Relaxing in the Tiny-Greenie – very good! - Then further to Westport

The attentive reader of my blog will immediately notice that there is a missing day in the reporting. What exciting things happened on Friday, November 22, 2024?

To be honest, not much. The day before, we had decided to slow down a bit and take some time to process everything we had seen in the past weeks at a leisurely pace and/or let our senses unwind. The motto was simply to do nothing. After all, we had an amazing accommodation that we couldn’t fully enjoy when we were away during the day and returned home in the evening. Sleeping in the Tiny House seemed too wasteful.

So we had a cozy breakfast in the morning while enjoying the view. Today we would check how the bay looks when the water has filled it. Due to the tides, we only have a view of the drained area in the morning and evening.

Afterwards, we washed a few things from kayaking and hung them on the line. There was enough sun to dry them nicely.

Then I worked a bit for my employer and Thorsten took care of a new route. We had also decided to shorten the further route to avoid changing accommodations every day. That’s not very enjoyable in the long run. We are skipping Milford Sound and the trip there. This meant that Thorsten had to look for accommodation in Queenstown, cancel the boat tour on Milford Sound, and also the accommodations in Haewa and Te Anau, which we wouldn’t need anymore. According to the new plan, we would drive over the two glaciers, Franz Josef and Fox, to Queenstown and stay there for three days. From Queenstown, there are several day trips that are not time-consuming in terms of driving and also promise beautiful nature.

We liked that and truly enjoyed the day – free from all time commitments. Just us and our pet, the Weka. The flightless brown chicken that looks like a kiwi without a long beak and of which there are hundreds in the region sneaks around our house every day, comes to the terrace, taps on the window with its beak, and waits for food that it doesn’t get. Sometimes the Weka brings reinforcements and a chick. But it does not help, we have no sympathy, we prefer to eat our treat ourselves, because that’s the only way one gets fat ;-).

In the evening, we enjoy the starry sky one last time, which has truly captivated us. We lie in bed at night, all lights off, and only look at the sky. There are enough windows. One above the bed and then around the room as well, through which one can see the incredible. We track satellites and wonder why the stars shine so brightly? We cannot describe how we perceive this. It’s simply incredibly beautiful, and we will surely take this as one of the greatest highlights of the trip back home.

The next day, it’s time to say goodbye to the “Tiny Greenie,” as the house is called. We sort the waste, which is quite a science for us here. There are guidelines that must be followed. The house is located in an ecological reserve where everything is precisely defined. For example, we have a composting toilet, into which we throw a handful of wood shavings after using it and leave it at that. At first unusual, it has led to no negative side effects, such as unpleasant odors. Washing or showering was done with ecologically impeccable washing or shower soap. Different, yes, but not a drama for us.

How easy we have it at home or in the previous accommodations.

We pack our car, bid farewell to the house Weka, and drive to the waste collection point of the tiny house settlement below the facility and sort according to the specifications. Not everything was clear to us, but we believe we didn’t do everything completely wrong. And if we did, we didn’t know better. The willingness was definitely there.

Our next stop takes us over Motupipi (yes, funny, isn’t it – suddenly the rabbit jokes come to mind…) to the Te Waikoropupū Springs, also known as Pupu Springs. Here we find a spring river that has the clearest water one has ever seen (except in the South Seas). We learn that 14,000 liters of purest, clearest water gushes from the earth every second and feeds the continuing river. The water is not allowed to be touched, meaning you can’t come into contact with it. At first, we think: Huh, is it toxic or caustic or what? But we think that since you aren’t allowed to fish (there are fish in the vast river flow, but we didn’t see any) or fill your drinking bottle, the water must not be polluted from outside, that is, by humans. How they plan to maintain that along the water's journey, no idea...

We accept that and marvel at the clear water that allows a deep view into the spring lake. The colors are so intense that it’s hard to believe. We read that one can see over 60 meters deep in this water. We walk a circular path around the spring area and are once again quite enthusiastic…

Then we head to Motueka for food shopping and refueling. The road then leads towards the coast and there south to Westport on the West Coast of New Zealand.

We spend the night in a small motel, the “Omau Settlers Lodge” at Cape Foulwind. First, we look around the immediate area. The motel is right by the sea, and we find beautiful vegetation, well-kept houses, and rock formations riddled by the surf.

Really beautiful here, we didn’t expect that...