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Asia & Oceania

January - March 2018
January 2018 - June 2019 Read more
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  • TravelerAsia & Oceania
    Day 21

    Heli-hike

    January 30, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Phew, the first 5 trips to the glacier was cancelled today, luckily I was booked on the 6th and so was, Maggie, Andi, Michael, and Niclas. 5 more from our group was booked on the 7th trip, so the 10 of us got to go the full 3 hours up there. We saw blue Ice, cravats, huge boulders (of ice), quartz, and went through a beautiful ice tunnel of blue ice.
    On the first helicopter ride I got to sit in front, sometimes it's good to be one of the lightest in the group. Our tour guide Scott did an amazing job.
    Franz Josef glacier currently suffers the same fate as all the worlds glaciers, melting. They expect Franz Josef glacier to be gone in 2100 Franz Josef glacier is the 4th largest glacier of 3500+ glaciers in New Zealand.    Read more

  • TravelerAsia & Oceania
    Day 22

    Reflections

    January 31, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Long drive ahead of us this morning. We were to drive from Franz Josef to Queenstown a 7-8 hour drive excluding stops.
    First we stopped in the township of Fox Glacier where we did a short walk to get the view in a reflecting lake, however, it was quite overcast so it was not optimal picture conditions.
    We had another stop later at a small beach, hear there were a lot of sand flies. My experience with that critter so far is that they really love my feet, and that continued today.
    We continued towards our lunch stop and our CEO had made a quiz, Andi and I won so that was nice. We had more photo stops on the way of lake Wanaka and lake Hawea.
    We had lunch in beautiful Wanaka, and saw the Wanaka tree, a tree that stands in lake Wanaka.
    After lunch we made it to Queenstown where we have 3 nights, this is the world capital for adrenaline junkies, some in our group are going all out, I plan to take it a bit slower and focus on hiking and medium level adrenaline rushes.
    I had hoped to see the Super-Blue-Moon-Lunar-Eclipse. However it is very overcast as a former typhoon is rushing towards New Zealand.    Read more

  • TravelerAsia & Oceania
    Day 23

    Ben Lomond

    February 1, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    First day of two in Queenstown, we had a former typhoon on top of us. I didn't have any activities planned for the day, so I hiked through the rain to the summit of Ben Lomond, peaking at 1748 meters above sea level, Queenstown being 355 meters above sea level it was a hike of 1393 meters of elevation done in just under 4 hours.
    The hike down took just 1 hour 45 minutes so total time was 5 hours 45 minutes, the hike is rated to take 8 hours total.
    After the hike I took a long shower and asked Maggie and Niclas to keep me awake. We had dinner at a steak house. Where Andi and Michael joined us and we went to a bar before I went back for some much needed sleep.    Read more

  • TravelerAsia & Oceania
    Day 24

    Queenstown

    February 2, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    So Queenstown being the world capital for extreme sports, today I joined the hype with a Via Ferrata. Here it was more going up, where most European Via Ferratas are primarily traversing.
    We were very lucky, our guide, called pirate, only had to drag Maggie and I along. He quickly noticed that we were quite capable and let us do our own thing. So amazing.
    After the Via Ferrata, Maggie and I were joined by Niclas and we went Zip lining. There were 6 lines and one of them was the steepest tree-to-tree zip line with a 100 meter drop over 300 meters. We were challenged to go upside down, or do a trust fall or sing on the 3 of the first 4 lines.
    Following the zip lining we went to the Shotover canyon where Maggie was joined by, Michael, Andi, Semia, Nina, and Jane and they all did the canyon swing, a 60 meter free-fall before swinging across the canyon.    Read more

  • TravelerAsia & Oceania
    Day 25

    Milford Sound

    February 3, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 23 °C

    While driving through New Zealand we have seen a lot of beautiful scenery. But today the scenery was the best we have seen so far. Not only because it felt a lot more the Lord of the Rings, but because it genuinely was absolutely stunning, with mountains, where you could actually see the peak, waterfalls, rivers, and forests as far as the eye could see.
    On the way to Milford Sound we went through a long and very steep tunnel, with no lights and no concrete elements, so you could see the rock that the tunnel went through. It felt like the tunnel to hell. On the other side we still had quite a long downhill drive.
    Milford sound is one of the shorter fiords in New Zealand, but it is very beautiful with sheer cliffs, amazing waterfalls, bottle-nose dolphins, New Zealand fur seals, and a single Fiordland Crested Penguin. We saw all of this on our 2 hour cruise.
    After the cruise we drove to Te Anau where we had Bao for dinner.    Read more

