Arrived in New Zealand

On Saturday, March 16, 2019, we flew from Melbourne in Australia to New Zealand. With a half-hour delay and an additional 2 hours of time difference, we landed in Christchurch around 3:15 pm. Unfortunately, we had a lot of food and Kenny's hiking boots with us. So mainly Kenny had to undergo extensive contamination checks upon arrival at the airport. We had to unpack the food three times and show that we didn't have any vegetables or similar, unpack the freshly cleaned shoes, and then go through the scan again with the luggage. When we finally finished, it was already 3:45 pm and we wanted to pick up our rental camper at 4 pm. But without a SIM card? We were ready to take an expensive taxi at the airport. However, the friendly taxi driver informed us that our rental company, Lucky Rentals, regularly offers free shuttles. Krissi also saw a shuttle leaving in the distance, so we quickly ran over with our huge backpacks and luckily got on. Fortunately, no one noticed that we arrived late at the branch, as there were 6 other people in the shuttle with us. It also took forever to finally get our car, with barely any instructions by the way. Luckily, Kenny accompanied Lena to pick up the rental car in Melbourne, and since we had the same car, he knew his way around. ;)

But despite all this, we weren't really happy when we could finally start. The first thing was that we had just paid NZ$1,500 and granted a direct debit authorization for over NZ$2,500 in case something happened to the car. Then there was the lack of instruction and, worst of all for Krissi, the car was not really clean - the whole ceiling was covered with numerous mold stains. We have since accepted it, but it's still not ideal. We miss our baby from Australia. Clean and tidy. But at least the car runs pretty well.

After throwing our backpacks into our car, we went shopping at the New Zealand Woolworth, called Countdown here. We also got a SIM card there. One for both of us with 12GB should be enough for a month, right? ;) At McDonald's, we snuck some WiFi and installed the SIM card.

So our journey in New Zealand could begin. We decided not to stay long in Christchurch and only made a quick stop at the Panorama Christchurch Lookout.

... Just one day before our arrival, a terrible mass shooting occurred in Christchurch. Two mosques were attacked. 51 people were killed and 50 others were injured. We were a little uneasy. However, this action led to numerous anti-racism movements in New Zealand and everyone spoke out in support of the victims and a united New Zealand - regardless of ethnicity or religion. As a consequence, the gun laws were immediately tightened - that's how fast a responsible government can act. ...

However, the setting sun quickly drove us from the viewpoint to our camp for the night. For $10, we could sleep at the Waihora Park Domain Camp.

After New Zealand greeted us with clouds on Saturday, Sunday morning started with sunshine. Next door, the race track was being prepared for a horse race, and we fortified ourselves with our typical breakfast (oatmeal mixed with muesli and coffee for Krissi) for the day.

Our destination for the day was the Akaroa Peninsula. We drove through remote areas for a long time. Lots of grass, gentle hills, and still millions of sheep shaped the landscape. First, we got an overview of the available hiking trails at the Little River tourist information center. But when we left, we still didn't have a clear plan. However, we continued to the Hilltop Lookout, where we enjoyed the first beautiful view of the Bay of Akaroa.

From here, we also discovered that you can hike to an even smaller peninsula on foot, but only at low tide. Luckily, we were able to walk to the "Dino" - the Onawe Pa Reserve.

The whole time, we were thinking about what we should do with this day. We actually wanted to go hiking on one of the mountains and enjoy the great view. Unfortunately, all the mountaintops were hidden in the clouds.

After lunch by the bay (strong wind made cooking difficult again), we decided to explore Akaroa a bit. The small town was actually founded by French settlers. You can still see this in the numerous small French-speaking cafes and street names. We visited the pier, the lighthouse, and played a bit on the playground. After all, we had to prepare for the Tough Mudder in September.

After replenishing our gas supplies for the camping stove, we decided against a hike but still wanted to try to enjoy some beautiful views with the Scenic Drive. Unfortunately, most of the time we were driving through the clouds, which was pretty impressive, but every now and then we could catch a great view of the bay and the surrounding mountains.

