New Zealand Part 4: Turning Point

We left the Fjordland in the west to head back east. Our destination there has the beautiful name Kaka Point. If you're lucky, you can see the rarest species of penguin here. The yellow-eyed penguins are so shy that you can only observe them from a hideout hut. And even then, only with a lot of luck during twilight. When we arrived there in the evening, we asked a couple if they had seen a penguin. "Yes, one two hours ago," they said. Excuse me?! We praised the two for their endurance, as it was quite cold and the wind was blowing directly into the hut. After about 10 minutes, the two left. After another 10 minutes, two yellow-eyed penguins strolled onto the beach and stood there so that we could admire and photograph them wonderfully. Shortly afterwards, a third one emerged from the water and joined them. After that, we happily returned to the car. You have to be lucky sometimes. We made a detour to the lighthouse at Nugget Point and then drove back to the camp, it was time to shower again.

Before we went on our trip in August, Marius looked on Google Maps for the place on Earth that is farthest from home. This place is somewhere in the South Pacific and cannot be reached without a ship. Apart from a few almost uninhabited islands and nature reserves, this point is located at the tip of the Otago Peninsula near Dunedin in New Zealand and is called Cape Saunders. And that's exactly where we wanted to go. After a windy night at Sandfly Bay, where we saw a sea lion, we drove towards Cape Saunders. And then we stood there. At the other end of the world. And we read a sign: PRIVATE, No trespassing. Well great, we really can't go any further. The end of the world is in private hands. We didn't make it to the cliff coast, so we had to be content with this place. We took a few photos when another car approached. Of course, they were Germans who just wanted to go to the beach and nothing else. But that was not possible.

We made a detour to the albatross colony in the north of the peninsula, where our car got completely covered in bird poop. In Dunedin, we visited the steepest street in the world. 30% slope!

Once we reached the bottom, we drove to Warrington, where there is a free campground with beach access and the weather was supposed to be great for the next few days. Time to tan our skin a bit! A self-painted sign announced a festival for the next evening. The Mullet Festival, from 5pm to 7pm. Mullet translates to either a mullet haircut or a type of fish. Both were seen on the poster. We found the time a bit strange. Anyway, we decided to stay here for another night and check it out, it's free after all. We were still messaging with the four Germans we met on the first night on the South Island. They weren't just around the corner, but they came by to not miss this festival. We were happy to see Jerome, Marius, Lea, and Mika again, shared our tour stories, and then the festival started right on time. And what happened there, we still don't understand... At 5:00pm, the whole village (40 adults, 30 children) went into the forest with us at the rear. There was a poetry slam by a guy wearing a cheetah mask (summary: the world will survive if we smoke grass instead of driving diesel); four women who casually looked around for about three minutes in time with a metronome, then a ball was thrown and they ran after it like dogs... later they rode an imaginary elevator through various music epochs. A few trees further on, people sneaked around with animal masks, a Chinese woman played an out-of-tune violin. After 2 hours of stunned amazement, wondering if everyone except us was on something, the festival ended on the beach. A person with a mullet head emerged from the water and saved the earth (a beach ball) from the clutches of a darkly dressed figure; people with crab arms danced to it...wow. After that, we also mixed ourselves some Cuba Libres.

We spent the next morning at the sunny beach before saying goodbye to the four of them. We'll probably see each other again in Christchurch.

Further north are the Moeraki Boulders. These are round-shaped stones polished by the sea. But when we were there, a few Dusky Dolphins stole the show from the stones. From the shore, we could see two of them playing. A couple stripped down and went into the cold water. They actually managed to attract the dolphins and almost pet them. Their GoPro filmed everything nicely. We didn't have our GoPro with us and also didn't have swimwear underneath. Cerina sprinted to the van, but the dolphins were gone when she came back. Oh well, we could still see the dolphins well from the shore. We were a little jealous of the other two ;)

The weather forecast predicted bad weather in two days. So we sprinted inland to the highlands near Lake Tekapo. This area is known for its darkest and starriest nights, as there is almost no light pollution to illuminate the night sky. We wanted to be there before the rain clouds and take a closer look at the Milky Way overnight, as it's possible here like nowhere else. We passed Lake Pukaki and were amazed. The water of the reservoir is bright blue, the sky was too, and at the other end of the lake stands New Zealand's highest mountain, Mount Cook. It looked truly fantastic. This lake obtains its special color from the very fine abrasion of rocks. A few kilometers further, you reach Lake Tekapo, which didn't impress us as much. We found a nice free parking spot far outside the village and waited. Unfortunately, it got cloudy earlier than the forecast predicted, but that's how it is in the mountains. Unpredictable. Even at night, we set two alarms and it didn't get any better. The half moon shone brightly and the clouds covered the rest. Damn it. A lost cause.

The excursion to the area was still beautiful, as evidenced by the photos of Lake Pukaki!

We're getting closer to Christchurch, which means we soon have to sell our van Jimbo. But before that, we have to get it through the New Zealand vehicle inspection, the WoF (Warranty of Fitness), as the inspection is due. We decided to do that in the next bigger city and drove to Timaru. We got an appointment for the next day at a workshop and explored the city. Timaru has a huge park where you can play disc golf. In the park, there are 9 "baskets" set up, which you have to hit with as few throws as possible. A big thanks goes out to Jerome, Mika, Marius, and Lea, as we had received a Frisbee from them just a few days before. So we played a round of disc golf. It's fun.

Timaru is also home to little penguins. Our sleeping spot was near the sea, so we could calmly wait at the pier until the little ones shot out of the water and waddled to their nests. Cute animals, just difficult to photograph in the dark.

Unfortunately, Jimbo didn't pass the WoF on the first try. We have problems with rust on the rain rails and the steering link holder, a non-functioning headlight adjustment, a sticking brake at the rear, and deteriorated rubbers on the rear shock absorbers (or something like that). We can repair the first two ourselves, but probably not the others. For now, we'll drive to Christchurch, that was also the recommendation of the workshop in Timaru.