• Christina Eylert
Dez. 2019 – Apr. 2020

Traveling the world

Ein 139-Tage Abenteuer von Christina Weiterlesen
  • Abel Tasmen Coastal Walk Day 2

    22. Dezember 2019 in Neuseeland ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    After a tuff night, we woke up early from the Wekas and the boats that were already arriving so early with some kayaks.

    The Wekas kept me awake quite long as they were around the tent and in the front part of the tent almost all the time searching through our stuff. 😬
    I start to hate them, they are really annoying, trying to steal everything they can get at any time. You really need to be aware of your stuff all the time.

    We had a simple breakfast and was then without any stress pacing our stuff.
    We have a big low tide crossing in front of us at Awaroa Hut and low tide is at 1 pm today, so no need to stress around and get going, as it’s around 2 1/2 hour there from Onetahuti.
    We started our walk at 9.35 am. It was compared to yesterday a quite easy walk. It was also going up the hills but not as steep as yesterday.
    So it was nice for the muscles to get going like this again.
    I can say, I feel my muscles but mostly I have pain in my shoulders and hips from the backpack! At least it’s not as heavy anymore!
    Halfway it was quite a steep way up that cost us some time and a lot of energy but compare with the last one from yesterday it was not to bad.
    We arrived in Awaroa around 12 o’clock! We took a short break there, filling up our water bottles and eating an apple.
    Then we started our walk over the low tide track. Some parts of the track were extremely muddy, others were full of shells and that was hurting like hell to walk over them without shoes. But to put the shoes back on was no option as we hade to pass like 4 streams of knee-deep water. The crossing took us over 30 min and at the other end to took another break and cleaned and checked our feeds for wounds from the shells. Lu actually got a small part of a shell stuck in her foot. 😳
    Luckily it was just a small piece and she got it out and had no problems with it afterward!

    From there it was only 2 hours left to Totaranui!
    The first part was very easy but the last 30 min was a real test again. Tired as we are already the steep and long climb up the last hill was almost horrible 🙈😅
    But we made it!!!
    We arrived in Totaranui at 14.45 pm.
    We stopped the backpacks in the car and went to the beach to have lunch and just relax for like an hour in the sun!
    We walked almost 30km in total yesterday and today 💪🏼
    Think we can be proud of us! 😊
    After that, we drove back to Takaka where we were splitting us up again, as we have different plans for the next weeks!
    It was really nice to have company for some days, especially the walk and we gonna stay in contact and maybe meet up later again if it fits our plans 😊

    I will spend the night at the campground in Takaka and I can’t tell you, how nice it was to take a long and hot shower after two days of hiking!!
    Weiterlesen

  • Abel Tasman Sailing Adventures

    24. Dezember 2019 in Neuseeland ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Today I got up pretty early, 6.30 don’t feel right but I have plans for today so I need to get going on time!
    I had anyway a good breakfast and then I left the campground shortly after 8 am.
    I went to Marahau to walk the first part of the Abel Tasman Coastal Walk from Marahau to Anchorage! 💪🏼
    I liked the other parts so much, so I also wanted to do the first part as well!
    And for the way home I booked a sailing trip because it is Christmas and it is much nicer to sail bcc then just take the water taxi.
    They recommended starting the walk at 8.30 am to have enough time to come to Anchorage where the boat will leave at 1.30 pm.
    I started my walk at 8.50 am and arrived in Anchorage at 12.15 pm and I walk almost all of the side tracks to some beaches and lookouts as well.

    It was quite cloudy in the morning what was a little sad because I can imagine the view is much nicer when the weather is really good. Anyway, it was a really nice and very easy walk! Just a little bit uphill and never steep or anything so it was going very easy 😊

    I then had a lunch break at the beach, watching all the boats coming and going.
    We left Anchorage on time. We are only 10 grownups and 2 small kids plus our skipper. So a really nice small group and we had a lot of space on the boat to move around 😊
    The weather was really nice now, almost no clouds left but pretty windy, what is good in one way, as we need the wind to sail back to Kaiteriteri, but also a little bit annoying because the wind is quite cold. Luckily I had my jacket with me!

