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Susanne and Machiel
Susanne and Machiel

Susanne and Machiel

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    New Zealand forests at its best

    8 febbraio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    There was heavy rain predicted at 8 in the morning, so we woke up before 7 to pack the tent. We had breakfast in the camping hangar and then went to the DOC office around the corner. Our plan was quite ambitious as we wanted to travel the 300km westcoast part up to Kumara today. And along the way, so our hope, do some short walks to stretch our legs and see the landscape. The DOC woman was helpful in telling us where to find the first one of those. Just 16km north we could visit a swamp forest with a 20 minute walk. Once there we first waited a bit until the rain stopped though. Luckily the weather forecast was quite accurate and we didn't see any rain anymore after 11 just as predicted.

    The swamp forest was quite cool. Even more than usual everything is growing on top of each other here, lots of moss everywhere, water on the floor. Very pretty, maybe our favourite forest so far. After a quick and not so spectacular viewpoint stop, we drove straight to Fox. Fox and 30km further Franz Josef are the two towns that are known for their glaciars. Susanne had done a glaciar hike here 10 years ago. Turns out by now those walks are apparently only doable by helicopter transfers. We are not sure why exactly but it might have to do with the shocking retreat. Already back then not comparable in size to some we had seen in Patagonia, a documentation book showed that now there was almost nothing left of the glaciar tongue in the valley. We got a bit sad and decided to skip this area. Instead we opted for lunch with a nice lake view and no sandflies. We were prepared for the worst, as we were finally at the West Coast, their homeland. But they were not home apparently. Lucky us!

    Along the way we also saw some damaged road parts with landslides and construction workers. Later on we had two more nice but not too special forest walks at lake Mahinapua and Mananui Bush. In Hokitika we got some delicious burger takeaways and then drove further to Kumara, where we camped at the Greenstone Retreat. Funny to imagine a town called Sükattoffel or zoete aardappel. The place was cute but maybe a little too hippie and alternative for us.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore
    1

    The Haast Pass

    7 febbraio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Woke up extra early for a morning hike towards the Sawyer Burn Hut. Not a particularly long one, but we did have to climb over 500 meters. So that was steep, but the view over Lake Hawea was worth it. Just when we wanted to leave the sun broke through, which made it even better. We walked back down to the campsite and packed our tent.

    A stop at the Blue Pools proved to be an excellent lunch spot. The naming was a bit odd as it was a river, but we'll take it. The car park was busy and the trail too, but once at the river we found a relatively quiet spot in half shade to eat lunch while watching others swim in the cold water or attempt stone skipping. Naturally we also tried to skip stones, but we weren't very successful. Probably in the tennis category for us.

    The route we took went through the Haast pass, but we were not in a hurry. There were mountains all around us, some with snow on top. Very pretty! Next stop was the Thunder Creek Waterfall, which had a great free fall. We stopped at one more waterfall, roaring Billy, before turning into our campsite of the night in Haast. A bit pricey and nothing special but we took it for the lack of alternatives. It wasn't that late yet either so we could still enjoy the sun on the grass field before cooking dinner.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore
    2

    Stuck again

    6 febbraio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Despite the fact that we had quite some time the previous day waiting for the road to open, we didn't really have a good plan on what we wanted to do today. Knowing that we only had 5 days left in New Zealand and more than 700km to go, we knew it would be almost impossible to do any complete day or multi day hikes. We decided to drive to Wanaka straight away. There we wanted to have a look at the Puzzling World, which had illusion rooms and the world's first 'Great Maze'. The illusion rooms were fun and playing with our minds. The Maze was also fun originally but soon drove us crazy. The challenge was to reach specific points in a specific order, and we utterly failed and got stuck several times. We also read that the average visitor walks around 3.5-5km while the maze only has 1.5km... So that was our unvoluntary hike of the day. It was a good maze. The center also had very social toilets.

