Ab auf die Südinsel!

On April 11th, we set off early in the morning with the ferry from Wellington to Picton on the South Island of New Zealand! Unfortunately, the weather was anything but good...there was already a big storm and thunderstorm in Wellington the night before. That meant a one-hour delay in the ferry departure plus extremely turbulent waves! Luckily, I was feeling fine, but many people were seasick. It was almost impossible to walk around the ship, and we could only go to the very windy deck in the last few minutes before arriving. That's why we were all incredibly relieved when we finally set foot on the South Island after about three hours of sailing!

When we finally arrived at our accommodation by bus, it was already very late, and we all went straight to bed :)

The next morning, the Kiwi Bus took us to Westport, where we just had dinner together and spent the night, as the journey to the next stop would have been too long otherwise. We had planned a small campfire on the beach, but it had to be canceled due to the weather...otherwise, the hostel was very cozy, as the people from Kiwi Experience had their own large rooms, so we could all stay together and enjoy the evening!                          On the way to Westport, we also stopped at the Nelson Lakes National Park, which is located north of the New Zealand Alps and covers approximately 1000 km². One of the highlights here is Lake Rotoiti, where you have a beautiful view of the mountain landscape (former glacial area) reflecting in the lake on a clear day. However, we didn't want to swim here, not only because of the slightly cold weather but also because of the numerous eels swimming directly under the jetty!