South Island Part 1

After a whole day spent on the ferry from the North to the South Island until I reached Motueka, I finally arrived at the first stop - Abel Tasman National Park. Activities such as kayaking, sailing, and hiking are popular there. I decided to relax for a day first and then do a day boat tour and hike. We were very lucky with the weather because just 1 day before our arrival, a huge cyclone flooded the entire West Coast of the South Island, roads were closed due to landslides, trees were knocked down, and so on... Therefore, I was very happy about my timing because we only saw the remnants of all that. On the 2nd day in Abel Tasman, I set off and first looked at the entire coastline from the boat, we also saw some seals :) Then we went ashore and walked from Medlands Beach to Anchorage Beach. 10.4 km was just the right distance. In between, I had a lunch break at another beach and then walked to the Cleopatra Pools. In the evening, I returned to the hostel quite exhausted from the long day :)

From Abel Tasman, we then went to Westport, which is usually the surfing town in New Zealand, but for me, it was just an overnight stop because we didn't do much there. On the way to Westport, we made a nice stop at Lake Nelson.

The next day, we continued directly to Lake Mahaniapua, but with some stops along the way. So far, the day was one of my favorite days, even though we spent a lot of time on the bus, I just really liked the places we visited there! First, we were at Cape Foulwind, where we simply walked along the coast and saw some seals with little babies. Sooo cute! And then we had a stop at the Pancake Rocks, which really look like stacked pancakes. And because it's called that, we had pancakes for lunch there too! Really really delicious! In the evening, we arrived at Lake Mahaniapua. There, we could grind our own jade (greenstone) pendant. I really wanted a fern, as it is the symbol of New Zealand. At first, I thought it would be too difficult, but it turned out really beautiful! And according to our 'guide,' such a piece of jewelry is worth at least $100. We only paid $20 :) After dinner, I took a walk on the beach and watched the sunset. In the evening, there was a costume party, and the winner could win activities :)

From Lake Mahaniapua, we went to the place I was most looking forward to. Franz Josef. Because there is the only glacier in the world that ends in a rainforest, and I wanted to go there and see and explore it with my own eyes. But before the 'big day' arrived, on the day of arrival, I went with Frederieke, a super lovely German girl I met, to a glowworm tunnel :) In the evening, I went to bed early to be fit for my heli-hike.

In the morning, we started at 8:30. Check-in, weighing once, so as not to exceed the allowed 115kg :D And then we were equipped with boots, waterproof pants, and jacket. Then we were ready to go to the helicopters that would fly us to the glacier. Unfortunately, I had a seat at the back in the middle on the way up, but the view was still amazing! Once we arrived at the top, we first put on our spikes on our shoes to be able to move on the ice. The first impression was already amazing! Then we started walking through ice caves and glacier crevasses. Simply impressive how the ice appears so blue in some places! But also sad, because so much of it is melting away and in a few decades, there might be nothing left, so I'm even happier that I got to see it. It was truly one of the most impressive things I have seen on my journey so far. I was really sad when we had to go back down with the helicopter, even though the helicopter flight was also one of the highlights. After the hike, we relaxed in the hot pools. In the evening, we had an All-You-Can-Eat pizza at our hostel :)

After that, I spent another day in Franz Josef and walked to the foot of the glacier. There, you can also see the traces of the glacier and climate change, so much water flows there. Then Frederieke and I went to a kiwi house and I finally saw my first kiwi :) Oh, those little birds are so cute!

From Franz Josef, we continued to Wanaka. There, you can do one of the most popular hikes in New Zealand - the Roys Peak Trek, which you really had to do - but unfortunately, the hike had to be canceled for me because it was raining and cloudy on the day I was there, so there wouldn't have been much to see up there either. Instead, I walked around the 'town' with someone else from the hostel and had a coffee, and then in the evening, I went for a slightly longer walk along the lake :) Which was also very relaxing.

On the way out of Wanaka, we made a stop at the Puzzling World, where there was a maze and optical illusions :)