We hit the road

After a very relaxing night in the studio in Christchurch the day has finally come and we could pick up our camper van. I normally would never go camping but in this case I would call it camping deluxe 😉

We got a ride to Maui the camper rental company and had to do a little test. It was very hilarious and the questions were so simple. After this we got a camper very quickly and then recognized it was the wrong one. While waiting for a newer one, the employees asked us if we could help with other Germans. They were deaf and we wrote everything down they needed to know in the beginning. After being finally able to get a German writing employee to help them, this woman started complaining: there are so many other clients here and we don’t have time to solve this now. I really thought I got her wrong. These people were also clients, they just have a handicap but should be treated as every other client. With respect! This just made me very upset. But then she at least tried to pretend to help them… and we finally got our right camper and could leave.

May I introduce to you our home for the next 3 weeks, Lug. He is7.2m long and 2.8 m high.

It took us too long to get him. Normally we should have checked out at 11 and it was already a 11:45. But our host was so genuine and very nice and it was fine for her, although the next guests wanted to arrive at 14. So we left at 12 and hit the road to buy some food and other stuff to survive 😉

After spending a lot of money, because food is much more expensive than in Germany we could finally start and it took us to Lake Tekapo. Basti wanted to try his new toy but wasn’t allowed to and found it quite funny.

We drove for nearly 3-4 hours and we still hadn’t decide which camping ground we would like to stay for our first night.

After a stop at this beautiful lake, with such an amazing color ❤️, we made a decision to try the Mount Cook campsite, where we could do a little hike on the next morning. It took us one more hour to get there and it was raining. So it was the perfect start for this adventure 😂 – we wanted to get some easy dinner like nudels and tomato sauce. Just quick and dirty for the first time. The campsite was full and the kitchen also. We had to fight for a little space but we got it and could eat in peace. We also made the first laundry. After this we went to bed, but the first night was rough. I could hardly sleep and got up at 4:30. We took a warm shower there, got us some breakfast and hung up our laundry because it didn’t dry at night, of course.

But it was also pretty cold. About 10 degrees and I was very happy that I took my hot–water bottle with me. Then we started to drive to Mount Cook.

We wanted to go for a little walk so we decided to take the one hour walk to see something of Mount Cook. The landscape was beautiful although the weather wasn’t that good. It was very foggy and not really warm with 13 degrees. We started our walk and were surprised that we were almost the only people there with a few exceptions. As we arrived unfortunately we couldn’t see Mount Cook because of the fog.

We were lucky because on our way back a group of tourists came along. 😅

We had to drive back the way we came from the day before, at least a bit. But that was good because we the sun showed up and we stopped by the lookout point of Lake Pukaki. Another lake with a stunning water color. I was just thinking if it’s also possible to dive in there 😄

Back on our way we stopped at a few beautiful spots. I can tell you, New Zealand has a lot of them to offer. And after a few hours drive we arrived at the east coast. Our first stop there were the Moeraki Boulders. These stones are at the beach and it somehow looks interesting. One of them was broken with a hole and salt water in there. It looked like a little aquarium.

According to the Maori legend, they are pieces of gourd and sweet potatoes, which are left from the wreck of the lengendary Kanus Arei-te-uru.

After this sight my time has come to drive the camper. I was a little nervous because back in Germany I normally drive a smart for two. So just a mini version of a car. But it worked out quite well. Even the refuel with a very narrow drive through went very smooth. Our next stop was the Sand Fly Beach. Do you know why it’s called like that? No, there are no little flies there. Have a look at the video, maybe you get a clue.

There used to be Hoihos, these are little yellow-eyed penguins, but unfortunately we didn’t see any. Maybe it’s also because other people don’t respect their habitat and just go to the part of the beach where they are not allowed to… but what we did see were some sealions. But they were also bothered by other people and got back in the water. I can’t help myself but sometimes I really feel ashamed for my species because some are so stupid and just do what they want.

After we walked down and up the sand dunes, we got back to our car and hit the road to get another place to sleep for the night. We found a little one, near Kaka Point. We felt asleep pretty quickly.

Stay tuned. The next days will be pretty exiting without any cell phone coverage and our first dives.