    Afterwards we felt mentally and physically tired. So we decided to leave other hikes for the next day and went to the DOC office to ask for nice walking possibilities in the area. Turned out there was a nice one right behind our chosen campsite for tonight. So that sounded perfect for tomorrow. For now we just visited #thatwanakatree and then left Wanaka behind to drive north. The campsite was very crowded but the view of the bay was gorgeous. We could chill on the grass next to our tent at sunset watching some water skiing.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    The great escape

    5 febbraio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    The curiosity was high. How would the streets look? We moved the curtains away and... they were fine. It was sunny, as we had expected, and Riversdale hadn't flooded. The state website however still maintained that the road to Queenstown was closed due to flooding. So were most of the roads on the other side of us. We received another emergency alert: the inhabitants of Gore and Mataura were going to be evacuated and Riversdale should prepare to do so. We had a shower and packed our stuff. Another alert: Wyndham was also going to be evacuated. As this was further down the river, that didn't worry us too much. But we learned that a paper mill near Gore could release chemicals when damaged by the floods, so it felt better to get away from there. It didn't look like we'd be able to get to Queenstown through Gore anyway, so we drove back to Lumsden and put our hopes on that road opening again. The road conditions were fine on the way back there, a world of difference compared to the horrors of the night before. We drove to the closed crossing near Lumsden, monitored by a nice guy in an orange vest, to try and find out what the deal was. He claimed it was purely flooding holding them back from opening it, not slips or damage. With it looking quite good everywhere else that gave us some hope: surely it couldn't be that bad then.

    We went back to Lumsden and joined what felt like hundreds of other cars, vans and campers on a parking waiting for the road to open. Officially this was a legal overnight parking/camping for self contained vehicles only. However, joining an old train under a roof we found some tents that found shelter here last night. Just like lots of other people we were just hanging around on the parking lot, napping, writing postcards, eating lunch and once in a while checking the road status online. At 16:00 our parking spot neighbour told us the road was being opened between 16:00 and 19:00. It wasn't online yet, so we had no idea how they knew, but we and others got excited enough to give it a try. And indeed, orange vest guy was gone! In karavaan style we drove towards Queenstown, sometimes quickly stopping along the way because the nature around us was amazing. Apparently they opened the road for convoys in both directions, so sometimes we had to wait on stretches where only one lane direction was open. There was no flooding on the road anymore but in parts the fields next to the road gave a good impression that it was different here last night. And there were also parts with lots of dirt on the road and machinery to move it onto piles next to the street.

    About 1.5 hours later we made it to the other side. Campings in Queenstown were expensive and we had already lost quite some days and money because of the weather, so we decided to go further. A camping in Cromwell was our aim for the night. Our question if their grass was wet or a swamp, they answered with a laughter and an assuring 'it has dried up quite well'. So that sounded perfect. And we had just enough time to squeeze in the Halfway Remarkable viewpoint and a visit to the world's first commercial bungee jumping site before going there. From the viewpoint we could also see the effect of the flood on the water color and size of the river.

    When we finally went to bed, we really thought 'what a day' but like usual everything worked out well.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore
    1

    Stuck in a flood

    4 febbraio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    We returned to Manapouri at around 14:30. The goal was to drive towards Queenstown and sleep in our tent again on a campsite along the way. It was raining here again however, and it would likely not stop until midnight. Nevertheless, we figured we could camp as the weather the next morning would be dry and likely sunny. We had already researched some good campsite options as well. The car was thirsty for fuel, and our app Gaspy said the best place for that would be in Mossburn. But on the way there it didn't take long before the road was closed. A friendly guy in orange vest told us that due to flooding we'd have to take a detour. In hindsight, this is when we should have turned around and found accommodation back in Manapouri or Te Anau. But we weren't aware of the severity of the situation. Sure, it was raining, and this particular road was just closed, but surely it's not as bad as in Fiordland?

    We only just made it to Mossburn taking the detour, with less than a liter left in the tank, and we fueled the car. But we started wondering if we could camp tonight at all. We saw more and more puddles on grass fields and also close to the road. We realised we couldn't camp tonight unless we wanted to try out how good our mattresses can float. Queenstown accommodation was booked out unless we felt like spending over 240nzd. There was a nice camping with cheap cabins 4 km north of Mossburn, which sounded perfect. But... the road to it was closed due to flooding. We figured we could still get there via a different road taking 44km. That turned out to be wrong. At the crossing to it near Lumsden another nice guy told us that this road was closed too, which also happened to be the road to Queenstown. He mentioned it might still be possible to go to Queenstown via Gore but that he expected more road closures throughout the day as the water levels were rising. Airbnb and Campermate mentioned some motels and hotels in that direction and Lumsden already looked a bit crowded and what was there was expensive. Not knowing where else to go, we continued in direction Gore.

