I arrived at Christchurch – my last destination in New Zealand. The first impression of this city is not really good. Lots of construction and – weirdly – lots of ruins. Ruins of tall buildings. It really looked a bit trashy and run down in some parts. It all makes sense when you know that… Read More Christchurch and Banks Peninsula
Ryan has left… I drove to Mount Cook National Park all by myself. That’s by far not as entertaining as it was with him. But anyway, some exciting two days were laying ahead of me. The weather forecast was promising. The day he left was the first nice one, and the whole weekend was meant… Read More Mount Cook National Park
The first day we spent in Arrowtown, which has some gold mining history and looks like out of an American western movie. The weather cleared up, it’s sunny and nice – I think the bad weather they had all summer might be over-ish. Good conditions for a day of hiking. We did the Sawpit Loop… Read More Central Otago
We’re in Dunedin at the moment after driving the whole day yesterday. Not because it’s far, but it’s a really scenic coastal route and we stopped a lot for small walks, at lookout points and cafés. We had stayed in Invercargill two nights, one of them at a place where we had a whole spa… Read More South- and East Coast
The Fiordland National Park is another highlight, at least that’s what the travel guides are telling you. Well, and of course those awesome postcard pictures from Milford Sound… And yeah, the weather wasn’t bad when we got to Te Anau, the base for cruises through the sounds (basically fjords). Unfortunately Ryan got sick, so we… Read More Fiordland National Park
After all the rain and bad weather we headed east, towards Wanaka and the Mount Aspiring National Park… after some hours of driving we arrived. In Middle Earth. In Middle Earth where the skies are bright, the lakes emerald blue and the mountains steep and jagged. I could literally see the Hobbits walk along the… Read More Mt. Aspiring National Park / Wanaka
We arrived at the west coast in the pouring down rain. There is barely any visibility, the whole country seems to be in a cloud. Apparently the have 350 rainy days here. And here we are, with our sunburnt noses, not really fitting in. So, after a long, rainy drive we got there and went… Read More West Coast / Glacier National Park
Our first stop on the South Island would be the Abel Tasman National Park. Golden, sandy beaches surrounded by dark green mountains. And the wine regions aren’t far either. So the first night/day we slept at the beach, then hung out at the beach and drank some good local wine… at the beach. Nice and… Read More Abel Tasman National Park
They advertise the Tongariro Alpine Crossing as New Zealand’s most beautiful hikes. Of course I wanted to do it. So we drove into the national park two days ago, in the pouring down rain. Yesterday it cleared up but the shuttle buses wouldn’t run because of strong winds on the summit (100 km/h). WE went… Read More Tongariro National Park
Hi from New Zealand, where I finally have a nice travel mate. Ryan arrived here after 33 hours of flying and changing planes and we had a great time in Auckland, eating, drinking, celebrating the New Year 12 hours early and watching the fireworks. We had found a good spot for that at the Viadukt… Read More Auckland and Rotorua
