The first days on the South Island (11.01-13.01.2017)

Today was the day when we would leave the North Island and turn to the adventure of the South Island. We got up at 5:50 a.m., had breakfast, and said goodbye to Conrad. The check-in time was 7 a.m., but since we left Conrad a bit late - it was almost twenty to seven now and it took about half an hour to Wellington- and of course, today the traffic lights loved us - we arrived five minutes late, which wasn't a big deal because the ferry wouldn't leave until 8:00 a.m.

When we arrived, I was so excited that I even had slight stomachaches. Not because I knew I would get seasick super quickly or because I was so looking forward to the South Island, but because I was a bit anxious about driving onto the ferry. In the end, this nervousness was quite unnecessary, because you simply drive onto a big ship, stop behind the car in front of you, and turn off the engine. Easy peasy really. Looking back now, I'm not even sure anymore what I thought I had to do. Some difficult parking maneuvers? Probably. Thankfully, this thought was naturally quite unrealistic. I mean, how many people drive onto a ferry whose greatest talent is not difficult parking? I could imagine that it's not necessarily the minority.

When we got off and arrived on the deck, the excitement I felt was really dedicated to the South Island. So many people had told us that the southern part of New Zealand should be so much more beautiful than the northern part, and now we would see it for ourselves.

The journey took 3 and a half hours and we spent most of the time outside on the deck. This way, we could take much better photos of the Malborough Sound as we sailed through it towards the end.

Picton, the small harbor town where we arrived, was not particularly spectacular, but the weather was beautiful, so we sat down in the grass near the sea and processed our first impressions. Shortly afterward, we strolled through the shopping street and drove up to a lookout where we could overlook the whole of Picton.

In the afternoon, we went to Smith Holiday Park, where we were greeted with delicious muffins and goat feed (which obviously was not meant for us to eat). The price of 16 $ pp was not exactly cheap, but we got a lot for it. A kitchen, including showers, free maps of the area, muffins (as mentioned before), and animals to feed around us. There was also an evening walk to a waterfall, where you could see fireflies everywhere at night, but more on that later.

Before that, we took an hour-long hike of the Queen Charlotte Walk (which is actually a multi-day Great Walk) and stopped by the sea. The landscape had changed rapidly and I could immediately understand why everyone found the South Island more beautiful in terms of scenery.

In the evening, we had couscous salad and of course, we did the firefly walk, where it seemed like the night sky had fallen to the ground. It was really breathtakingly beautiful.

On the second day on the South Island, it rained, which dampened our mood a bit, but definitely didn't bury it. Today, our next destination was Nelson. On the way there, we walked the Tawan Track because we should be able to reach a Lord of the Rings scene from there. Despite having a Campermate map, we never arrived at the right location, but we saw two waterfalls and were sheltered from the rain under the trees.

The Pelorus Bridge was also on the way to Nelson and was opposite the Tawan Track, so we made a stop there as well. It was really a shame that the weather didn't cooperate because otherwise, you could have taken a wonderful swim in the river.

Once in Nelson, the sky was blue again, and we explored the city a bit. We also bought two large plastic boxes for our camping gear.
We visited the church and then camped in a free campground, which was actually just a public parking lot. There we used our gas cooker for the first time, which we immediately sent a picture of to Tanja. We had risotto to eat and later we got chocolate ice cream from four nice backpackers who wanted the packaging but couldn't open the chocolate ice cream anymore. Of course, we gladly accepted that.

From Nelson, we went to Rabbit Island the next day, where I did a really stupid thing. We walked along a nice path for about an hour and then turned towards the beach. The island was beautiful, a bit remote and lonely, but so so beautiful. We walked back to the car along the beach, where we took photos of ourselves against the great backdrop.

I didn't want my bag in the photo, so I put it down. Unfortunately, I forgot to pick it up again and just left it lying in the sand. It was only when we arrived at the car that I noticed it was missing. My heart really dropped. In the bag was literally my life: all my cards, my money, my passport, my phone, the car keys, in short: everything important!!

I ran back the way we had taken on the beach, which had taken us a good 1 and a half hours, in about half an hour. I was really lucky because I found my bag untouched in the same spot where I had left it, but now I felt like I was about to collapse. After more than two hours of walking in the blazing sun, running for another half an hour? Not a good idea. Especially not for someone who has become a sports muffle in New Zealand and has therefore abandoned any fitness. I had to sit down first. After a while, Jasmin arrived too, who was just as happy about the find as I was, after all, the car keys or rather the keys to our mobile home were in my bag.

Neither of us was really motivated to walk back again, but we had no other choice. Exhausted, we finally arrived at our beloved car. We just wanted to eat, drink, shower, and sleep. But that didn't happen because when we arrived at the campsite, we unexpectedly met Luca and Phillip again. Later, Phillip's friends came by, and we spent the evening playing Werewolf.

Jana