Day 34 - 37 (March 01 - March 04) - Blue Pools, Wanaka, Haast Pass

Day 34

Today was a day of travel and errands. First, we went shopping in the suburb of Wellington, Frankton at PAK'nSAVE and The Warehouse. Then we went to Britz, the motorhome rental company, to replace the indoor table and finally to the service hub to shower.

Afterwards, we set off for Wanaka, about 1 hour away. On the way, we stopped at the AJ Hackett Bungy Jump Bridge. This is where bungy jumping was invented. The first bungy jump, at a height of 43m, was not extremely high, but still spectacular. When we were there, the kids were sleeping in the car and someone jumped off the bridge and dived headfirst into the river. Oh man, what an insane experience that must be.

On our drive, we stopped in Cromwell, in the Otago region, where a lot of fruit is grown, especially plums and apples. At a roadside stand, we bought delicious plums and had ice cream mixed with fresh fruit. We had already eaten this at Papatowai, at the Lost Gypsy Caravan. Super idea and very tasty. Meanwhile, Lea was excited to lie down in the field.

The day went by so fast that we didn't arrive at the freedom campground Red Bridge until around 6:30 pm. It was extremely crowded here (probably 45 campers) and we got one of the last spots.

Day 35

This morning we met our camper neighbors, Morgane and Kevin. They are doing work and travel in New Zealand. It's interesting to hear about their jobs. For example, they have worked on a mussel farm and helped with the grape harvest.

Since the weather was forecasted to be good today, we went to the Blue Pools, about 70km from Wanaka. First, we stopped in Wanaka at Lake Wanaka, where we had a great view of the lake and the surrounding mountains. The drive continued with beautiful views along Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. When we arrived at the parking lot, we coincidentally met Kevin and Morgane. They apparently had the same idea as us. Mattis was also really excited to meet them. We hiked together for about 30 minutes on a beautiful path through a forest and over a bridge to the Blue Pools. The Blue Pools are deep, crystal clear river pools that shine blue in the sunshine and are freezing cold, where the Blue River and Makarora River meet.

Although it was a bit overcast, the Blue Pools were still blue. However, it somehow wasn't as breathtaking as expected. But it was still beautiful. The best view of the pools was from a bridge. Some people also jumped into the freezing pools from this bridge. Eventually, we moved from the bridge down to the stone beach at the pools. Since there was no wind, the pools had a perfectly smooth surface where you could skip stones. Tim started doing it and eventually we all joined in, along with the other visitors. It was so much fun. Mattis was also excited about the stone beach and joined in on throwing stones.

Morgane built stone towers on the beach, which Mattis found fascinating - a "Christmas tree," as he so sweetly called it. The annoying thing here were the sandflies, which bothered you as soon as you stood still. They also found a good spot to attack on the bare feet and hands. But the good thing is that none of us react strongly to sandfly bites, it just itches like a mosquito bite. The only difference from a mosquito bite is that you have several weeks of ugly dark red spots with a bubble in the middle.

Since strong winds came up in the evening, we didn't stay at a freedom spot at Lake Hawea, where the wind could really blow, but drove back to the same sleep spot as the day before. Again, Red Bridge campsite was very crowded and we ended up standing next to Morgane and Kevin again. It must be because there are no other freedom campgrounds in the area.

Mattis was thrilled that "the lady," Morgane, was here again and hung around their car the whole time, asking countless questions.

Day 36

It had rained during the night and we were also awakened by gray skies in the morning. Mattis was excited to run through the puddles in his pajamas after waking up.

With the gray weather, we decided to go swimming at the Wanaka Recreation Center today. The swimming pool was quite new and modern. There were family changing rooms with showers, toilets, changing tables, etc. It was great. The children's swimming area this time was not as exciting in my opinion, but it was still sufficient. There was a shallow pool and a children's pool, connected by a ramp. Lea was excited about the small colorful balls in the water, and Mattis had fun with floaties and small toy animals. I must say, the lifeguards in New Zealand are quite strict and take their role very seriously. In contrast to the last swimming pool, the lifeguards here were very young and immediately warned Tim when he was more than 1m away from Mattis. The highlight for us adults here was the hot pool with a view of the mountains. Children were not allowed in this pool. So Tim and I each had a short break one after the other. It was wonderful.

