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SYD - TAS - NZ 2023

January - February 2023
A 31-day adventure by Claudia Read more
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  • TravelerSYD - TAS - NZ 2023
    Day 13

    Traveling

    January 25, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    If someone travels - they will have stories to tell… one of mine can be summarized by the pics below. Instead of flying out of Launceston at 9:35pm yesterday, spending the night at Melbourne airport and having an early flight from there to Queenstown, it’s 5:15am now and I’m still (or rather again) at Launceston airport.
    Around midnight last night, we were told that our flight was finally canceled. I got rebooked to the same flight connection 24hrs later. And while I like this town, I’m ready to hit NZ. Soooo… booked myself an early connection from here to Melbourne and on to Sydney with a different airline and hopefully the 4hrs of scheduled time in Sydney will be enough for my flight from Sydney to Queenstown… if all goes as planned, I will be in Queenstown 9hrs later than planned - so not too bad. But lots can go wrong along the way, so we’ll see…

    Oh… and I had 2 cozy hours of sleep in a nice bed in a hotel in Launceston - roughly from 2-4am. Who needs more 😂

    Next stops (hopefully) - Launceston - Melbourne - Sydney - Queenstown.    Read more

  • TravelerSYD - TAS - NZ 2023
    Day 14

    Queenstown - Glenorchy - Te Anau

    January 26, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Sleep can feel sooooo good!
    Once I was able to think straight again, I headed out to enjoy breakfast in the sun and stroll through Queenstown incl. it’s Gardens. Not much time for this tiny and cute city (thanks again, Jetstar) - but I wanted to head up to the head of the lake (Lake Wakatipu), Glenorchy. Allegedly there are some beautiful hikes - but I only had time for a stroll and coffee… but the drive was pretty amazing, incl a beautiful viewpoint along the road and a nap on one of those beaches.

    Another long drive followed - all the way to Te Anau, where I’ll stay for the next two nights…

    Highlight 1 of the day: No noteworthy incident with the car - driving left is weird but so far manageable.
    Highlight 2 of the day: Laundry!! Having clean clothes is a pretty good feeling. Not all the hiking dirt made it out of the clothes - but the fresh smell is definitely an improvement when opening the backpack…

    Mystery of the day: Huge police investigation in Te Anau. Unfortunately nobody told us what happened.

    Observations of the day: sheeeeep everywhere; merino everywhere; nature reminds me a bit of Alaska; like everywhere, the service sector is suffering from significant post-COVID staff shortage. Lots of places are not even open - and it is main season!!    Read more

  • TravelerSYD - TAS - NZ 2023
    Day 15

    Rain in Fiordland

    January 27, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    Finally the day for my rain pants… and… I must admit that I was lucky that I did not need them during the overland track… they are everything - but not waterproof anymore 🫣

    Luckily, it was only a couple of hours of rain this morning… I had a beautiful (pouring) rain walk along Lake Gunn nature walk on my way to Milford Sound… there I hoped on a boat (early enough before the crowds) for a 2hrs boat ride through the Fiord…. Stunning and amazing. Thanks to the rain we had a breadth of waterfalls (usually, there is only a handful of permanent waterfalls). Breathtaking!

    On my way back - some more stops along the way, incl famous (but underwhelming) Mirror Lakes and Mistletoe Lake - the latter even in the sun…

    Sad to say goodbye to this beautiful spot tomorrow… I’ll be heading over to the Eastcoast. Hopefully with one or two nice hiking stops.    Read more

  • TravelerSYD - TAS - NZ 2023
    Day 16

    Vacation

    January 28, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    It seems as if it took me until today to really feel like vacation (and yes, it’s already half time).

    Therefore, only a few words about today:

    Little hike in the morning along the Kepler Trail - nice and peaceful- but not comparable with the Overland Trail. But - I saw my first Kiwi ☺️.

    Long car ride all the way to the Otago Peninsula with steep and windy roads, but breathtaking nature and even a castle. Also saw seals 🦭

    Overnight in Dunedin - not worth a visit - but St. Clair just around the corner is very special (that’s the beach pic).

    Highlights beyond the beaches, views, seals, sheep, nature, kiwi: I managed to fuel up my car with no (!!) issues. And yes - this is a highlight for me ☺️

    Oh - and if someone knows what Kepler has to do with this trail / the respective mountain range - please share.    Read more

  • TravelerSYD - TAS - NZ 2023
    Day 17

    Penguins - and once again driving

    January 29, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    Seals and penguins and too many birds…

    After breakfast on the beach, I took a tour at the Penguin Place - a ‘private conservation reserve dedicated to helping the endangered Yellow-Eyed Penguin survive’… those little guys are pretty close to extinction and they try their best to avoid that. It is a lovely place…
    We saw Yellow-Eyed Penguins, Fiordland Crest Penguins and (allegedly) a baby Blue Eyed Penguin (it was hidden in a tiny house and could also have been a piece of wood 😉). And seals!!

