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Traveling the world

December 2019 - April 2020
A 139-day adventure by Christina Read more
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  • TravelerTraveling the world
    Day 28

    Council Hill

    December 28, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 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!    Read more

  • TravelerTraveling the world
    Day 29

    Peak Hill

    December 29, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 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!    Read more

  • TravelerTraveling the world
    Day 30

    Rangitata Rafts I

    December 30, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 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!!    Read more

  • TravelerTraveling the world
    Day 30

    Ragitata Rafts II

    December 30, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 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!    Read more

  • TravelerTraveling the world
    Day 31

    Timaru

    December 31, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 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.    Read more

  • TravelerTraveling the world
    Day 31

    Road to Lake Tekapo

    December 31, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 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 😊💥    Read more

  • TravelerTraveling the world
    Day 32

    Lake Tekapo and MT John

    January 1, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 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 😳    Read more

  • TravelerTraveling the world
    Day 33

    Lake Pukaki

    January 2, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 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... 🙈😂    Read more

  • TravelerTraveling the world
    Day 33

    From Pukaki to Glentanner

    January 2, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 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!    Read more

  • TravelerTraveling the world
    Day 33

    Sunset Mount Cook

    January 2, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 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!! 😍🤩Read more

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