FRANZ JOSEF / WANAKA/ QUEENSTOWN

Today we continued on to Franz Josef Glacier. Unfortunately, the weather hasn't improved - so it was time to put on our rain jackets and go for a hike to get a close look at the glacier. And as expected, the clouds were so low that the mountain peaks were completely hidden. If you see the pictures, you're probably wondering why everyone raves about New Zealand... it's because of the lighting and weather conditions!

In person, it was a little more impressive, but I have to admit that the glacier and the surroundings would have made a better impression on me in good weather. I have been going to the mountains every year since I can remember, so it wasn't entirely new for me.

For example, Jozy was much more impressed than I was. I do miss my warm, summery Australia. But let's not be so negative, New Zealand still has 3 weeks to convince me otherwise.

And look... the next day it finally happened. We went to Wanaka and finally found the sun again! Everything is so much more enjoyable in good weather and the photos look much prettier too! We have a tight schedule here, so after a 4-hour drive, we went for a hike.

Somehow we underestimated this one, as it turned into a 6-hour walk with climbing and everything. Since I was the one driving alone for those 4 hours, I was already tired, and I admit that I reached my limit. It didn't help that I'm not passionate about climbing and didn't have the proper outfit or shoes. I'm just a city kid. But we wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather and get the best photo opportunities, so I had to push through. And yes, it was worth it even though I fell into bed completely exhausted in the evening.

But there's no time to rest here, the next day we went straight to Queenstown. If we had more time, we would have liked to stay a few more days in Wanaka! Queenstown is a lovely little town that reminds me of a winter ski resort in Austria.

Here, for the first time in New Zealand, you feel like you're in a lively city. But one thing was missing on our New Zealand trip - a car breakdown. That's just a part of our journey here. Our air conditioning was broken, so we got a new car. On the first day in Queenstown, we had to wait and transfer our stuff to the new car. New car, new luck. If this continues, we'll soon be famous and infamous at the car rental companies here. When everything was finally ready, we had some time to explore the city and then the day was over. So here, a day goes by even faster than in Australia, as you can see from my diary entries. I really can't find time to sleep xD.

In Queenstown, we'll spend 3 nights, and on the 2nd day, we went to Glenorchy. You can visit places there where scenes from "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" were filmed, among other things. The highlight was definitely the drive between the two towns. It went along Lake Wakatipu and with the mountain scenery in the background, the view was truly unique. But I think the pictures speak for themselves!

Glenorchy itself wasn't too exciting, and we didn't see anything spectacular on the small hike we did there.

We drove around a bit more to find the film locations, but there was just a forest and a lake. I think Hobbiton will be a bit more exciting.