    The rain got more intensive and the road conditions worsened. Several times we had to pass through flooded road parts, which were tricky to control our Suzuki Swift in as the water tried to push it to the side. We reached Balfour, but their only Motel was booked out. We continued another stretch to Riversdale. At this point it was getting a bit desperate, we were sick of driving in these conditions. Riversdale's Hotel was booked out, too. They told us Gore was also booked out. We felt stranded. We considered sleeping in our car or pitching a tent on a small not too flooded piece of grass in the center of Riversdale. Both didn't sound too good. A Suzuki Swift isn't really the car for sleeping. The Internet now told us there was a state of emergency issued for the area. We decided to go back to the hotel and asked if they knew someone with a couch or a floor or at least a roof. They discussed a while, called someone else in the town until eventually two road maintenance workers who stayed in the hotel offered to share a room (they had one each) and give their other one to us. We were incredibly thankful. Especially when we later in the evening received an emergency SMS alert asking inhabitants of Gore to prepare for evacuation, and the river that caused that was flowing nearby Riversdale too. The hotel room wasn't cheap but cheap enough, and the in-house cafe served us a nice pizza dinner. We were mainly glad we could finally relax, and that we didn't end up trying to camp.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    The Doubtful Sound

    4 febbraio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    Our alarms went of at 5:30. We had a quick breakfast, drove to Manapouri, and checked in to our Doubtful Sound Tour. It was raining and the clouds were hanging low when we boarded the boat. Behind us some German girls were joking about New Zealand colors being the different shades of grey around us. The boat ride took about an hour. But this was only to cross the Manapouri lake. While still being rainy and cloudy, the further we got the higher and steeper the mountains around. A nice appetiser for the fjord. At the other side of the lake a bus ride through the jungle over a pass took us to the Doubtful Sound. We couldn't see the fjord from the pass though because the visibility was too poor. When we got on board and went up the deck for the view it still rained a little bit. But amazingly that soon got less and less and eventually stopped altogether. Most clouds moved up so we saw most mountain tops and the few that didn't were just adding to the picturesque view. We actually had almost 100 percent visibility. Way more than we had hoped for after the past days. Just like at the Milford Sound, there were many waterfalls. Although not as many but this time we could see them much better. Unlike the Milford Sound it didn't take long here until our boat was all that reminded of civilisation. We were surrounded by calm dark water, islands and steep mountains with thick temperate rain forest and waterfalls dropping from their tops. It was impossible to get tired of the view even if it was slightly cold. Handy that there was free coffee and tea on board.

    After almost reaching the end of the fjord, our skipper moved the boat into a side arm. The water there was incredibly calm. The skipper turned the engine off and requested us all to stop talking and moving. The water was a mirror and all we could hear was the sound of waterfalls around. The Sound Of Silence.

    It was time to return and when our boat reached its platform after this 2.5 hour cruise, the sun came out. On the way back to the lake, we had some spare time and our bus stopped at several viewpoints. So this time we could view the wonderful Doubtful Sound from the pass. Afterwards the boat took us across the Manapouri lake once more.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    Reading books

    3 febbraio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    Our night at our new hostel wasn't fantastic, it was hot in the room and the air was bad. But it was all alright because today was a chill day. In the morning we went to an agency and booked a cruise trip to the Doubtful Sound for the next day. We were told that the tickets for it were being sold fast, because the other popular cruise option in this area (the Milford Sound) was cancelled. Turns out the entire road to Milford Sound of 120km, the road we drove the previous day, was closed due to flooding and 380 tourists were stuck there. Back at the hostel we saw some videos of landslides and parts of the road had just been washed away. How lucky were we to have done this yesterday! It was hard to realise how close we were. Just because of our hostel change we actually did it the day before. Lucky us!

    We did some grocery shopping and then just read some books. It was amazing to have this lazy day while the rain was pouring down outside.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    There's a waterfall right above us

    2 febbraio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    Today we had two options: do nothing, or do a road trip to the famous Milford Sound. What we didn't do today, we'd do the next day. The weather forecast for both days looked simply terrible, so that couldn't decide it for us. We had to move hostels anyway today, so that made the difference: road trip!

