18.12.2019 Nelson, Abel Tasman National Park

We are already arriving at the place in New Zealand where there is at most 7 days of rain in a month during summer, and what's the weather like when we arrive? Right, it's raining.

We're being honest, we're really tired of this weather here. We thought it was changeable in Germany, but that's nothing compared to New Zealand. When it rains or is windy here, it's also super extreme and not pleasant. It's a rain like buckets pouring down, and so far we couldn't rely on the weather report at all.

We spent the first night in Richmond, a suburb of Nelson. On the way there, we picked up a hitchhiker for the first time, who actually originally comes from New Zealand.

The first night in Richmond was terrible. It rained heavily all night and all day.. Without a break. The campsite was free, but near an airport and next to a landfill. We were going to move on the next day anyway, so it didn't matter.

By noon on the second day, we actually had some clear sky but still rain.

We drove straight to Nelson, checked out the city, and then booked the ferry to the North Island. So now we have a fixed date for when we will leave the South Island.

After the second night at a beach campsite, which was really crowded but pleasant, the sun also appeared :-). We drove to Kateriki Beach, ate watermelon there, and soaked up the sun :-D. You need to know that since we left at the beginning of October, we have had maybe only 10 days without rain or mega wind... It's probably unusual, but we can't change it either.

From Kateriki Beach, we went to Harwoods Hole, a filming location from Lord of the Rings. That's the spot where Gollum caught the fish and sings his song for dinner.

To get to Harwoods Hole, we had to drive an 11 km long unpaved road and it took us 30 minutes. But the road alone was already totally worth it :-).

At our campsite, we just went fishing in the evening.

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