    I was really hoping to see some Orcas but we had no luck with that. I away I knew it already before 😉

    I really enjoyed the tour, it took us 3 hours to sail to Kaiteriteri and we were chasing some Kayakers around here and there 😂
    Our skipper loves to play cat and mouse with them 😉😂

    We arrived at 4.30 pm in Kaiteriteri and got a ride back to our cars in Marahau.
    So I arrived at the campground in Motueka around 5.30 pm, tired but happy!

    Merry Christmas everyone!
    Weiterlesen

  • Merry Christmas

    25. Dezember 2019 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Today is the most important Christmas day here in New Zealand and everything ist closed.
    So I will have a day off at the campground, mostly doing nothing at all, recovering from the last days of walking, washing, and cooking.

    Tomorrow I will start to travel south!

    I hope you all have a lot of good food and some nice days!

    Merry Christmas everyone from the other end of the world! 🎄🎅🏼
    Weiterlesen

  • Mt Vernon

    26. Dezember 2019 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Today it was time to say goodbye to Motueka and the beautiful Abel Tasman as it’s slowly time for me to travel south, I also want to see places I haven’t been to before. 😉

    I was a long time unsure where I should go but was, in the end, deciding to go to Blenheim, as I had never been there before. I took with a woman from Greece, as she needed a ride and we had a nice trip together sharing our experiences with each other!
    I dropped her off in Blenheim and went to Mt Vernon!
    My plan was to walk up to the lookout and the over the loop track back to the Carpark. I may have missed, that this is a really steep hike up the hill. The first part was very easy and very nice but then the steep part started and I was asking myself, what the hell am I doing here?! 🙈😂
    This was a real challenge to motivate myself to walk all the way up to the top, but it was sooo worth it!! The view was amazing over the hills, Blenheim and to the ocean! 😍
    I was up there for around 40 minutes, as I a conversation with a woman from France who was tried to get work here as a teacher and told me, that it is so hard to get the paper and so on to get the working visa, even though she had found a job already, it’s was kind of impossible.

    As she is going home soon but wants to come back in February with her son to travel I could give her a lot of tips for that and we also walked all the way back to the Carpark together in the end!

    Being back by the Carpark I had to find a campground for the night.
    I could not choose better! I went to Ward and found a lovely small campground, not busy at all and cheap as well! I really liked it here!

    I spend the evening with a couple from Germany talking about everything and went to bed way too late again 🙈😂
    Weiterlesen

  • Ward - Hanmer Springs

    27. Dezember 2019 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    After breakfast, I went to Ward Beach. Nice place with some smaller boulders and some nice small rockpools here and there.
    I took a short walk on the beach and then I went down State Highway 1 to Kaikoura!
    I stopped a few time to enjoy the view and I also saw a lot of seals 😊

    In Kaikoura, I bought some fish and Chips! Really cheap actually and really good as well! I took them with and drove a few more kilometers until I found a beach where I had my lunch break, surrounded by a lot of birds 🙈😂

    Guess they were hungry as well, but I don't like to share my food so they were waiting for nothing 😂

    After lunch, I started to drive to Hanmer Springs. I to the scenic road through the inland.
    It was a really nice road, ok not nice to drive but the view was amazing!!
    I don't know how many times I stopped but it must have been a lot!
    The nicest one was the Waiau River with its ice-blue water! 😍

    And then suddenly all the cars stopped. The police were there and making an alcohol test from every diver! That was very unexpected but no problem for me! They have really good machines. I should just could out loud to ten while they hold it in front of my mouth and that's all. Not blowing in there for like a minute or so!

    My plan was to check out the city before I go to the campground, but it was so full in the city, to find a parking place there was impossible, so I went straight to the campground.
    I found a cheap one again, luckily a little bit outside the city closed to the forest.

    The weather started to change shortly after that and I got really windy, later in the evening, it was almost like a storm. 😳
    I am soo glad I can sleep in my car now and not in a tent anymore!!
    Weiterlesen

  • Council Hill

    28. Dezember 2019 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    It was a tough night, as it as been blowing all night long and is still blowing now in the morning.
    It got pretty cold as well, what I don’t like.

    After breakfast, I went to the forest as there are a lot of different walks you can do and the woman on the campground highly recommended to do at least one of them.
    So I decided to walk up to Council Hill!