Afterwards, we went into town and strolled along Lake Wanaka to the Wanaka Tree, a small tree that stands alone in the lake and apparently attracts tourists. We only heard about the tree by chance from Morgane. With the beautiful blue sky, the scenery by the lake was really beautiful.

Afterwards, we walked through the urban part and decided to eat here today. Tim got a spicy burrito from a stand on the street. Mattis and I ate at the Big Fig restaurant. The great thing about this place was that you could choose the size of the plate and then select 4 different things from meat to salad from a display. I had pulled beef, sweet potato gratin, and broccoli salad. Mattis also got his own plate and chose chicken. After he tried mine, he naturally liked the beef better and wanted to eat with me. The food was incredibly delicious. I could eat here every day.

An Australian guy named Matt joined us at our table. He was really excited that his name was the same as our son's. His mother is Dutch, so maybe the name coincidence is because of that, as he suspected. The guy was super nice and outgoing and was really excited about our travel stories. He said he was on vacation on the South Island for 2 weeks and had a lot of plans. In addition to cage diving with sharks in Bluff and multiple bungy jumps in various ways (he went for the package deal :-)), he wanted to go skydiving tomorrow in Wanaka from a height of 15,000 feet. He was very nervous thinking about the skydive tomorrow. No wonder. :-) It was really cool to have met Matt and it felt like we had known each other for a long time.

Just like the last few nights, we went back to the same sleep spot. Funny enough, Kevin and Morgane were also there again, even though they also planned to move on. And the funniest thing was that we unintentionally ended up standing next to each other again, this time in the middle of the parking lot, where the last arrivals always have to park.

After the kids were asleep, Tim sat with them for a while. It was really nice to have met them. I decided to write a blog today.

Day 37

After 3 nights at the same place, we wanted to move on today. But before that, we went to Puzzling World in Wanaka. They have an outdoor maze and rooms with optical illusions. The maze is said to be the first 3D maze in the world. We started with the maze. The goal was to find the 4 towers and then find the starting point again. It was a lot of fun for all of us. Mattis eagerly walked through the whole maze with us and was delighted every time we reached a tower (even weeks later, he still talked about the towers). The rooms with the optical illusions were also crazy, especially the room where you stood at a 45-degree angle and only by leaning into the room at an angle did you feel like you were standing upright. I had real problems with my balance and dizziness in that room. Crazy. And the room where you appeared either like a dwarf or a giant due to an optical illusion was funny. An additional highlight for Mattis was his first visit to a men's urinal, specially designed for children at his height.

Afterwards, we embarked on our 3.5-hour drive over Haast Pass to Fox Glacier. The changing landscapes along the way were beautiful to see.

Our first stop was at Thunder Creek Fall. After a 3-minute walk, we were already at the waterfall. The special thing about this waterfall is that you have an optical illusion if you look at the waterfall for 30 seconds. And indeed, the bushes next to the waterfall started to shake. Funny. The next stop was in Haast. The place consisted only of a campground and a public toilet. Mattis was able to move around here and Lea got her puree. Today we tried giving Lea organic puree from a squeeze pouch for the first time, instead of poorly pureed self-cooked puree. And she ate it right up without even gagging. She must have eaten about a third of the pouch, so 40g. So she's definitely a baby who likes puree. I was really happy about that. So now we can really start introducing purees.

We finally arrived at Fox Glacier late in the evening. On the way, we were briefly worried if our gas would last because there wasn't a single gas station between Haast and Fox Glacier (120km). We slept at the Fox Glacier Campervan Park ($40). Luckily, there was exactly one spot left on the grass. Since there was no alternative, we sat in the really uncomfortable lounge area.