Waves, water, wind...

A lot has happened in the past few days, but we haven't had much time to write. So, here's a little update! We bought the car and to our delight, everything went smoothly without any incidents. Finally, we could continue our journey without worries. In Dunedin, two guys (Till and Daniel) joined us from the hostel, and the trip began. Along the way, we stopped at various attractions and lookouts. These are small parking lots where you can admire excited Chinese tourists with their selfie sticks and enjoy the surrounding landscapes. We visited tunnel beach, nugget point, slope point (the southernmost point of New Zealand), several waterfalls, and went on small hikes. You can see everything in the photos =) We slept on two small farms, where we even had a little barbecue one night. The men were particularly happy about the meat and beer! For the next night, we booked a small four-bed room at the Milford Lodge. From there, we planned to take a boat tour to Milford Sound the next morning. The money spent on the tour was definitely worth it. We had a beautiful view as we slowly sailed through the mountains on the tour boat. There were waterfalls cascading down the cliffs everywhere, and we even had some sunshine. To top it off, there was even free cake and orange juice. On the way back, we dropped off Till at another hostel, and we continued to Queenstown, the "action city" of New Zealand. If you're looking for a little adrenaline rush like bungee jumping or skydiving, this is the place to be. For me, it's way too exciting, and for Jonas, it's too boring. Another must-do as a backpacker is to indulge in a Fergburger. An average burger for which you have to wait in line for 20 minutes!! And then wait another 25 minutes for it to be ready. It's simply incredible, but everyone does it. In the evening, we said goodbye to Daniel as well, and we continued on just the two of us. We realized that traveling together is much more fun, maybe we'll find some nice people to travel with again. Since almost all the hostels in Queenstown and everywhere else are fully booked, we continued to Lake Hawea. There, we spent our first night in a tent after sitting together with some Germans and having a few beers in the evening. And yes, there are more Germans here than anywhere else it seems. No matter which hostel we've been to, about 80% of the guests were always Germans. The next morning, we explored the area a bit and disappointingly realized that our tent wouldn't withstand the oncoming wind. So, we decided to take it down and move on. We found a small cozy hostel between Omarama and Pukaki where we'll stay for the next 2 nights. It was the right decision because a tremendous storm came at night. We slept in an 11-bed dormitory in an attic, and the wind was howling all around the house. To our surprise, the next morning was bright and sunny. We took advantage of the good weather and drove to Mount Cook National Park. The route passed by Lake Pukaki, and we were treated to a breathtaking sight. The beautiful turquoise lake shone in the sun, and in the background, we could see the snow-covered Mount Cook (the highest mountain in New Zealand at 3724m). Upon arriving at the village, we climbed a small hill from where we could see the Tasman Glacier and the Blue Lakes. This view was definitely worth the climb. On the way back, we stopped at a small salmon farm and treated ourselves to a delicious salmon burger. Tomorrow, we'll continue heading north.

See you soon, dear ones!