On the road to Paradise

As you might imagine, there is not often reception and even less places for good WiFi. So the posts from New Zealand will be less frequent I fear.

Anyway, this island (the southern one) is incredible so far. The cities are stupid expensive and very touristic but the landscape just a dream.

But first things first. I bought a car in Christchurch on the third day of my arrival.

It's a Toyota Estima from 1997 with a mileage of 233000. For it's age it's in a very good shape.

If the cushions are arranged properly the bed is very comfy!

We basically crashed a night at lake Tekapo and went in the morning to an area called Wanaka where we hiked for a bit.

Before we arrived at our camping place (you can only camp in designated areas here) we had dinner. Simple pasta with tomato onion basil sauce but with a great view (again 🙄).

That place where we had dinner is famous for it's tree. It is just some tree, growing in the water and got somehow hyped big time on social media. It has over 2000 (yes three zeros here) Google reviews. I totally didn't get the hype about it but maybe you know what's up when you see the hashtag #thatwanakatree

And yes it's all about that stupid tree in the water 🤣.

Otto is very well equipped. He has a tent, a solar shower, gas cooker, a toilet which I never use but have to carry with me to be allowed to camp for free, food, a cooling box (without electricity tho), a sink, 25l tank for fresh water and 25l tank for grey water, a bed for two and plenty of space below that bed. I am super happy with my dude. Otto is the best! And he only cost me 1850€. Renting a similar car for 6 weeks would have been even more expensive.

In Queenstown is a big hike, called Ben Lomond track. We decided to do that and got at least 6 warnings like this one.

Vik is not used to hikes like this one and admittedly, it was pretty rough.

While hiking Vik decided to go back and I met a guy called James William while saying goodbye to her. Most British name ever and yes he is from London, funny fella tho, we had interesting talks about social media (he actually works on a professional level with social media).

That specific mountain is famous for it's Kea birds. I didn't know that before and was just lucky to climb the right one. They are the only (or atleast one of very few) alpine parrots. He has the nickname curious Kea.

At the top were about 20 people enjoying the view and relaxing after the hike, everyone was fascinated by the bird and by how close he came. While he circled the group everyone left their bag (and food) unattended which he then grabbed and ate. I'm convinced he learned that behavior over time, he seems to a very smart cunt 😂

While I was there, he grabbed one banana and a bowl of hummus...

After that day in Queenstown we went up north to explore an area around a small town called Glenorchy.

We did the hiking track to the 'Invincible gold mine' where over 100 years ago lot of gold was mined (big surprise here).

There were still the left overs from the old gold mine, which was very cool to see.

The next day I decided to do the 'Earnslaw Burn Ridge track'. I haven't had much I do on it, a good friend (thanks Clara!) highly recommended it to me. The sign at the beginning said it would take 4-6h and I started at 12:30.

A good 3 hours in we wondered how much more time we needed to finish the track. A French couple told us the 4-6h were ONE WAY and not 'return included' like usually here. The 'return' was actually missing on the sign. That was at about 15:30. They told us we need about 90 minutes to finish the track. When we asked them if it's worth it, they just laughed and told us it's an incredible view on a glacier, with a crystal clear river in a valley with countless waterfalls. We decided to hurry up and maybe return in the darkness.

Eventually I decided to split with the Finnish guys because I was faster on my own and made the way to the glacier in an hour.

Somehow I made the way back in just 2,5h. My backpack was lighter since I ate almost all of the food and haven't had much water (I could refill it at any of the streams) but it's still a really good time. I made it back before dark 👍

Today, Sunday, I will leave Viktoria in Queenstown and make my way up North all the way to Blenheim to meet Amanda again (on Tuesday) and travel around with her. In the meantime I will probably rock one longer track and just enjoy the ride. Driving car here is pretty different. The landscape basically forces you to stop and now and then.

I think by now you got it, but I'm totally blown away here and there is so much more to come yet!

Next update will probably take some time but will be awesome again, I promise 🤩

Until then, stay happy and safe,

Laurin