You seem to be turning green somehow..!

It was really nice at Sunset Beach, but our journey continues towards Wellington. We had planned to cover a little more distance than usual to get some relaxation in the schedule.

We had planned for about 4-5 hours of driving time. Later, however, it turned out to be more like 6 hours.. Well, to quote our campervan landlord: Go with the Flow. On our way to Wellington, we made a quick stop at Lake Taupo. Here we finally managed to find a restaurant that, according to our understanding, is not completely in the fast food category. After a decent lunch and a nice chat with a Dutch girl who is living there for work and travel, we continued towards Ruapehu.

No, Ruapehu is not a bacterial infection... It is the highest volcano in New Zealand.. A really impressively huge piece. However, only the bottom third. The rest remained hidden to us due to the closed cloud cover. We hope to see it on the way back.

A little further behind this volcano, we finally stopped. And once again, I have to give a huge compliment. That evening we discovered the most beautiful and pleasant campsite on our trip so far. It is called the "Awastone Campground" in Mangaweka. An impressively beautiful setting. Super nice staff and great facilities! Awesome!

After a really pleasant night, which was only interrupted by the noise of a flock of sheep on the adjacent hill, we continued towards the ferry. About 60 km before Wellington, we came across a small national park/zoo (I'm not sure how to exactly describe it). The "Nga Manu Nature Reserve".

We spent about 2 more hours there and finally managed to see a Kiwi. Not the small green ones in the supermarket, but the extremely shy, nocturnal bird without wings. The symbol of the New Zealanders. We were both surprised how big these animals are. Approximately comparable to a well-fed duck. With these impressions in our luggage, we continued to the ferry terminal in Wellington.

It felt like half a day until the check-in, including driving our campervan onto the ferry, was successfully completed. But once on board, we immediately went to the observation deck and enjoyed the crossing.. Well, there was still the headline of today's blog entry.

At about halfway through the crossing, the sea became quite rough. We had decided at that exact moment to go down to the lower deck to get something to eat. Turns out: bad idea.. Both Tine and I suddenly felt queasy. The ship had quite strong waves, which we hadn't noticed on the top deck. So we decided to quickly raid the snack bar and go back to the upper deck. From then on, we felt better again 🙄

Even from a distance, it became clear to us why people rave about the landscape of the South Island. Look at the pictures. It almost blew us away. Dreamlike!

Having docked in the port, we were correspondingly tired from the long day. We found a parking space a few km away and fell into bed completely exhausted.

Today (31.12.2017) we arrived at a nice campsite in Kaikoura. From here, we have planned some activities such as a whale tour the day after tomorrow. The plan for today? Relaxing. Celebrating the new year with a bottle of wine and good food. Or sleeping..