West Coast and the Sin Island is done ...

I packed my last weeks in Christchurch with tourist activities. Since I only worked four hours, I woke up earlier and did things before work more often.

First, I checked out another beach - New Brighton. According to Tripadvisor, it's supposed to be like Brighton, UK, but nicer. I totally disagree. Brighton is just Brighton, New Brighton is a pier on a sandy beach ... and that's it. But the hot cocoa there was good xD

I had already mentioned the gondola, which is expensive but can also be hiked up. Last time, I gave up quite quickly, but I went again and made it to the top, with many breaks of course. It felt like the first stage at Drachenfels but for a constant hour. There wasn't really a view because it was super cloudy, but it made for cool photos.

It was extremely shocking to see how poor my fitness level is, so I decided to start jogging ... and to my surprise, I've been doing it 3-4 times a week. Otherwise, my colleagues annoyed me more and more every day and I got tired of some comments that are really unnecessary in 2018. So, I was glad to only work four hours. Wet New Zealand turned into very cold New Zealand - it freezes at night. But usually, everything melts and it's not too cold by 10 am.

Nevertheless, I was able to work nine hours a day for a few days because in Auckland, the airplane's boarding stairs got hit by the wind and crashed into an engine or something - the airplane was broken and the packages arrived late, so they needed more people. It was also good because from a 'Let's see how much Airbnbs in Australia cost'-coffee date with Jacky became 'Oops, we booked flights to Australia'. So on October 18, 2018, we'll fly to Melbourne. Nothing is set in stone yet, but for sure, I will go from New Zealand to Australia (and after buying the flight tickets, my bank account also cried haha).

My last week of work was quite short because on Thursday morning, I had something between a circulatory collapse and a weakness attack, and I had the feeling of passing out in a public restroom, so I didn't work for the rest of the week. But now I'm feeling better! However, since I wasn't working, I still went to work on Friday evening because for six weeks, I could see a pretty nice sunset there, but unfortunately, it didn't last long.

Here, the airport is also adjacent to herds of sheep ... typical New Zealand. This is also the building where I worked.

On Saturday, my last full day in Christchurch, I actually wanted to go for a hike, but it didn't work out so well because of my super unreliable navigation system. After a lot of driving and getting lost, I still had almost the same view - which is basically what I would have seen from the gondola.

Afterwards, I met up with Jacky again and looked for jobs in Auckland - if everything goes well, I want to stay and work there until the end of the year. But as we have learned here - it will probably take a while again. The last two days were very long. On Sunday morning, I got my second tattoo. The appointment was at 11 am and when I saw the studio, I was skeptical at first because it looked a bit like assembly line work, but I was the only one there with my tattoo artist. It's very small and only took about five minutes. And for the questions that always come up: No, it didn't hurt, the price was very cheap in conversion, and yes, it has a meaning.

After the appointment, I bought Second Skin at the pharmacy, which is a transparent patch that is also used for IV access. When I finally had it, I realized that I had forgotten my jacket, so I went back to the studio - but since I was the only one there and it wasn't office hours, it was closed. I waited for a good hour until he returned and I could pick up my jacket.

And then I finally left Christchurch and went to Hokitika because I decided to visit the West Coast after all, which is only two places. I had completely ignored it with Hannah. The drive took about 3 hours across the Alps, which was nice, but after an hour it started pouring rain, getting foggy, and I got a headache. It just wasn't my day. In Hokitika, there wasn't much to do, it's a small, pretty town but I think it's only known for its beach and sunset. Fortunately, I arrived just in time for the sunset and the weather improved for a short time.

After I was allowed to stay at the third campsite, I just took care of my tattoo, called home, and went to bed very early. Yesterday, I went to Greymouth early in the morning and then 40 km further to the Pancake Rocks. At first, I didn't want to go because they're just rocks, but it was actually cool!

And now I'm back in Blenheim and tomorrow morning I'll take the ferry back to the North Island. It feels a bit like I'm leaving the country next week and I don't want to ... New Zealand has become a matter of course in the past few months, but now that I have a fixed date to fly and I'm visiting the cities I liked the most again, it feels like a 3-month farewell phase. But I still have three months and then it's off to Australia!