During the drive, we realized that our cigarette lighter adapter for charging our phones had a loose connection. Worst case for backpackers without regular access to electricity. Kenny was motivated and tried to fix it with tape, but then nothing worked anymore. However, we didn't know if it was our adapter or the car's fault. So we approached a nice man at a lookout, and he immediately tested our adapter. It didn't work - lucky us. So we bought a new adapter and can happily continue to charge our devices. :D We were afraid that we would have to go back to Christchurch or request a new car.

On the same day, we left the small peninsula. Somehow we missed that the peninsula is famous for its dolphin and especially whale watching - what a shame.

We then crossed the longest bridge in New Zealand, the Rakaia Bridge, past the Big Salmon, to a very long zipline, which was a lot of fun, and in the evening, we stayed for free at the Winchester Bridge Reserve.

On Monday, we headed to Tekapo. On the way, we stopped at the Garage Gallery in Fairly. The landscape paintings by Nathan Previs were beautiful and showed scenes from New Zealand. Mostly rivers and mountains together. A combination that we really learned to love.

At the Tekapo Roadside Stop, we looked out over vast landscapes surrounded by mountains. We will definitely get used to this beautiful combination. We had lunch at the Old Homestead Picnic Area right on Lake Tekapo. Already here, we were impressed by the beautiful, clear, and blue water.

During our drive, we made more stops with great views of the lake and the mountains.

We also stopped at the most famous church in New Zealand, "The Church of the Good Shepherd." It is located right on Lake Tekapo. Unfortunately, the place is not idyllic or contemplative at all due to numerous tourist buses.

Kenny was particularly impressed by the great pedestrian bridge here. It was also difficult to take a picture without numerous tourists. But we had time...

Our next stop was the "beach" at Lake Tekapo. Of course, we couldn't resist taking a swim in this clear and blue water. This was also the first time we tested the water resistance of our GoPro. Fortunately, it still works. :D However, we didn't stay in the water for long because it was incredibly cold. Afterward, we felt refreshed, and luckily, the sun warmed us up relatively quickly.

We didn't drive much further that day. On our way to the campsite, we made a few more stops at lookouts. But even the view at the "Lake Pukaki Overnight Campervan Parking" freecamp was impressive.

As you can see, we changed lakes. But Lake Pukaki is also super blue and clear, surrounded by mountain ranges. With this backdrop, it's no wonder that the campsite was packed. However, we managed to find a spot up on the hill. It was pretty windy there, and the path to the toilet was like a hike, but it wasn't as crowded, and we could look over all the other campers at the lake.

Early Tuesday morning, we enjoyed the view of Mount Cook across Lake Pukaki. But we wanted to get closer and drove several kilometers along the lake towards the mountain. We stopped at Peters Lookout, where the WikiCamps background was taken. In the end, Krissi ran a bit further from a bay out along the road to capture a better view of the lake and Mount Cook.

We also stopped at Lake Pukaki Beach Access, but this time without going for a swim. After climbing a small hill to enjoy another view of Lake Pukaki, we were very hungry.

On our way was the bistro "High Country Salmon." Reviews indicated that they had delicious salmon. So we wanted to have lunch there. However, a mistake on Krissi's part was that we looked at the salmon pools before eating. Firstly, it made us realize that the huge fish didn't really have much space to swim, and secondly, we found a dead, stinking salmon in one of the pools. Nevertheless, we ordered two salmon burgers because we were really hungry. Unfortunately, the taste experience was also disappointing. After a few bites, Krissi gave her salmon patty to Kenny. It cost us $20.

A little less satisfied, we continued to the Clay Cliffs. They were able to cheer us up again. Many clay columns have been formed here through natural erosion. After a few kilometers on gravel roads and a short hike, we happily climbed around the cliffs.

