Our world trip

Day 46

After a few sunny and relaxing days in the Caribbean, we have now arrived in Norway. And that in just a two-hour drive. When I sat on the ferry a week ago and wondered how much and how quickly the landscape would change, I could not have known that driving on the South Island would feel like a world trip. In this first week down here, we have already seen a lot.

In the first few days, we were in Nelson, a seemingly unspectacular city, but it convinced us with free Wi-Fi at the city campground and especially with its wide and peaceful sandy beach. You could sunbathe on this beach, with a view of snow-covered mountains lying beyond the horizon. We arrived in Nelson on Tuesday and had nice weather until Thursday in the 'place with the most sunshine hours in New Zealand'. Wednesday was beach day and at 22 degrees Celsius and sunshine, we enjoyed a few hours by the sea. Of course, a nasty sunburn could not be missing. Why should one bother to apply sunscreen when you've been wearing long pants and a jacket for the past few days and then expose your skin to the sun for several hours for the first time in weeks? But honestly, in that moment and also in the days that followed, we didn't really care. We had sunshine, we had 22 degrees, a blue sky, and we were happy. What more could you want.

Then on Thursday, we went to Abel Tasman National Park (the aforementioned Caribbean), where we had a perfect view of New Zealand's perhaps most beautiful beaches both by hiking and on Friday from the kayak. Wherever you looked, there were dreamy bays, white sandy beaches, and turquoise clear water. On Friday, we made a stop on a small uninhabited island with our kayak and felt like Robinson Crusoe as we explored the deserted, densely forested spot in the ocean and arrived a little later at a picturesque beach bay that looked like it was taken straight from a brochure. That's when the word paradise comes up.

Maybe that's exactly what makes New Zealand unique. That not every suitable place is occupied by fancy hotels or beach bars and boat tours don't even bring the tourist crowds to the last corner of the area.

Instead, you might be the only one on such an island, or in our case, two. Then you just lie there, with a view of the sea, the seal sunning itself ten meters away on the rocks, and listen to the silence and the few birds sitting in the trees behind you. And then you paddle on someday when you've had enough swimming or want to see the next island.

And of course, camping in nature in New Zealand can sometimes be expensive, and New Zealand as a whole is relatively expensive. But then you also know why and what you get from it. Namely exactly that. Private beaches and relaxed trips into nature, without beach or souvenir shops, without crowds of people, simply without stress.

Yesterday, we left the area, so we had almost six days in the north of the South Island, six days in this Mediterranean, holiday-like region.

Yesterday, we spent one more night at a campground nearby to be able to make a little progress south today. Currently, we are in Murchiston, and from tomorrow onwards, we will be heading down the west coast, which according to the travel guide, is one of the 10 most scenic coastal roads in the world. Before we arrived today, we stopped at a lake about an hour and a half south of Nelson. The mirror-smooth, extremely beautiful lake against a mountainous backdrop had a bit of resemblance to fjords in Norway, and it was strange to have been on the beach in the morning and shortly afterwards to have such a view in front of our eyes.

After a short hike and another 60 minutes drive, we arrived here at the campground, where we will recharge all our devices and wash our clothes before continuing south tomorrow. We will probably go a little further than just Christchurch, which we owe to Ben, whom we met in Nelson and who said that the middle of the South Island is the most beautiful section and that it is easily doable with our car.

Oh, by the way, we are putting the car up for sale today. It feels a bit strange, as if we had just bought it. But it's good to take care of it a few weeks before we leave New Zealand.

Well, time flies. It can't be said often enough. Just like right now, when it is actually slowly getting evening and it's time to cook. A perfect transition to find an end for this entry.