    It was supposed to take 2 hours return but it took me only 1 hour and 15 minutes and I thought it was a really easy walk up the hill. Not a challenge at all!
    On the way back I saw, how hard it was for many people to walk up and I guess the last walks up the steep hills was at least good for something 😉

    The view up there was amazing if just the wind would be so much and sooo cold.

    I then was thinking to give the city one more chance, but like yesterday it was so full and overcrowded that I was just passing through.
    Hanmer Springs is normally really famous for its hot pools, but I don’t even feel for trying it as it is so full everywhere.
    It anyway was nice that I was here as the nature is so amazing!

    I went back to the coast and found a really nice campground outside of Christchurch, but even here the wind is horrible and the owner told me, that it’s not supposed to get better the next days 😕

    But at least it was slowing down a little bit in the evening so that I got a good sleep overnight!
    Weiterlesen

  • Peak Hill

    29. Dezember 2019 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    I was deciding against a trip into Christchurch as I was not extremely impressed last time and was just stopping for a quick shopping trip at the Warehouse for a new pot, my one was not happy about the small gas cooker we used during the Abel Tasman walk and now starts to get totally broken.

    My plan for today is to to the Peak Hill Walk, which is closed to Mount Hutt.
    The way there was already really stunning. So hard to look and drive at the same time 🙈😬

    As I can closer I started to realize, that Peak Hill is may be called a hill, but for me, he is more a mountain 😳
    And I thought this one gonna be a little bit a challenge but not too tough 🙈😂
    I couldn’t be more wrong 🤣😅

    This one was a hell of a climb! The first part was over a paddock and going pretty good but after the path was small and it was going so steep up the hill, that I was a few times closed to give up!
    The strong wind didn’t make it so much better but was still ok to handle as I got quite mich shelter from the hill.
    As I reached the Stopp the shelter was gone and I realized how strong the wind has become during my climb up the hill 😳
    I tried to reach the top at 1240m over sea level but I had to give up and a few hundred meters before the top as the wind was so strong and I am walking the last part on the edge of the hill and it’s so exposed up there, that I didn’t want to risk it anymore.
    The way back down the hill was as much challenging as the way up. And I was back in my car after 2 1/2 hours, totally exhausted but very satisfied at the same time.

    I then went to Rakaia Gorge where I will spend the night. The wind is horrible here as well, so I don’t think I will get a good sleep tonight. 😳
    At least it’s cheap 😉😂

    For tomorrow I have booked a Rafting trip! Finally, it’s time for some real action! I was really lucky, I booked it over a web page with a really good discount and saved 70$ like this! 🥳
    And then it’s the rafting trip, that I was planning to do last time I was here but got cancelled because of the bad weather conditions!
    Weiterlesen

  • Rangitata Rafts I

    30. Dezember 2019 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    The night was much better than expected. I actually slept very well. Probably because it stopped blowing overnight.
    But the weather is not good today. It's really cloudy and it looks like it gonna start to rain pretty soon. And it's cold today 😬
    I had a fast breakfast and then I hit the road to Peel Forest. My plan was to do a short track there before I go on the rafting trip.
    Unfortunately, it's started to rain shortly before I left the campground and never stopped again, it actually was worst when I reached Peel Forest so I was in the end only doing the 10 min walk to the big tree there but not more. It's too wet and too cold for it and as I gonna get really wet later on, I don't need this now as well.
    I had a quick lunch at the carpark and then I went drove the last kilometers to the rafting camp.

    At least the weather is not going to destroy my rafting trip today, as I gonna get really wet anyway.
    I signed in and we had to wait for the last people to show up and then it was already time for the first instructions. After that we got all our equipment and started to get dressed up, looking funny as always in this stuff. 😂

    Then we jumped on the bus for a short ride to the river.
    There we got split up into two groups.
    I was in Team James, with a couple from Hamburg, a guy from New York, an Aussie and a Kiwi.
    We have two trainees with today as they should get to know the river better so they can guide their own boats down there soon and we even have a safety kayaker with us, as we gonna hit some real rapids today, it’s a Grade 5 river so I am expecting a lot of fun! 🤩🤗

    The first part of the river is really calm and easy floating water, more than enough time for everyone to get used to everything and learn all the commands that are important today.

    We then started with a Grade 1 rapid, easy-going! The next one was a Grade 2 rapid, also this one nothing special, but a nice warm-up for the real stuff! 😉

    The next one was a Grade 3 rapid and that one almost flipped us over 😳🙈 As you can see in the second picture, we were all falling to the left side but luckily got right up again before it was too late.

