-Chapter 38- Beautiful lakes, Mount Cook & visit from a mouse
Cyhoeddwyd: 14.08.2020
We had a bit of a guilty conscience when we set off to see the rest of New Zealand. But we didn't really have any other choice.
First, we went to Lake Tekapo, a turquoise glowing lake in the mountains that is full of tourists and really beautiful to look at.
We spent the night at a really lousy campsite without running water that wasn't worth the money. The next day, we headed to Lake Pukaki, the big lake that we found almost more beautiful than Lake Tekapo. The road to Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand, passed right by it and we would have loved to stop every few meters to take photos.
At 2:00 pm, we hiked the heavily-visited Hooker Valley Track to Mount Cook, which leads over long, shaky suspension bridges. We weren't motivated enough to hike it all the way there and back, but we went far enough to get a good view of Mount Cook.
At a free campsite in Cromwell, Flori got a visit from a mouse. It felt really at home in the hearse, so much so that Flori got paranoid and preferred to sleep on our front seats at night rather than in his bed. None of us could sleep well. That's why Flori did everything the next day to drive the mouse out of his car: he started the engine and revved it, emptied and filled his car several times, and turned up Bon Jovi really loud. Finally, he thought she had finally left him.
Our next destination was Queenstown. At a lookout nearby, Flori and Celina were playing bumper cars when Flori backed out in front of us, even though he always drives behind us. Celina also angrily backed out and we collided. Although there is no dent to be seen... we certainly put on a show for the people in the parking lot.
In Frankton, a suburb of Queenstown, Flori bought a mousetrap, just in case. We restocked our supplies and unsuccessfully tried to find a campsite in cramped Queenstown in the afternoon. We tried our luck in five places: The first one was similar to the one in Blenheim, except it was on an even worse gravel road, situated on a steep hill, and the campsites were so close together that the campervans had to squeeze together to avoid falling off the cliff. The next two campsites were also full, and the fourth one was so expensive that we could have gone straight to a hotel. For the fifth one, we drove back to the suburb. This campsite had been closed for two weeks. In the meantime, we had already been honked at five times, Celina had maneuvered us through a road that was actually more like one lane, and we had turned around six times. Then it was already 5:00 pm. Our only chance was an overpriced campsite in Arrowtown, which was still a bit further back. Luckily, Arrowtown was a really cute town that looked like the Wild West. In the evening, we had to completely change our plan for the next few days because there were simply no more available accommodations in Queenstown. The next day, we drove down the winding "Devils Staircase" to Lumsden, the southernmost point we had been to so far. We spent a night at a perfectly decent free campsite there, which even had Wi-Fi. From there, we continued to Te Anau.
Our next destination was Queenstown. At a lookout nearby, Flori and Celina were playing bumper cars when Flori backed out in front of us, even though he always drives behind us. Celina also angrily backed out and we collided. Although there is no dent to be seen... we certainly put on a show for the people in the parking lot.
In Frankton, a suburb of Queenstown, Flori bought a mousetrap, just in case. We restocked our supplies and unsuccessfully tried to find a campsite in cramped Queenstown in the afternoon. We tried our luck in five places: The first one was similar to the one in Blenheim, except it was on an even worse gravel road, situated on a steep hill, and the campsites were so close together that the campervans had to squeeze together to avoid falling off the cliff. The next two campsites were also full, and the fourth one was so expensive that we could have gone straight to a hotel. For the fifth one, we drove back to the suburb. This campsite had been closed for two weeks. In the meantime, we had already been honked at five times, Celina had maneuvered us through a road that was actually more like one lane, and we had turned around six times. Then it was already 5:00 pm. Our only chance was an overpriced campsite in Arrowtown, which was still a bit further back. Luckily, Arrowtown was a really cute town that looked like the Wild West. In the evening, we had to completely change our plan for the next few days because there were simply no more available accommodations in Queenstown. The next day, we drove down the winding "Devils Staircase" to Lumsden, the southernmost point we had been to so far. We spent a night at a perfectly decent free campsite there, which even had Wi-Fi. From there, we continued to Te Anau.
-> To be continued
Ateb