    It was actually quite simple. We would just try to enjoy as much nice landscape as possible from the car and see if we could find some drier moments to get out in between. We set off on our 240km retour journey. The further we drove, the nicer the nature but the heavier the rain. While the clouds were also hanging low blocking the nice mountain views, they also added a mystical atmosphere. And when we reached the last third of the road the mountains came closer, the valley became more narrow and there were waterfalls everywhere, as if huge lakes on the mountain tops overfloated. Very very cool.

    We arrived in Milford Sound around 14:00, had lunch in the car and decided to wait on a parking for better weather. This turned out to be a bit naive. While reading and playing phone games in the car the weather got worse. It was suddenly thundering and the rain at times was so loud it led Susanne to joke "there's a waterfall right above us!".

    We were brave enough to get out nonetheless to take in whatever was actually visible. It wasn't too much at this point as mountains right next to us were only visible occasionally and most of the fjord just disappeared in the clouds. No sign of Mitre Peak, the mountain everyone takes pictures of usually. We didn't even see its bottom nevermind it's top. But we saw plenty of waterfalls and especially one of them was just enormous.

    On the way back we saw some waterfalls literally at the side of the road, with some of the water hitting the asphalt. While being such shit weather it was actually very cool to see the massive amount of water coming down the mountains. And on our way back we were even lucky enough to get to see the mirror lakes in dry conditions, so there was actually some sort of mirror effect.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    Running from the rain

    1 febbraio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    The alarms went off extra early, because we wanted to be as flexible as possible with what we wanted to do with the weather forecast not looking too pretty later in the day. So bad actually that we booked a hostel for the following night, as there was continuous rain of many mm's predicted for several days. We drove to Manapouri, Machiel gave his best. So we actually were about half an hour quicker than maps.me predicted.

    We entered an office for boat tours on the Doubtful Sound. We'd like to do this, but weren't sure when to do it. There was an option for the afternoon/evening, but as the weather was only going to get worse, we preferred to use the good weather of now to do a hike. After visiting the DOC office in Te Anau, we decided to walk a part of the Kepler track. This was actually disappointing us a little as we had hoped the Fiordland area around Manapouri and Te Anau would be able to offer us a nice 3 hour walk up a mountain to get some nice views before the clouds would hide all peaks for the next 2.5 days. Turned out walking that flat part of the Kepler track through forest was our best option if we didn't want to drive an hour further or pay a watertaxi of 50 nzd per person to bring us across the lake to the start of another steeper Kepler track part. We decided to go for it. After all forest in New Zealand isn't that bad either 😉

    It took us most of the afternoon including a late lunch break at a picknick bench of a hut that was also our return point. The forest was nice, there was a river view once in a while and somewhere in the area they also filmed some parts of Lord Of The Rings, so we had a look there too. After that it was time to go to our hostel in Te Anau. We really prefer camping with our tent over hostels, partially because we have noticed so far on our world trip that we tend to sleep better. However due to the ridiculous amount of rain it felt like we had no choice for these few days in Fiordland. The hostel we were at for the night didn't turn out to be too bad.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    Blown away

    31 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    We woke up in our tent. Which is the standard opening of our footprints, and we're sorry for the repetitiveness. But this time we were literally glad our tent hadn't flown away. It was still very windy. We took a much needed shower and had breakfast in the common kitchen area. Then we paid at the reception, as they weren't open anymore when we arrived yesterday evening.

    After some grocery shopping and getting some cash, we went to Demolition World: a 'village' of trash that someone built in their huge garden. It was interesting to look around, but nothing spectacular either. Mainly a lot of mannequins in differently styled houses like a trainstation or barbershop. It could've been set up better.

    We drove further northwest towards Fiordland. And had lunch on a parking with ocean view in Riverton. Then we made a stop in 'Cozy Nook', a bay with some fishing huts. We got out of the car and were literally blown away. The view of the wild ocean waves hitting rocks was also nice to see.

    The problem with such strong wind is that it really doesn't feel very inviting to leave the car. It also makes you very tired. So we did that only once more before leaving the coast: at Gemstone Beach, a beach with some very nice cliffs.

