Here and there

After the last few days were not so nice, we treated ourselves to a bit of rest in Fox Glacier. We met Till again at a hostel there. We went to the glacier together and did some hiking. From the glacier itself, you couldn't see much from below and the weather conditions were miserable. The rest of the day we basically spent doing "nothing", meaning playing on our phones, writing in our diary, lying on the couch, etc. We also relaxed in the hostel's own whirlpool. It has to happen once in a while =) The next day, Jonas and Till got up very early and drove to Lake Matheson to watch the sunrise. This lake is special because (in good weather) it reflects Mount Cook. Of course, the weather in the morning wasn't that good and it was raining. So we drove there again in the afternoon when it cleared up a bit.

Back at the hostel, we wrote some job applications for a wwoofing position for the first time. This means that we work a few hours a day somewhere and get free food and accommodation in return. On the same evening, we received an acceptance from a nice family on a pig farm on the east coast with many different animals and three young children. It couldn't have been better and we were thrilled =)

The next few days were relatively relaxed and we enjoyed our lives before the "seriousness of life" would start again in a few days. We continued to Franz Josef Glacier and from there further north to Greymouth. After Jonas once again demonstrated his driving skills during the drive and I felt nauseous (okay, maybe it was also the kilo of popcorn and the ice cream I had with Till the day before), I spent the day in the hostel in bed and the guys went to play a round of soccer. The next day, the journey continued to Murchison. We stayed in a small cozy hostel there, treated ourselves to a double room, and the absolute highlight was free fish and chips =) The next day, we drove a bit further east to Hanmer Springs. In Germany, one would say it is a well-known health and wellness destination. We of course followed suit and immediately bought a two-day ticket for the "hot pools". This is a relaxation area with many different pools of different sizes, various temperatures (28 - 42 degrees), and specific minerals in the water. Additionally, there were three slides, one of which was really cool — a funnel slide. Especially Jonas had fun here and enjoyed himself. The next day, we drove to Akaroa Peninsula just before Christchurch. We drove for miles up and down the island, but had a beautiful view as you can see in the pictures. Akaroa is a cute little village, but very touristy. Since, for a change, the weather was super nice on that day and it was already too hot, we left relatively quickly. I have to mention at this point that unfortunately, the air conditioning in our car doesn't work and it gets incredibly hot. At first, we didn't mind and I was glad that the heating worked. Times change...

We spent the last night in our tent again and for the first time used Jonas' little camping stove. It worked surprisingly well and the noodles tasted much better than expected. The next day, we finally went to Hinds for our first job. But more on that in the next report =)