Road Trip on the South Island Part 3

After Stewart Island, we headed to the Catlins, a region on the east coast, and spent two nights at a campsite in Kaka Point. There, we visited the Kaka Point Lighthouse, and we even saw a Yellow Eyed Penguin! Afterwards, we drove on to Dunedin and stayed in a really cool hostel. We explored the Otago Peninsula and also visited Larnach Castle. In the evening, we went to a bar.
On our way to Lake Tekapo the next day, we made stops at the Elephant Rocks and the Pancake Rocks, which were both amazing! Unfortunately, we couldn’t find accommodation at Lake Tekapo because it was the peak season and everything was booked, so we ended up staying at a campsite in Fairlie, about half an hour away from Lake Tekapo. The next day, we hiked the Hooker Valley Track, which is a fairly easy path with stunning views of Mount Cook, the highest mountain here in New Zealand. On the way back to the campsite, we also visited the Church of the Good Shepherd.
Our next stop was Christchurch for one night. In the evening, I met up with Marlen, a friend from school, and we went to the Botanical Gardens, which were very beautiful.
The next day, we visited the Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools. It was really cool, there were even slides! In the afternoon, we continued to Kaikoura because we wanted to do a whale watching flight the next day. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out because of the weather, as it rained heavily. Instead, we visited a colony of seals and then drove on to Blenheim, where we visited a winery. In the evening, we took our ferry back to Wellington and traveled overnight back to Tauranga.
The whole trip was unforgettable with incredibly many beautiful moments, but of course also some downs like the weather.