    As I got to sit in the front, I was already completely wet at that point, as usual 😂
    Watertemperater is not to bad with 10 degrees, I had worst than that 😉

    After that, we stopped and the two guides took a walk to the next rapid to check it out as it is a Grade 5 rapid.
    First the safety kayaker Ryan went down, then the two trainees with their raft, then the other group and we went as last.

    This rapid is only 70 meters long, but you can get a lot of problems in there if you hit it wrong.
    We got a perfect ankle as we all were working really good as a team and the result was a perfect red through the rapid, though it's a tough one!

    Everyone stayed in the boat and the adrenalin was high now, more than ready for the next Grade 5 rapid!!
    Weiterlesen

  • Ragitata Rafts II

    30. Dezember 2019 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    We had to stop again before the rapid as the guides got out and checked out this one as well.
    This one is 350m long and has some difficult parts in it.

    We went down in the same order like the last one again.
    And these rapids really hit it! It was a real experience to pass through all the different rapids.
    I could barely hear what the guide was screaming at us during the rapid, but we did pretty good and almost all right, just everyone missed the last one and that was almost leading to a flip over 🙈😂
    Luckily we stayed upright in the end 😅
    And so we could laugh about it afterward.

    Your guide was really happy that we got through so good again, as he then told us, that yesterday head no good day and they good flipped over as they hit a wave at the wrong moment and there was nothing you could do about it!
    Luckily that didn't happen to us.

    The best of the trip was mostly cruising down the river with a few Grad 1 or 2 rapids.
    One rapid we even rafted by standing up in the boat 🤗😂

    Then we were reaching the end of our trip. Our team was really lucky as we didn't need to carry our raft and stuff up to the bus because there was already a family with another guide waiting for us to take over our raft for there adventure on the calmer part of the river.

    The ride back to the camp was short and we took off all our equipment and then had a really nice hot shower 😊
    When we were ready with that, the BBQ was also ready and we were sitting all together and having a really good BBQ while we were watching all the photos together!

    After that, it was time to get going and I decided to not drive too far today, so I am staying on a Farmyard Campground near Geraldine today.

    It’s full, extremely full better to say, a lot of families. It’s a nice place anyway and I am so tired that I will go to sleep early anyway and I don’t even need to cook today because I am so full from the BBQ!
    Weiterlesen

  • Timaru

    31. Dezember 2019 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    I woke up to a cloudy sky and a grey day... it’s at least not as cold as yesterday anymore.
    And it should get better through the day, hopefully.

    After breakfast, I was leaving the campground and went to Timaru.
    When I came into Timaru a saw a sign for a Phar Lap Statue and of coarse, I was turning around and went there.
    I didn’t know that Phar Lap was actually born in Timaru in New Zealand!
    So that was a really nice and unexpected stop for me!
    I walk a little bit around in the city, it’s a nice little town. The lady from the I-Side was sending me to Caroline Bay where they have some free concerts today and a little Tivoli as well today.
    There is even a little birdhouse where you can go in and the birds are flying around you!
    I took a walk around the whole area and then a short stopover by the beach, but it’s still so cloudy and I then decided that it was time to leave and start to drive to Lake Tekapo.
    Weiterlesen

  • Road to Lake Tekapo

    31. Dezember 2019 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Around 1 pm I left Timaru and went to Lake Tekapo.
    The first part of the drive was through farmland but then I started to the mountains. As I was cooking closer to Lake Tekapo the more beautiful the scenery got 😍

    The snow-covered mountains in the background were coming closer and closer.
    And then I found a big field full of Lupin flowers in possible colors 😍
    Sooo beautiful!!
    And the smell was amazing as well, so bad you can’t smell the pictures!

    I then went to the campground beside Lake Tekapo but unfortunately, they were totally booked out 😳
    That never happens to me so far.

    I then drove to the I-Side and the friendly lady there showed me three other campgrounds around Lake Tekapo, low budget campgrounds, but I don’t mind that!

    I decided then to go there straight away and don’t go sightseeing around Lake Tekapo first. I want to be sure, I find a place to stay for the night.