    From there, it was quite a drive all the way to Wanaka - home for one night. Lake Wanaka is quite cold - but I was brave - and rewarded myself with ice cream afterwards…

    Lesson 1 learned today: the only native NZ mammals were bats and marine mammals… all the rabbits, possums, feral cats and other rodents are not supposed to be here - abs actually a problem for the little penguins. There are some wallabies here - also considered a pest…

    Lesson 2 learned today: Traveling alone in a country with soooo many wineries and vineyards is annoying. Who goes wine tasting alone?!? 😟

    Plans for tomorrow - getting back in my hiking boots… and only a short drive for once….    Read more

  • TravelerSYD - TAS - NZ 2023
    Day 18

    All and everything

    January 30, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    What a gorgeous day…

    Started early - after I managed to ‘escape’ out of my hostel following a little fight with the door, coffee in the only bakery in Wanaka open before 7am - in the middle of an industrial area, main customers construction workers who all asked me what I was up for and then off to hit the trail to Isthmus Peak. I opted for it over Rob Roy (that’s the one EVERYONE does with the famous pics in the middle of nowhere) - just because not everyone does it ;-)
    Lots of sweat, quite steep, but so worth it… and given that it was the first over 1000meter elevation hike since this COVID (booster) disaster, I’m pretty proud. 3hrs up (finishing another audiobook), encountering 5 other people, lots of water (sweating out and getting back into my body) - and gorgeous views over Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea…

    Back down in the summer heat, grateful for my poles in those steep sections - and back at the car park, I had a blister (none during the Overland Track, btw!!) 🤨

    Anyways… the drive was along water, waterfalls and I got a (quick) swim at the Blue Pools. Freeeeeeezing, but gooooood… more waterfalls… helping a mom recover her baby’s pacifier (and safe her night), views - and all of a sudden the scenery changed from dry, yellowish mountains to green. And the weather changes.. back to drizzle and rain for now…

    Closing the day at a pub called The Hard Antler… and yes… the name is what you get… in addition to huuuge sized portions.

    That’s it… goodnight… let’s keep fingers crossed that the rain and wind goes away overnight - tomorrow is helicopter-glacier day 🚁🏔️🧊

    No major learnings today… just happiness and gratefulness… today had a bit of everything…    Read more

  • TravelerSYD - TAS - NZ 2023
    Day 19

    View of the views and Glacier(s)

    January 31, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    I started the morning at Lake Matheson. While I had picked that spot as an allegedly good coffee spot on my way, I learned that it is much more… the Lake has some pretty impressive views - and reflections on a nice day. Today was not that nice - and super humid - but still okay’ish… and yes, it has a viewpoint that is called view of the views… and it is a great view ☺️. And the coffee was pretty good as well.

    From there I went on to Fox and Franz Joseph Glaciers - I had a booking for a heli-hike on the latter. Which… unfortunately… was canceled due to bad weather…
    But… I was lucky and could snatch a booking for a heli-hike on Fox Glacier. We were a small group - nevertheless with two quite annoying ladies who seemed to be too old for Instagram pics of their own - but didn’t think so themselves…
    Still, it was an amazing trip. A short ride up and down with the heli, and then we had almost 3 hours hopping around on the glacier with crampons - with a bit of rain, but overall pretty good weather. Who knows how long this glacier will still exist. It - weirdly enough - starts at less than 500m above sea level and you can see the sea while hiking it… very cool (pun intended).

    My legs are still sore - but it will be kayaking tomorrow (again, a different tour vs originally booked - for a lack of other customers). And then we’ll see what the weather brings… allegedly, the west coast will see some rain over the next few days (they anticipated that there might be no heli hikes altogether over the next 5 days)…    Read more

  • TravelerSYD - TAS - NZ 2023
    Day 20

    Kayak, kiwis, trees, no kiwis, blue wate

    February 1, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    Kayaking at Lake Mapourika to start the day - with a bunch of kids (?) that made me feel old… no doubt that the guy I shared a kayak with was still getting over his hangover - but he did well 😉 - and having some nice glaciers as backdrop did help!

    Afterwards a quick stop at the kiwi sanctuary - New Zealand really and impressively put significant effort in preserving what they have - incl increasing their number of kiwis (they have 5 different kinds of kiwis).

    Next stop - after coffee - was the west coast tree top walk. Unfortunately no view of the mountains - instead enough rain… But these trees… 😳

    Based on a recommendation from my kayak guide (anyone ever heard of Yung Gravy? He looked like his two) the next stop was Hokitika Gorge. While parking and gathering my stuff, I saw a man staring at another car, seemingly taking a video. Even weirder, he was smiling the entire time while nobody was around. Only when I got out of the car, I understood - a kiwi mom and her 2 chicks were exploring the parking lot… could not have been better…

    UPDATE: those are wekas, not kiwis… 😕

    But the Gorge came close - bluest water. So pretty and almost surreal…

    Tonight I’m sleeping in the cat room of a lovely hostel called Noah’s Ark. It’s also raining heavily - so that is that. Not to mention that one of the owner’s is half German ;-)    Read more

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