E hatisitsoe: 18.11.2018
Yesterday, I washed my camper, cleaned everything up, and packed my things together. The last night in the camper was very nice, as I had plenty of space and my luggage was already stored in the front room. In the evening, I went to the beach near Christchurch and observed the fishermen. None of them really caught a small shark :D The return of the car this morning went smoothly and I was taken to the airport by shuttle. I have to say that the South Island impressed me just as much as the North Island. I can't really pick a favorite. Even though I had worse weather on the South Island than on the North Island, I still saw a lot and made good use of my time. I traveled around the South Island, although I didn't complete the circle. In total, I covered 4058 kilometers on the South Island, almost 400 kilometers more than on the North Island. In total, I traveled 7718 kilometers throughout New Zealand, wow! At first glance, I thought the South Island was smaller, but it wasn't :)
Here you can see my journey on the South Island:
My highlights on the South Island were the many hikes, the great wildlife sightings, the boat trip including dolphin sighting in Milford Sound, and last but not least, Christchurch. The 19 nights here went by very quickly, and yet I feel like I've seen everything and it's time to move on. I had a super nice time in New Zealand. I can still remember my last night about five weeks ago in Auckland. I couldn't sleep because I was so excited about the camper and the next week. The first few days in the camper were also a bit unusual. Now I would like to buy it from the rental company and take it home on the next boat. It was a really great experience to be on the road with the camper for so long and to stay at so many different and beautiful places. Except for one or two nights, I would visit the same places again and I never regretted renting a camper for a second. It was definitely not a cheap pleasure overall, but for me, it will remain one of the great highlights of my sabbatical and it was worth every penny. I haven't been to any other country that offers so much on such a small area. I think you could see it a little in my posts, how quickly the landscapes changed here, but also how breathtakingly beautiful each one was. I just flew back from Christchurch to Auckland and now I'm sitting here at the airport. I can drop off my luggage around 10:00 p.m. and my flight to Singapore will depart at 1:00 a.m. I'm very excited about the new adventure, but especially sharing it with my girlfriend again. She will accompany me for the next seven weeks, crisscrossing Asia. I think she will also write some posts here again and you can look forward to some variety again :)
So there's not much left for me to say except, New Zealand, you are absolutely amazing and I will miss you!