Adventure Abenbillig South Island

After the 2 months in Wellington, where we definitely got used to the cheap lifestyle, we dared to go to the South Island. My Lisa and another Lisa, who happens to be from Essen, and I decided to continue traveling together. The ferry ride, rumored to be one of the most beautiful in the world, was definitely the most beautiful in the world. There are mountains and cliffs all around, the sun is setting in front of you, and Wellington and all the beautiful memories are behind you. While still on the ferry, we booked our hostel in Picton, once again clueless about our plans, but that's how we always end up in the best places. When we arrived, Picton turned out to be a cute little town and our hostel was a complete contrast to the lodge. The three of us had a whole house to ourselves, where we cooked together in peace. We were really lucky with the weather in the next few days, so we went to Picton's beach, where we rescued stranded jellyfish and starfish and spent the whole day sunbathing. In the evening, a friend from Wellington came to visit us, which turned into a really nice girls' night with delicious food and beautiful stories.

From Picton, we went to Nelson, hitchhiking in the rain, which was a suuuper bad idea :D But Lisa and I were picked up by an old British couple and they drove us to the doorstep of the next hostel, which had the reputation of being the most beautiful in all of New Zealand. So, we warmed up in the whirlpool and sauna and finally felt like we were on vacation after a hundred years. Was there ever a life before the Ranz?

After the rainy days finally passed, we hitchhiked back to Motueka, this time we were picked up by two young Irishmen who told us about St. Patrick's Day, which would be at the end of the week. We were lucky with the hostel again - at least in terms of location and appearance. We had a bungalow in the garden and the whole property looked like something out of a fairytale, with flowers and little details and animals everywhere. From Motueka, we went to Abel Tasman National Park and let ourselves be taken again. The first attempt at hitchhiking didn't take us to the national park, but to a free camping site with lots of crazy hippies. And when I say crazy, I don't mean it positively, they were nuts. But we could still relate to them to some extent:))) The next day, we finally went hiking in the park, which is really impressive. So much greenery and nature, surrounded by water and cliffs. New Zealand, you are beautiful.

When it was evening and we wanted to go home, we were picked up by 'Vincent'. But before we left, we were all invited for a drink at the bar in the park, because said guy works as a water taxi driver in Abel Tasman and his crew wanted to finish their after-work beer. What a coincidence, because we wanted to save money on kayaks and water taxis, that's why we were hitchhiking. When we drove home together, the subject of St. Patrick's Day came up again. It was the next day and Vincent invited us to his house party and introduced us to his 2 other roommates. So, it was the perfect plan for the next day. Meanwhile, the hostel we were staying at was starting to annoy us. The old couple, who were cute at first, started locking us in at night after 10 o'clock. I don't know why, but since we were still outside at 11 o'clock, we had to climb in through the window. And the next morning, we were kicked out. BUT everything happens for a reason, because while we were thinking, damn, where are we going to sleep after the party and why don't we have a car, the idea came to us. Just rent a car and use it to travel around the South Island. Bam, so simple, but we wouldn't have thought of it if we hadn't been sitting half-dressed and sleepy on the street at 10 o'clock in the morning. And that's how we got our Nissan Tida Latia 'Garry'.

From then on, we mostly washed and put on makeup in McDonald's toilets. The party was the craziest house party I've ever been to. Everyone wore white and was smeared with glow-in-the-dark paint. It was more like a club atmosphere than a normal house party.

And after a pleasant night with a lot of sleep (not) for the three of us in the car, we finally set off towards Christchurch. Since we were clueless again, we got lost first and had to spend the night by a river. I have such beautiful images in my mind of Lisa and Lisa drinking from the river like hillbillies.

Christchurch, on the other hand, was even more rundown than anything else. The 'ugly house' was waiting for us, where 40 backpackers were illegally sleeping on mattresses on the floor. No light in the bathroom, but at least there was electricity in the room and the kitchen. The house manager was a well-known criminal. So, we sat in the room, trying not to touch anything, when two girls told us how they had tattooed each other the night before, after practicing tattooing on pig's feet. That was enough and we decided to sleep in the car instead.

No matter where we were, it always felt like being in a movie. Nothing went as planned, but that made it even more absurd and funny.

From Christchurch, we went to Lake Tekapo, to the church with the most beautiful starry sky. Clearly, that was breathtaking. I love stars, just like everyone else. You feel so small and insignificant with your worries and thoughts, and that gives you a feeling of lightness. Even if something goes wrong - no problem, it's not so bad, there is so much more out there, so much bigger. And the universe remains the same, the world keeps turning. I love that thought. :)

From there, we went to Dunedin. We hadn't showered, charged our phones, or eaten properly for 5 days. We only ate wraps with lettuce, that's all that was relatively long-lasting. So, we decided to book a hostel, some kind of 'luxury'.

In Dunedin, we met up with Sam. Sam is from Washington but is half Kiwi and is studying in NZ. We worked together as kitchen hands and I'm really glad to still be friends with him. In honor of us, Sam just threw a house party, the second one of the week for us. He lives with two other students on a student street, where nobody locks their house and you can always go in somewhere. Can't imagine it, can you? :D

From there, we went to Curio Bay, the southernmost point of NZ and the last coast before the South Pole. Normally, you can swim with dolphins for free there, observe sea lions and penguins, but we had apocalyptically bad weather, so there was nothing to see. Classic Lisa and Nadine :D

After that, time flew by pretty quickly, we went to Queenstown, which is a beautiful city but way too expensive and posh. Then to Wanaka, again, so beautiful. By the way, at that point, we hadn't showered for what felt like 100 years, had no battery left, and hardly any food. Oh, and no money, we had exactly $14 in our account, which we invested in alcohol. Classic

So, we tried to get back to Motueka quickly because we were going to meet up with our Wellington-Düsseldorf family for camping in Abel Tasman. So, we drove back up relatively quickly, and I have to say, the last 3 days flew by really fast.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to our beloved Garry, who accompanied us through the whole landscape and had now taken on a strange smell. You were the first car I drove alone. Love you dear Garry! Time moves fast aaay'!