    So I found probably the most beautiful campground in the area. Directly beside Lake Mcgregor, the small neighbor to Lake Tekapo. Here was still some space free and it’s working over an honesty box, so you pay and park where you want.
    I decided then not to go back to the city as I don’t want to lose my spot on the campground.
    The weather got really, really beautiful now and it’s also really nice and warm here! A lady told me, that I can walk through the camp and then pass through a little creek and then up a hill and from there I will have a beautiful view over the mountains and the three lakes around, Lake Mcgregor, Lake Tekapo, and Lake Alexandrina.

    So I did the walk and the view was really amazing! I am so glad, that I was ending up here!

    After the walk, I went for a swim in the Lake. They said it’s really nice and warm, 19 degrees. 🙈

    Well, it was indeed really nice but a bit hard to get into the water in the beginning. 😂
    But when I was inside I didn’t want to come out again! The water is so clear that I could see the ground all the time!! Really amazing!!

    After that, I relaxed a while in the sun until I was dry and then it was already time to think about my dinner 😊

    It was a really lovely evening and I was sitting outside really long, watching the sun goes down and then looking at the stars. Here you can see the really good 😊
    At 0 o’clock everyone at the campground was screaming “Happy New Year” and we mostly watched up into the stars as there was no firework around us, what I must say I really liked that! After that, I went to bed. Could not find a better spot for New Year’s Eve 😊💥
    Weiterlesen

  • Lake Tekapo and MT John

    1. Januar 2020 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Happy new year everyone!! 💥🍾🥳

    Today I woke up to some light clouds. But it looked like they will pass over and all the locals told me yesterday, that it's gonna be really nice weather today and really hot.

    The wind tough was annoying as usual.
    I had a fast breakfast as sitting outside my car in the wind isn't so nice when the wind is blowing the sand around.
    I went back to the city to make a plane for the next days what was good, as many campgrounds in this area are already fully booked 😳
    I never had problems like this before! For the night I could only find a campground in Fairlie, which is around 40 km back from where I came from yesterday. But at least I have one now, the weather is supposed to change with rain over the night and tomorrow and then I want to have a kitchen to cook in.

    After solving this problem I went to Mount John and started to walk the track up to the Observatory.
    It was a nice walk up, not too though.
    Up there the sky looked really strange. It's a really strange light today and it looks so foggy in a way and in a way not. Really strange.

    I heard later that this is the smoke from the bushfires in Australia that the wind is blowing over the Tasman Sea to New Zealand.
    And it got worst and worst over the day 😳
    You can really smell the smoke and it burns a little bit in the eyes as well...
    You could imagine that the bushfires in Australia can have so much impact in New Zealand as well.

    I met a couple from Germany almost at the top of Mt John and we were ending up drinking a hot chocolate together in the cafe and walking back over the other track beside the lake.
    I was back at the carpark by 3.30 pm.
    I then just stopped at the Chuch of the Good Shepherd and was lucky enough to get some pictures without other people on it, I don't know how I managed, as there were millions of people around. 🙈

    As the view got worst I decided to drive to the campground in Fairlie.
    It's the same here and as I then heard on the radio is it like this all over the south island today!
    I hope the wind is changing until tomorrow or at least within the next two days.
    You can't see the mountains anymore and around 6 pm it was already as dark as it usually is around 9 pm 😳
    Weiterlesen

  • Lake Pukaki

    2. Januar 2020 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    It didn't rain as much as it was supposed to overnight, but I did rain in the morning for a while but when I left the campground around 10 am I could already tell that it's gonna be nice weather today for the next of the day.
    So that's definitely much better than rain the whole day!

    I was a little unsure about the smoke. It was much less than yesterday but at that point hard to tell, what is smoke and what are clouds. So I traveled slowly, stop by Lake Tekapo one more time and then went to Lake Pukaki.
    I can imagine that it must be an amazing drive by car weather but I could only see the mountains a little bit through the smoke or whatever it is.
    But it got more and sunnier during the drive and so the color from Lake Pukaki was really outstanding in the sunshine! 😍
    It's even brighter then Lake Tekapo in the ice blue color.
    I stopped by different lookouts and took a lot of pictures, but Mount Cook is, unfortunately, hiding behind some smoke clouds and you can only guess where he is.