  • TravelerAsia & Oceania
    Day 26

    Te Anau to Wedderburn

    February 4, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    We took a water taxi across the lake to do a 2 hour walk, on the walk we walked through a forest primary consisting of the New Zealand beech tree.
    Back in Te Anau we had lunch, the service was very slow, so we were actually late for our drive towards Wedderburn.
    But we managed as we were in no hurry. It was a very long drive though, but 6 hours later we arrived at our accommodation in the middle of nowhere and we are staying here for 2 nights before we head back to civilization.    Read more

  • TravelerAsia & Oceania
    Day 27

    Blown away

    February 5, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    We drove from the middle of nowhere to another place in the middle of nowhere to do either 22 or 34 km of a rail trail on mountain bikes. The route was a former train track so it was not challenging at all, even though we had a strong wind. I chose to opt for the 22 km option as I didn't find biking that enjoyable, the views were good though.
    Back at our accommodation we watched The Return of the King, kind of cool watching that movie in New Zealand.
    After the movie Maggie, Andi, and I went for a walk, as we walked away from the accommodation we didn't feel the wind as it came from behind.
    After about 40 minutes of walking we came upon 6 sheep who had ventured out of there paddock, so we tried to herd them towards a hole in the fence. However we never found the hole. We did manage to get them to jump the fence.
    We walked to the top of a small hill, and now we felt the wind full on. When we opened our wind breakers, we could almost lean against the wind, and when we jumped the wind carried us a little bit.
    On the way home we had the wind straight in our faces, kind of tiring.
    Again we came upon sheep on the wrong side of the fence, and again we managed to get them back home.    Read more

  • TravelerAsia & Oceania
    Day 28

    Ball and Chain

    February 6, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Another long drive today. First stop was at the Moeraki Boulders, rocks which the ocean had eroded so they are more or less perfect spheres.
    From there we drove another 2 hours and had lunch, actually really good considering the price and that it was a mall café.
    2 hours after lunch we made it to Christchurch, here we stayed in a former prison turned hostel.
    It was a national holiday so most of Christchurch was closed, but Maggie, Andi, Michael, Niclas, and I managed to find an Irish pub, the food was amazing and they had close to 20 pool tables, so naturally we played some pool after dinner.    Read more

  • TravelerAsia & Oceania
    Day 29

    Oceanic wildlife

    February 7, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Today didn't start well for me, seems like I had a case of food poisoning so the morning was rough.
    We drove towards Kaikoura I was in and out of sleep not feeling good. In Kaikoura I was supposed to go whale watching, but as we arrived I was not feeling up for it. Luckily we had half an hour and after that I kicked myself and went on the boat.
    We only had 2 1/2 hours on the water so due to bad timing we only saw one whale, but it was a beautiful and massive male sperm whale and it was clear to me he was larger than the females I saw last year around the Azores. We also saw several species of albatrosses they are huge.
    After the whale watching I was supposed to go kayaking and as Andi and I would share a kayak I went for it. That was a good decision, one I got better and better, two we saw loads of fur seals feeding on fish less that 5 meters away.
    After a long day, made longer by being ill, Lisa, Maggie, Andi, Michael, Niclas, and I went to dinner. After dinner we went for a short walk before getting some, especially for my part, much needed sleep.    Read more

  • TravelerAsia & Oceania
    Day 30

    Final night

    February 8, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Today we drove in beautiful weather from the lovely town Kaikoura to Picton where we caught the ferry back to Wellington. Even though it's only been 2 weeks since we were here last so much has happened that it feels longer.
    Now is a time to appreciate the memories and the bonds that have been created over the last 24 days here in beautiful New Zealand. I am really going to miss the people I have bonded with on this trip, luckily we are already planning meet-ups in the near future.
    People always ask for your favourite moment after a trip, that is simply an impossible question. But truth be told the connecting with people has been the best part.    Read more

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