The journey to Dunedin (5-day road trip)

As announced in the previous reports, we continued our journey to Dunedin. We were both looking forward to our host families (although I had already seen mine) and our van had to go back to the workshop to fix the damages that we were aware of since the purchase.

However, on the way there, we did not want to just drive four boring hours on Highway 1, but also visit many other amazing places. Our starting point was the Banks Peninsula located south of Christchurch, which was supposed to be absolutely worth seeing due to its nature. However, before that, we made a short detour to Lyttelton, where the port of Christchurch is located, but unfortunately there was not much more to see there.

When we reached Banks Peninsula, we were greeted with breathtaking views and amazing nature. We drove to the town of Akarora, the largest on the peninsula. It is located on a slightly larger bay, but very central on the peninsula.

We took a short break in Akarora to explore the town, but quickly made our way back. The return journey down the peninsula gave us even better views, as we did not take the highway but a scenic route through the mountains. Surprised by some large cloud veils, our path led us, still with great weather, to our spot for the night, located by a small river in the hinterland. The campground was called Chamberlains Ford Recreation. However, we were not thrilled about this place.

The second day of our tour started cloudy. The good weather was gone. We had chosen a route through the hinterland, along the mountains. Among other things, we breakfasted on the banks of the Rakaia River, which runs through various small and large rivers.

Another detour was the Peel Forest, where some of the oldest and largest trees in New Zealand grow. With mixed weather and our first rain here in New Zealand, we ended our somewhat disappointing day (due to the weather) by finding a self-contained camping spot by the sea, Patiti Point in Timaru, with a fantastic location.

Day three brought us a little closer to Dunedin, although not much. Because we had planned a detour inland. The route led us along the Waitaki River inland, with better weather again. Apart from a fantastic mountain landscape and almost deserted areas, this route also had three amazing reservoirs: Lake Waitaki, Lake Aviemore, and Lake Benmore.

These offered fantastic views of the Waitaki River as well as the lakes themselves. The same road took us out of the valley in the afternoon. For the night, we had chosen our first self-contained freedom camping spot directly by the sea near Oamaru. The spot was located in the small village of Kakanui. Since that evening, we have been enthusiastic about freedom camping and glad that we bought a self-contained van.

After a cozy breakfast on the beach in the morning (it's really convenient when you can just place a bag of food, two camping chairs, and a camping table on the beach;)) we set off on the fourth day. On the same morning, we decided not to drive directly to Dunedin, which would have been about 2 hours away. Our path led us through the hinterland again. On the way there, we also visited the Moeraki Boulders located on the coast. These are large round stones scattered on the beach. It looks really funny and is an absolute tourist attraction.

At this point, we had already traveled so far south that our detour through Central Otago took us. Otago is the region where Dunedin is located, but Dunedin is located in Costal Otago. Central Otago's landscape is wonderful. Quite hilly, but this offers amazing views through different valleys and on different levels. Interesting cities or towns were not on our planned route, but we were constantly surprised by crazy weather conditions. There was sun that illuminated almost black clouds hanging on the mountains, but also heavy rain with huge raindrops.

We then set up camp again in Queenstown. We met a friend from Germany who was also traveling in New Zealand with another friend. It was a detour of about 1.5 hours for us, but we were not bound by time. So we spent a great evening, albeit in the rain, under a makeshift tent (two cars and a tarp) and had a lot of fun. The detour to Queenstown was definitely worth it.

The morning started with sleeping in, a leisurely breakfast, swimming in Lake Moke where the campground was located directly and relaxed time in the sun. Our campground at Lake Moke was about half an hour outside of Queenstown and nestled in the mountains, only accessible via a gravel road, but is definitely worth a visit. After an adventurous drive, up and down the mountain, with herds of sheep on the road and much more (that alone is worth taking the way), you will find the aforementioned fantastic campground at Lake Moke if you have mastered the steep path (but even we managed it with our 1999 Mitsubishi L300) and downhill again. Lake Moke is an absolutely clear and peaceful mountain lake. It's worth spending a night here.

That's why we took our time to leave this great place and didn't want to leave. The weather was also good again on this day, sunny and about 25°. In the end, we left at around 3 PM. Since it was so late, we wanted to decide last minute whether to drive through to Dunedin (about 4 hours) or take a break for one more night along the way. Our route took us back through Queenstown, Cromwell, and Alexandra, which was the same way we came. However, in Alexandra, we decided to take the second route through Central Otago that led to Dunedin. When the drive went well and we made good progress, we just wanted to arrive in Dunedin and reached Dunedin in the evening around 9 PM. We had been invited by my host family to stay at their home for a few nights. As always with this family, we were warmly welcomed when we arrived at their house, which is located on the Dunedin Peninsula. It's a great feeling to be back after 2 1/2 years, but also a bit strange.

Our schedule for the time in Dunedin is already quite full. We still had to visit my friend's host family, who also lives in Dunedin. In addition, our van had to go to the workshop, as mentioned at the beginning of the report, and we had some day trips planned. We also had to start looking for our first job slowly.

So stay tuned for the next report about how our time in Dunedin goes and what else is on the agenda.

Until then

Your Luca