    Further inland the wind decreased and we choose to camp in the sunny and calm Tuatapere.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore
    2

    The little tent that wanted to fly away

    30 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    After last night's bad weather, the sun was back in the morning. We welcomed it with open arms, as a lot of our stuff was still wet. There was a strict 10:00 checkout time so at some point we had to leave. We visited Jack's blowhole, a canyon 200 meter inland with rough sea water. We didn't see a blowhole though as we've seen in small at other beaches, and neither did we see anyone called Jack, so it was slightly underwhelming, especially as it took 40 minutes of hiking to see it.

    On the way to our next stop we drove through Papatowai. This town hosts the Lost Gypsy Gallery, a place where someone with lots of free time and creativity created lots of small or big toys that would move when either pressing a button or turning a handle. Very random and somehow cool.

    After lunch we decided to visit only one of the many waterfalls, our choice were the McLean Falls. A short walk through awesome forest brought us there. Having seen plenty of living forests here, we also went to see a petrified forest at the coast. There were mainly tree stumps and some logs. Hard to really tell that they were stone and not still wood but the weird look in that specific location made the stop worth it.

    We had been driving south for the last few weeks, now this came to an end, as we reached the southern most point of the South Island of New Zealand and didn't intend to visit Steward Island or Antarctica. From here on we noticed how incredibly windy it had gotten at the coast. Going west from here, we reached a nice little light house and found yet another sea lion. This time he was up for a selfie.

    The campsite of the day tried everything to provide wind shelter for us. We were basically surrounded by trees, bushes, a campervan and our car. But it was nonetheless so windy that we had to go rock searching around midnight because our pegs were being pushed out of the ground by pure wind force. When we were trying to fall asleep, we noticed one of the corners at the feet was not attached anymore. We secured the 4 main pegs with one rock each and hoped we'd survive the night.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    Time for our horizontal rain jackets

    29 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Machiel's appointment was only at 14:00. So we had a very relaxed morning. The doctor had some good advice and with some new nose sprays we continued our way further south-west.

    On the way we found a shoe fence, so we added one of our own. That's just the rules here. Near our campsite for the night we visited Nugget Point, a lighthouse in a cool location. While we arrived at the parking the weather got a bit bad, but we have excellent gear so that won't stop us, right? We had rain gear on, but only our sport shoes and that turned out to be a mistake. It was a bit of a walk and the rain only seemed to intensify. At section without wind protection we got hit hard by horizontal rain, so we had to stop looking in that direction and couldn't make any pictures of that part either. Still fun, but arriving back at the car our feet were swimming. We were a bit afraid the grass at the campsite would be a swimming pool as well, but thankfully it was okish.Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    Visiting Otago museum

    28 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We extended our stay at the campsite a bit, as they had a very nice cooking area with good WiFi.
    It was finally time to get some fun books (instead of travel guides) onto our ereader. Thanks Christoph, Sanne, Herman & Chantal for the boekenbonnen! Yeay, we can read books now. 🙂

    The Otago museum was pretty cool. It was free and had lots of things from Maori culture and South Island's history to a big collection of stuffed animals and information on New Zealand's extinct and surviving animals. But eventually our parking time ran out and our energy as well.

    We drove further to a cheap campsite at Sinclair Wetlands. It was in the middle of nature and there were only four spots, each with great grass and a picnic table. So that was really perfect. We went for a walk in the wetlands, had a pasta dinner and enjoyed the evening with once in a while an airplane from Dunedin airport crossing over us.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    Sea lions!

    27 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We took it slow in the morning with showers, breakfast and some more research. Machiel managed to get a check up appointment for his returning flight-ear-problem. Since that was gonna be on Wednesday, we needed to stay in the area. With the Otago Peninsula in front of us, we didn't mind.

    Our first stop was Allan's Beach. Apparently it was possible to see sea lions here. We weren't too convinced because that's what they say at many beaches in this area and then you might see some seals. This time it turns out we were too pessimistic, because right when we arrived at the beach we saw one rolling back into the ocean. Then further down the beach we saw another one. They're pretty big, and they weren't too impressed by us making some pictures. There were some seals too, and on our way walking back to the car we spotted a sea lion coming out of the ocean onto the beach. They like to roll in sand, we learned. And they're a bit picky and it takes awhile before they find their perfect spot to lie down in.