    I was going for a short walk to a Kettle Whole, that's a hole in a hill that was formed from a glacier 20000 years ago.
    Beside that you have a great view over Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook from there, if you have a clear view 🙈😂
    But I shout not complain so much, I was expecting rain today and this is definitely better than rain!!!

    I then decided to do a little scenic drive in the Twizel area where they were shooting some scenes from The Lord of the Rings, but also here the view is not as good as it could be because of the smoke. It was nice anyway and maybe I do it agin when I come back from Mount Cook. Maybe i am lucky then and have the perfect view!

    The last picture I took at the information center, just so you know what I would like to see... 🙈😂
    Weiterlesen

  • From Pukaki to Glentanner

    2. Januar 2020 in Neuseeland ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    I then started to drive beside Lake Pukaki to Glentanner where I will spend one night.
    The view is nice but could be amazing without the smoke, but at least I can see something today ad it's not as bad as yesterday. I still have some hope.

    During the afternoon the clouds around the mountains started to move a little bit so I could see some of them better with every hour passing by but Mount Cook was still covered.
    I used the good weather to fix my laundry and as the wind started to get fresher and fresher everything was drying very fast as well.

    I went late to cook dinner, it was so full in the kitchen all the time, so I tried to avoid the first but I didn't work out so good 😂😂
    When I was sitting down and started eating, I looked out of the window and couldn't believe my eyes, there he was, Mount Cook or in his Maori name Aoraki 😍😍
    I stopped eating, took fast some pictures and then was eating quite fast to get out and watch the sunset and Mount Cook!

    Pictures come in an extra footprint!
    Weiterlesen

  • Sunset Mount Cook

    2. Januar 2020 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    I saw him!!!! Finally, the clouds were disappearing and there he was, the mighty Mount Cook in the sunset! Wow, it was so amazing to watch the light changing from one minute to another!
    I was not expecting that!! 😍🤩Weiterlesen

  • Hooker Valley Track I

    3. Januar 2020 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    I woke up very early this morning, at 5.25 am.
    I don’t know why, but I lifted the curtains and looked out and a saw not even one cloud and no smoke and I had a clear view to Mount Cook 🤩

    I got up, suddenly very awake and energetic, got dressed and went for a fast breakfast while I was watching the sun rising, ok I stopped eating a few times to take a picture 🙈😂
    But the view was so awesome, so much better than the sunset yesterday.
    I wasn’t expecting this, because the weather forecast was showing a cloudy but dry day.
    So I got so much more!!

    I got ready pretty fast and was leaving the campground at 6.30 am to drive to the Hooker Valley Track Carpark!
    I am early today but I saw cars leaving the campground already at 5.30 am, so I am not the only crazy one here today. 😉😂
    Weiterlesen

  • Hooker Valley Track II

    3. Januar 2020 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C

    It takes only 20 minutes from the Glentanner Campground to the Hooker Valley Track carpark.

    When I came there it was still a lot of places left, but I was surprised, how many cars were already there. I started to walk shortly before 7 am and I can say I was surprised how easy this walk was. The track is really good and perfect for all kinds of people to walk.
    It's only a few steps here and there and really nothing to be worried about or to even get really warm 😉
    That was, in fact, a little bit bad, as it was really cold there and I was so glad, that I took with my jacket form the car!
    The wind is really, really cold. It's just a little bit windy, not bad at all but I was happy about my jacket!
    The view is amazing! And in the first part of the track, you can't see Mount Cook, but when you come around a turn, you can finally see him!
    The first Lake I passed was Mueller Lake. I was expecting the same ice blue color like Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo and was surprised to see, that the water is more grey/brown.

    It’s so nice to be here so early, there are only a few people here now and you can really nice avoid them to get a really good picture!
    Weiterlesen

  • Hooker Valley Track III

    3. Januar 2020 in Neuseeland ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    The longer you walk the closer you come to Mount Cook and it such a nice view all over the track! Where ever you look, you find something beautiful and I could have to keep on walking for hours like this.

    It took me a little bit more than 1 hour to reach the Hooker Lake.
    I was there almost alone, which was really nice!
    Shortly after me came to women from Christchurch and we started talking and in the end, we were walking all the way back together. I git some nice tips for good walks I should do, most of them multiple days walks.
    On the way back I noticed that the number of people was increasing really fast!

