Dreamy turquoise lakes in front of a glacier landscape and the last few days until the journey home

After the white sandy beach and the crystal blue water, we headed towards the Mount Cook National Park for our last 'longer' trip.

After slowing down our travel time a bit to arrive home relaxed before work starts again, we made another overnight stop. We enjoyed a relaxed evening at a quiet and sparsely populated campground (like a soccer field) surrounded by nature. Next to us, a German cyclist exploring the South Island by bike - a really cool way to do it! However, the congratulations for the nice weather in the national park made me think a bit because I was also thinking about the hikes and stargazing that I wanted to experience again ;)

The road towards Mount Cook was very windy, making the drive with Jason not that easy. He is not that aerodynamic, but the landscape was still enjoyable. Driving here is really fun (although being the passenger is even more fun :P).

Our stop was in the small town of Twizel where we refilled our water reserves. On the way to Lake Pukaki, we already saw a salmon farm, so it was clear that we would stop at the lake to treat ourselves. And it was truly remarkable (and delicious) - the lake was crystal clear and radiant turquoise!

We didn't expect something like this at all, so we took lots of photos and videos because otherwise nobody would believe us at home! After the salmon treat (so delicious!) and replenishing our provisions, we decided to drive back to Twizel to a) fill up the fuel tank and b) buy more to process the salmon :D

So we paddled (or rather drove) back and because the town was so cute and cozy, we went to a café and explored the village a bit. The weather was great and the town invited us to linger a bit.

So we could start towards the glacier, refreshed!

The journey was expected to be windy and difficult, but the arrival was even more beautiful! A campground surrounded by glaciers in the mountains and ready for hiking - that's amazing!

The evening was quite short and the night a bit windy, so we were a bit tired when we set off for the Mueller Hut on Friday. 1000 meters of altitude in 3 hours awaited us with a bright blue sky and a view of Mt. Cook! Perfect weather! It can only be great... or so we thought...

The path started with 2,200 steps that immediately made us breathless and swearing. But well - giving up is not an option! Others can make it up there, so can we! So we continued (sweaty and grumpy) and the path turned into 'rocky path 3.0'. If we thought we had already walked on a rocky path, we were very wrong :D

The 'path' eventually consisted only of gravel and giant rocks, so it was more like climbing and sliding. But as they say - when you reach the top, you forget about everything else!

And that's exactly what happened - when we reached the top, we not only had a view of Mt. Cook, but also of everything around it (including glaciers). Again, we sat there and simply enjoyed the surroundings and the tranquility (there weren't many people up here :D ). We took photos/videos, played with the snow, took a nap in the sun, and replenished our energy with energy bars. How beautiful life can be!

The way down was less strenuous (although it was tough on the knees) and exhausted but happy, we arrived back at Jason. A warm shower, dinner, and a little walk to Mt. Cook Village rounded off the day.

Saturday greeted us with a windy and cloudier weather to hike the Hooker Valley Track (which is recommended everywhere in the travel guide). It took us about 3 hours and was more like a leisurely walk that led us to the glacier lake right in front of Mt. Cook. If the wind hadn't been so strong, we would have stayed longer, but the track is really recommended for everyone! However, I would still recommend doing the Mueller Hut because that's more like a proper hike :-)

In the afternoon, we started towards Lake Tekapo to spend a night at a holiday campground. Lake Tekapo and the village (as well as the region) are known for their night sky because it's supposed to be the darkest here. There is also an astronomical observatory where we booked a small tour because the larger one was fully booked (we hadn't planned that far ahead :D).

We kept stopping along the way to take photos, eat ice cream, or simply admire the scenery.

The campground in Tekapo was huuuuge, super clean, and right by the lake, which we really liked. The little village was also quite nice and inviting, and I'm sure you can spend a long time here as a family. There were actually quite a few families (mostly New Zealanders themselves) who spent their holidays here. In the evening, we sat outside with a beer and waited for the starry sky (it only gets dark here after 10 PM). It was really relaxing!

Before the tour started (it was supposed to start at 12:10), we wanted to try out how we could manually adjust our camera to capture the starry sky. We were still beginners in that regard and mostly used automatic settings.

With the experiments, it got better and during the tour, I tried some more. During the tour, we drove a bit outside the town to a small observatory. There, two employees told us about the sky above us and we were able to look through the telescope ourselves - really exciting and fascinating. We also got to view Orion, which made Thomas very happy - it's the constellation he has seen over and over again (insider :P).

After the tour, we were still hooked on playing with the camera because we really wanted to capture the Milky Way - and what can I say! It actually worked in the end!!! Not professional work, but pretty good!

As a result, the following night was very short and we had to check out at 10 AM. We still had a 'small' hike ahead of us to go to the big observatory, which has a café with a 360-degree panoramic view, and then back to the village at Lake Tekapo. The path was really beautiful, the café was great (and the cake was delicious), and we saw New Zealand from its best side once again.

Since the weather changed when we arrived at Jason and took out our swimwear, we decided to leave for Christchurch a bit earlier - as I said, we slowed down to come back relaxed.

So on Sunday, we headed towards the city and stayed at a nearby free campground for the last night with Jason :-(

After over 3 weeks of living in the camper, our clothes and everything else spread out in Jason, and in the evening we slowly started to pack up 'smart'. Chaos everywhere in the car because it rained that evening, so we couldn't go outside.

On Monday morning, we cleaned up, tidied up, and prepared Jason for return... so sad! You really develop a kind of relationship with your car...

In Christchurch, we returned it at the station (which took longer than expected...) and took the bus to the city to check into the hotel and get rid of our luggage. It was kind of strange to enter a room again and have a big bed, a shower, etc. We lived quite tight in the camper (but it was completely sufficient)....

Christchurch was really nice - not necessarily big but really relaxing. We explored the city on foot and the weather showed itself from its best side once again.

In general, in New Zealand, the cities are not the most exciting and you only need 1-2 days there.

In the end, we liked Christchurch better than expected because it was quite green, very modern (although it has a really sad background with the earthquake), and we ate really well (and did some shopping haha...).

So after 4 and a half weeks, we unfortunately had to head back towards Germany. Although we're looking forward to family, friends, and Hardys, we really liked the country, felt very comfortable, and are super relaxed. And for me personally, I took away from this trip to be more laid-back, just like the Kiwis are in general.

New Zealand - Goodbye - and that's deliberately chosen because we'll be back!