is the village that lies at the foot of Mount Cook . Unfortunately, we were only able to see Mount Cook once or twice because it was otherwise hidden behind thick clouds. Despite the rain, we took a short hike towards Mount Cook. Because of the bad weather we went on to Lake Hawea/ Wanaka . Here we had a nice campsite right on the lake with a view of the snow-covered peaks and the weather was much better.

The next stop was Cromwell because work in the vineyard at Grapevision started the next day. Although we work in the vineyard, we were able to park our camper at the campsite of our future employer CentralPac. CentralPac actually does everything that has to do with cherries.