During the drive, we passed numerous reservoirs. Here, the water was beautifully dark blue (e.g., Lake Benmore, Aviemore Roadside Stop).

Next, we stopped at Elephant Rocks, which are famous from the movie Narnia, right? Of course, we happily used the individual rock blocks for climbing.

A bit later in the evening, we arrived in Oamaru. Here, there are various places to see penguins and sea lions. (At this point, we have to correct ourselves, we have probably only seen sea lions and not seals so far. Seals don't happily walk around on land.) So, at dusk, we stopped at the Oamaru Harbor. However, we discovered that to see the Blue Penguin Colony, you have to pay NZ$35 per person. We decided against it, of course. In the meantime, we strolled along the beach, passed a dead sea lion and a dead water bird :( and decided to watch for free. We were not alone on the stone pier either. Just a few meters away from the people who had paid, we had a great view of numerous sea lions, and we could also observe the 40 penguins on their way out of the sea quite well. We were glad we didn't spend the money. After the official "show" was over, a security guard came to the pier. He sent everyone away, explaining that for safety reasons, the city doesn't want people on the pier at night. He apparently overlooked us as we were sitting quietly on a rock a little further down. ;) But then we made our way back to the car and took a short walk along the harbor and, with the help of other tourists, discovered a little penguin hiding under a boat. However, as long as we were there, it didn't dare to come out of its hiding place. It was already dark, so we drove to our camp for the night, the Glenavy Picnic Area Camp Site. It was right by the road with the noise of road trains, but it was next to the river and, as we said, free.

In the morning of March 20, we weren't so thrilled anymore that the camp was right next to a river. The river sent some unpleasant smells over to our breakfast table. So we made a timely escape. We drove back to Oamaru and first enjoyed ourselves on a playground for a while. It was huge and even had a slackline. But actually, we came to Oamaru again to see the numerous sea lions during daylight. Fortunately, we were lucky and saw many of them on the rocks again.

We then went to a viewpoint where you can see the rare Yellow Eyed Penguins. We saw a few more sea lions, but the path led along the cliffs, so we couldn't see any penguins in the distance. Besides, we were there at the wrong time of day. ;)

In Oamaru, there is a well-known German bakery, the Vinnrux Bäckerei. They are said to have delicious bread, not just toast like in Australia and New Zealand. We didn't want to miss that opportunity, so we stopped there for a snack at lunchtime. Unfortunately, the counter was almost empty, and the lady behind it was very German - unfortunately not so friendly. Well, with raisin buns and Black Forest cake, we sat in a corner of the not-so-nice café and fortified ourselves. Unfortunately, the visit was a bit disappointing - also in terms of taste.

We passed the Giant Chicken and Egg.

The next stop was the Katiki Point Lighthouse. Here, you can also see the Yellow Eyed Penguins. At first, we only saw numerous sea lions again. Near and far, in the water and on land, big and small. They can be really intimidating with their size. We can't really estimate them.

On the way back, thanks to some feathers betraying a hole, Krissi discovered a baby penguin in its hiding place. Unfortunately, we couldn't see much of it, as it didn't move and was sitting too deep in its hole, waiting for its mom and food, presumably.

There were also sea lions at Shag Point Seals. We had lunch in a small bay here. We also took a short walk to a rocky promontory, which offered a view of many more sea lions.

In the afternoon, we drove to Huriawa Peninsula. Here, a small path leads along the coast. We enjoyed views of cliffs, rock bridges, the sea, and the tranquility during a relaxed walk together.

It wasn't until it got dark that we arrived at the Warrington Domain Free Camp. Still, delicious pancakes were cooked in the darkness, which we could enjoy in our seating area in the car. After all, we only had sandwiches for lunch that day. We even got a visit from a couple of ducks, which eagerly pounced on our dishwashing water. So Kenny poured some fresh water into a bowl. It looked like the ducks hadn't had anything to drink for ages. There was only the salty sea nearby.