    I am so lucky I didn’t it so early with just a few people walking around with me.
    I was back in my car shortly past 9 am and more than ready for the next walk. As long as the weather is so good, I will keep on walking and enjoy every single minute of it!
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  • Tasman Lake and Blue Pools

    3. Januar 2020 in Neuseeland ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    The next stop for today is the Tasman Lake and New Zealand's biggest glacier, the Tasman Glacier and the so-called Blue Pools.

    The track is just a short drive away from the Hooker Valley Track. And also here I arrived before the crowds were showing up!

    First I went all the stairs up to the Lake Tasman Lookout.
    Awesome view and you can really see the glacier and even some ice on the lake!
    I met a group of young people and a girl asked me straight away if I would like to have a picture of myself in front of the scenery. That was so nice of her! Never happened to me before. I usually ask someone to take a picture for me.

    After that I went down to walk to the Blue Pools, they are called Blue Pools, but they are actually green 🤔

    Good that there was an information board that was explaining, why they are green now.

    Since the glacier is getting smaller and smaller the Blue Pools, a few hundred years ago in the same ice-blue color as the big lakes around, are no longer connected with the glacier lakes and are now mostly filled up with rainwater and so changed their color.

    Here I also learned, why the glacier lakes are so grey/brown in color and not so beautiful as Lake Pukaki and Tekapo.

    „Grey or brown water is glacial meltwater with large amounts of glacial flour (ground-up Rock) in it. The water is found close to the glacier.

    Turquoise blue water is glacial meltwater in which much of the glacial flour has settled. The fine particles of rock still suspended give the water it’s particular turquoise blue color.“
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  • Tasman River

    3. Januar 2020 in Neuseeland ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    The last track here was the track to the Tasman River.
    It’s the longest one but also the easiest one as it is mostly flat.
    I can out to the end of the Tasman Lake where the water is with a lot of power loathing into the river.
    And I was also really close to the big piece of ice!
    That was really nice and interesting to see.
    After that, I went back to the Hooker Valley Track starting point and tried to find an empty space one the DOC Campground there.
    I decided to first find a place to stay overnight and then walk back and pay for it because it’s a self-registration here and if I pay but don’t find a place to park the car I can’t get my money back and that I don’t like.
    Luckily I found a place at the end of the campground. 😊
    It’s really crazy how full it is here, it was just 11.20 am at that point!! 😳
    Good, I was up so early today.
    I took a small break but felt too energetic to just sit around the rest of the day and the weather was still so good, so I decided to do one more walk! 💪🏼
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  • Sealy Tarns Viewpoint

    3. Januar 2020 in Neuseeland ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    This was for sure the craziest decision today. 🙈😂

    I can say, after this one I had no energy left anymore😅😂

    The start was nice and easy over a nice track than I had to turn left and the track started to slowly go up the hill. At that point, I still didn’t realize which „hill“ I was supposed to walk up 🙈
    I met a German couple and they said: Have fun and good luck! And I was asking then it is going to really tough to walk the track. And the woman just said: No not at all, it’s only 600m high different and a little bit over 2000 steps!! So don’t worry, it’s going easy, or not 😂😂

    Ups, that’s gonna be interesting 🙈
    Well as I was on my way already I said, I give it a try, I can always turn around. But to be honest, I still didn’t really realize, what I was going to do.

    I noticed it shortly after when the steps started. From now on, it was like this all the way up to the lookout of Sealy Tarn! 😳

    I can’t describe how it was, small steps, big steps, steep ones, really steep once. After a while I hated steps... And the longer it took me the worst it got.
    I don’t know how many times I had to Stopp, it was many, many times. Many people were passing me, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to do it, no matter how long it’s going to take.
    The higher up I got the view over the area was getting better and better. It keeps you going, for a while.
    After over 1 hour I got to so exhausted that I was really thinking that I can’t make it and wanted to give up. But the people that came down and passed me at that point were pushing and motivating me to keep on going and told me, that it’s not so far anymore and that I can do it!
    I was too exhausted to thank them for that, I really needed that to get me up to the lookout! And, as always, it was so worth it to go all the way up!
    Still perfect weather and an incredible view!
    Well, the wind was really cold, not surprising as I was quite closed no to the glaciers and up on 1250m!