    Right after we drove to the Royal Albatross center up north. Being surrounded by hundreds of seagulls apparently smells like shit, and is very noisy. We didn't know what else we expected. The center had a little free museum which wasn't bad to wander through. We didn't feel like it was worth the money however to go on a King Albatross tour. We had a look around the viewpoints in the area. More loudness and smell.

    The campsite in Portobello was nice, and the weather was too, so we spent some time researching in the grass. Our spot for the night was as big as 6 in the previous campsite. So we really enjoyed it here.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore
    1

    Following Suzanne's advice

    26 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We have had some very cool but very long days. So we really needed some rest. Also, we were running behind in picture backups, our devices batteries were almost empty and we still hadn't figured out what to do on Fiji or afterwards. On the way to the campsite we visited Port Chalmers which offered a nice view over the Otago peninsula and harbour. There was a campsite nearby in Dunedin where lots of reviews commented on the free unlimited quick WiFi. So the decision was made - we spend our day here. Dunedin also provided the facilities to help Machiel to a less tired spork. He went for Dutch Orange.

    The campsite turned out to have quick WiFi indeed, so that was great. We store all our pictures on Google Drive, and at this point we were running some weeks behind, which isn't a safe feeling. The campsite wasn't bad either for the rest, just incredibly cramped.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    Between E and A

    25 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Machiel had already woken up with a partially deflated mattress for a few nights now, so once again Operation 'Find The Leak' had begun. This time not with a hose on the grass, but in a playground pool at a park next to our campsite. Once again it seemed like a hopeless mission, until we heard a sissing sound and then consequently saw bubbles going up from a hole so small it was impossible to see. We didn't have time to patch it as we had to check out of the campsite. But it wasn't hard to remember where it was as it was on a circle right in between the 'E' and the 'A' of its brand 'Sea to Summit'. By now Machiel's mattress is nicknamed Seal to Summit.

    We hadn't slept too well for some nights and had some busy nights, so we decided to take it slow. We bought groceries, had lunch in the park, wrote some blogs, had a walk through the historic city center and then made our way further south. We decided to skip the Moeraki boulders because it was raining and it looked very busy even though it wasn't anywhere near low tide which is when you can see them. Instead we went to Shag Point, where we were the only ones enjoying a short walk at the coast to see some lazy seals. We were lucky as the sun was shining again.

    Shortly before reaching Dunedin, we pulled into a free campsite. It wasn't 18:00 yet but it was already very crowded. We managed to find a small spot for our tent and car. Then it was time to fix Machiel's mattress. While the campsite itself wasn't so nice because of the crowds the nearby beach was and provided a good evening walk.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore
    2

    Penguin safari

    24 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Our first alarm went off as early as 1:00. The sky was clear, there was no moon, no city anywhere close to us, so the perfect spot to watch the stars. That was pretty awesome. A few hours later an early alarm again as we wanted to avoid the heat and the crowds on the Hooker Valley trail. The sun had risen but wasn't anywhere close to warming us up yet due to the surrounding mountains. We managed to set off at 7:30 with our fleeces on, and they stayed on the whole way to the glacier lake as we were in the shadows the whole way. When we arrived at the lake it was really still quite empty here and we spend some time here while waiting for the sun to hit it. There were some icebergs in the water as well. We spotted a tent just off the beach, turned out to be of a French couple who spoke decent English against all odds. Would've been a cool (and free!) place to stay as well with a stunning view, but alas, we hadn't really considered it. We walked back to the campsite and packed our tent.

    Time to leave the Mount Cook area and head back towards the east coast. We realised our fuel tank was almost empty, and the only station in the touristy alpine town was out of order. The next one was in Twizel, some 65km further. This added some extra excitement to the trip but we eventually made it without having to push the car. From Twizel we drove further east through a landscape of yellow grassed hills and dammed lakes. We had a quick stop to look at some elephant rocks (movie set of Narnia) and not very spectacular whale fossils, before arriving to Oamaru, the self-proclaimed penguin capital of New Zealand. Most obviously we had to stop here and do every effort to spot these little cute creatures.

