Australia and New Zealand

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Traveler Australia and New Zealand
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- Nov 26, 2023
- ☀️ 21 °C
- Altitude: 407 m
- New Zealand Otago Queenstown-Lakes District Arrowtown Bush Creek -44.93854, 168.83230144°56’19” S 168°49’56” E
Day 27–29
Queenstown
November 26, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
Woke up feeling a little blue as realised its only 1 week until my epic adventure comes to an end... so went on a walk around the town and through the gardens in the morning to chill out and contemplate... something! 😅
Anyways, found a friend called Christina from Germany and we went to Arrowtown, a cool little old gold mining town just north of Queenstown. Looked like the wild west 🤣 obviously went for another walk, found more lupins (this is becoming a bit of an obsession!) and then headed back to the hostel where I met a new roomie, Kathrin, also from Germany! We have made a plan to go to Milford Sounds on Tuesday and then up to Lake Wanaka... yayy car share buddy!
Went for a drink down by the waterfront and had a good natter 😁 looking forward to a few days of company with her!
Also met Wiktoria from Lithuania who has just arrived so a bit jetlagged I think, bless her! Going to help her find some camping stuff in the morning! Yayy a purpose!!!Read more
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Traveler Australia and New Zealand
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- Nov 27, 2023
- ☁️ 17 °C
- Altitude: 394 m
- New Zealand Otago Queenstown-Lakes District Frankton Peninsula Hill -45.028335, 168.65559245°1’42” S 168°39’20” E
Day 28
Queenstown day 2
November 27, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
Went on a mission today to help Wiktoria find camping gear... was semi successful! But she is going to join Kathrin and me to Milford Sounds and Lake Wanaka! 🤗
I decided to see what all the fuss was about with Fergburger (everyone has been talking about it but it always has a huge queue so have avoided it so far!) Was pretty good...
Also decided to go up the skyline and go luging (basically go-karting!)where I was adopted by a family so I had someone to race with! Was fab! Wish I had looked after my bag a bit better though, it's not meant to be dragged along the ground at high speed (now full of holes... I only need it to last me a few more days!!!!)
I also met Colin and Cathrine who I went for some drinks with after... was so nice getting to know them and I might see them in Wanaka again as well!!!Read more
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Traveler Australia and New Zealand
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- Nov 28, 2023
- 🌧 13 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- New Zealand Southland Southland District Milford Sound Freshwater Basin -44.667449, 167.91280644°40’3” S 167°54’46” E
Day 29
Milford Sounds
November 28, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 13 °C
Long day today, up early, checking out the hostel to start the 3.45hr journey to Milford Sound.
Arrived in good time to a random little carpark full of sandflies, turns out we were at the right place! So half eaten alive we find our lil water taxi over to our hike... but of a surprise speed boat and wannabe adrenaline junkie driver which was fun!!!
Hike was beautiful, great path and stunning waterfalls! Also fab conversations with Kathrin and Wiktoria.
Stopped for coffee and cake in the visitor centre before the mammoth trip to Lake Wanaka via Queenstown to pick up some camping equipment for Wiktoria (fail, the shop was closed!) and pump up my airbed in the carpark!
Arrived at Lake Wanaka at 10pmRead more
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- Nov 29, 2023
- ☀️ 16 °C
- Altitude: 279 m
- New Zealand Otago Queenstown-Lakes District Wanaka Roys Bay -44.691928, 169.12151144°41’31” S 169°7’17” E
Day 30
Lake Wanaka take 2!
November 29, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
Got up pretty early (no curtains does that!!!) So went to the lake for a coffee and ended up renting a kayak for an hour! So cool floating around on the lake, checking out nesting birds (even if they got a bit angry with me!) And seeing the mountains emerge from the clouds behind... the water was so clear and beautiful as well 🥰
Met the ladies at 11 for a swim in the lake again... I honestly just can't get enough of this place, so gorgeous!
We parted ways but with a plan to go on a hike at 5:30 up Roy's Peak for sunset... a 2-3 hour hike I thought... turns out that's just up!!!
Really started feeling my age with the 2 early 20 year old storming off ahead and me bringing up the rear (also probably should have had more than a pint and an icecream for dinner🤣)!!!! was 8km up... just up! Lots of sheep and needless to say beautiful views! Reached the peak just before sunset but I stayed a bit lower as found a really nice place to perch and watch the sunset 😁
Way down was a bit precarious in the dark with only me having a head torch but our trusted leader (Victoria!) Got us down in one piece!!! It was also a lot easier to keep up with those guys with gravity on my side! 🤣Read more
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- Nov 30, 2023, 8:36pm
- ☁️ 10 °C
- Altitude: 184 m
- New Zealand West Coast Westland District Fox Glacier Bath Creek -43.478737, 170.01272943°28’43” S 170°0’46” E
Day 31
Chasing waterfalls... and glaciers
November 30, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
Again set off fairly early to head up to the west coast and Fox Glacier and Franz Joseph Glacier...
On the way to Fox decided to stop at Thunder Falls (as I spotted it on the map and it sounded cool!)
... it was cool!
Also the west coast is absolutely stunning!!! Stopped of at various viewpoints for photos (and food!) Before getting to Fox Glacier... which was very foggy and you could only see essentially a stream in the distance 😅 a guide leading a family did say it should be clearer tomorrow so fingers crossed for Franz Joseph! Nice walk though and good break from driving.
Stopped in Franz Joseph village for a cuppa and snack before heading to my campsite for the night... not quite as luxurious as the last but some flushing loos... yayy!!!!Read more
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- Dec 1, 2023
- ☁️ 15 °C
- Altitude: 540 m
- New Zealand Canterbury Selwyn District Cass Corner Knob -43.004694, 171.72798343°0’17” S 171°43’41” E
Day 32
Arthurs Pass... and water...
December 1, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
Headed back from campsite to Franz Joseph for much needed coffee! And to obvs see the Glacier... the guide was right, it was much much clearer today so got some nice views of the Glacier.
Headed towards Arthur's Pass... my route back to Christchurch and saw that pancake rocks and blowholes (lol) were only another hour or so away (what's an hour or so?!) So headed there!
Was pretty spectacular, even if I arrived at low tide so there weren't many blowholes (lol) was still worth the visit.
Drove down Arthur's Pass... what a spectacular drive!!!! Very windy but stunning views of mountains and rivers and, well just spot on really! Stopped at Devils Punchbowl Waterfalls... super cool!
Arrived at campsite... alone again!!!! Took a few hours but 2 people on motorbikes and a family in a car finally showed up... tbh, I just sat in the car and had half a bottle of wine to myself... the sandflies are a nightmare!!!
Can't really believe that today was my last full day of this epic adventure 🥲
Tomorrow is half taken up by a flight and Sunday I fly home 😬Read more
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Australia and New Zealand

Queenstown

Queenstown day 2

Milford Sounds

Lake Wanaka take 2!

Chasing waterfalls... and glaciers

Arthurs Pass... and water...