    I stayed only 10 min up there to relax and eat something.
    I could keep on going for another 400m up to the Mueller Hut but I was too tired for that and I also saw, that the clouds were starting to really push over the mountains and I didn’t want to get stuck somewhere up here in bad weather.
    So I started to walk down. Also not so easy and a really tough job for the legs.
    I was back in my car after 2 hours and 40 minutes. I couldn’t believe it. It took me 1 hour and 35 min to walk up! It felt like 5 hours 🙈😂

    My legs were shaking when I stopped beside my car and I was so tired, that I didn’t want to move anymore at all.
    Not even one hour after I came back to my car, the wind was freshening up and it got really, really nasty outside. It got really cold and the clouds were getting more and more and darker.
    So my decision to go back to the car was definitely the right one!

    I spent the rest of the evening with a girl from Germany talking about our experiences here in New Zealand.
    There was no way to cook something outside on the gas cooker, so dinner was a cucumber salad, a cooked egg I still had and some pieces of bread.
    I went to bed around 10 pm, much later then expected but we talked so long and much. She wants to get up at 2.30 in the night to watch the stars, so I said, I will try as well to get up and watch them with her, as they are supposed to be so beautiful out here. Good that the weather got better again after 9 pm and the clouds were starting to disappear again.

    To make it short, I was not standing up, it got so cold overnight here, freezing cold and I could not find enough motivation to get out of my bed 🙈
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  • Lake Pukaki with Mount Cook View

    4. Januar 2020 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    After an ice-cold night, I woke up around 8.30.
    I was awake already a few times before but managed to fall asleep again!
    I got up and had a quick breakfast in the sun, the weather is beautiful again but it was still pretty cold.

    As I noticed that there are no clouds over Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook I just wanted to get going to try to get my perfect picture.
    So I got changed and packed up and left the Campground shortly before 10.

    I stopped at the Glentanner and took with a German girl, that was looking for a ride and she was very pleased about my plan to drive to the end of Lake Pukaki before we go to Omarama.
    The view was perfect!! 😍🥰
    I am soooo glad that I got to see this and I know, that many people never get to see Mount Cook like this. And for me it’s the second day in a row!
    We stopped also at the lookout halfway down the Lake Pukaki!
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  • Pelennor Battle Fields

    4. Januar 2020 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    We then decided to drive a little bit longer way around Twizel to the Pelennor Battle Fields from The Lord of the Rings.

    This time the view was really nice, but it’s hard to say, where exactly they were filming here. But it was anyway worth the trip.Weiterlesen

  • Clay Cliffs

    4. Januar 2020 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    I saw a sign on the road for a turn off to the Clay Cliffs. I asked her if it was ok for her if we drive there as well and she got really happy about it! She said it’s so nice, that I am doing all the extra trips so she gets to see so much more than expected!

    We didn’t really know, what to expect and got really surprised by what we got to see!
    It was so worth it the extra drive over a really bad gravel road 😬 All my tires survived it!!!


    After that, we went to Omarama where I dropped her off and I just went fast into the supermarket there as well before I continued to drive toward the East coast.
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  • Road to Danseys Pass

    4. Januar 2020 in Neuseeland ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    I then took a lunch break at Lake Benmore, I didn’t feel for doing one of the walks, still to much pain in the legs from yesterday and no motivation.

    I also stopped at a place with Maori drawings, but unfortunately, most of them were removed to a museum or destroyed by some idiots. So there was not so much left to see.

    Next Stopp on my list was the Elephant Rocks. Why they are called Elephant Rocks I couldn’t figure out but it’s a nice place for a stop and I anyway planned to spend the night in this area.

    The last stop for today was at the Anatini Fossil Side.
    Also here I could see some nice rocks and smaller caves but the special thing here is, that they found some bones from an ancient whale here!
    So that was really nice to see and the information on the sign was really helpful as well!

    After that, I went to the Campground in the Danseys Pass. Really nice place, in a valley. I got a side directly beside the river. So beautiful and in a way peaceful, but there are a lot of families here and in front of my campsite is the river swing, the big favorite of all children so they are around me all the time 🙈
    But I must say, they are behaving all really good and it’s not as annoying as I was expecting it to be!
    I will try to go to sleep early today, I am really tired. Hopefully, this night is not getting as freezing as last night, my hope is not too high as I was watching everyone fixing hot-water bottles 😬
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