    We arrived at the campsite at 17:00 but the first penguin species, the yellow eyed penguins, were gonna arrive on land just one hour later. This meant we had to be very time efficient. By now we are very good in setting up our tent, so that was no challenge. We got some quick noodle takeaway and drove off to Bushy Beach. Here we hurried to the viewpoint on the cliff above the beach. Some people were just leaving and we were a bit worried that we had just missed the landing. We asked a guy holding binoculars, and indeed one had landed on the beach and gone into the bushes. We looked a bit around the beach but nothing was happening, so we got our noodles and had an enjoyable dinner with a beach view. The weather was perfect. Then Susanne spotted something in the water, and it was a yellow eyed penguin! For how far away it was, it was remarkably exciting. The guy with the binoculars was kind enough to let us have a look through them for a bit. He also knew a whole lot about them since his job is counting penguin landings every evening. Was interesting to talk to him a bit.

    However, there was also another penguin species in town. Handily their landing time is right after the sun sets. So we changed location to the harbour and walked a bit around. The official way to see these little blue penguins - the smallest penguin species in the world - is by paying 40 dollars to sit on a tribune. We were not sure if we wanted to pay for that, and by the time we informed about it the show was already fully booked, and it had already started as well. We knew where the tribunes were however and just beside it you could also have a bit of a look. We saw some small penguins jump up on the rocks, making their way to their nests. The whole thing gave us the feeling that those tickets were overpriced though. We walked a bit around the harbour area and it didn't take long before we also saw penguins trying to get on land outside of the tribune area. They climbed up the rocks but then had to cross first the pedestrian path and later on the parking lot and street. Some people were watching them respectfully from the distance trying to be quiet and still. But as always not everyone does. At some point the penguins were what seemed paralized and afraid to move any further. They were hiding in some small bushy area between the rocks and the pedestrian path. Eventually they went for it and crossed the path. It looked super cute.

    We are happy we could finally see some penguins and it was certainly special but the whole thing about how we humans ruin and scare nature left a bit of a bad aftertaste.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore
    2
    3

    Mount Cook

    23 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    We woke up to the sun hitting our tent straight on. It was nice to open both tent layers and let the sun shine in, while we had a view of the lake right in front of us. We didn't waste time and drove towards Mount Cook Village up north. There we visited the DOC office and asked some information about hikes and camping options. We were a bit overwhelmed by the many possibilities. The decision was made by ruling out options.

    Hiking to a hut on non-marked trails without a GPS and detailed paper map - no (sorry Wilhelm)
    Hiking up 1km in altitude to Mueller hut with all our gear in 27 degrees to camp there in possibly strong winds - no.
    Hiking an easy but most popular trail in the area in the middle of the day - no.
    Hiking up half of the 1km altitude hike to Mueller hut and turning around after a viewpoint - yes.

    This made it possible to do it as a day trip when starting only after lunch. It was still very hot and the sun was strong, but we were only carrying 2 to 3 kg's thanks to our lightweight bags. And this was helpful because the trail was incredibly steep with mostly stairs. It's probably for a reason that it took us 1.5 hours to hike only 2.7km. We had a great view on top.

    Back at the campsite our British neighbours (who called us crazy for hiking under this strong sunshine) gifted us a cold beer, a very welcome refreshment. We spoke a bit about how things were here 20 years ago when they used to travel and camp here.

    After a shower in the town about 2 km from the campsite, we had a pretty plain lentils curry as we ran out of vegetables and found no place to buy them nearby. The plan was to go to bed early to be able to hike the Hooker Valley track (that is the most popular one) before everyone else does. This didn't work out as we suddenly saw lots of Kea birds, New Zealand's parrot. They are the only alpine parrot in the world, and they are capable of... killing and eating sheep. They also like to take apart things for fun. We witnessed several of them destroying the rubber of cars parked at the campsite.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore
    21

    Greetings from the Salmon God

    22 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    On our way west to Lake Tekapo, we had a short stop in the town Fairlie. There we bought a fairly nice vegetable pie for an early lunch snack. Arriving at lake Tekapo, we did the mandatory stop at the church of the good shepherd. It was really hot weather with temperatures reaching 27 degrees. We nonetheless decided to walk up Mount John rather than paying the toll road to the top. For the first part we still had shade from the trees, but once they disappeared it was a sweaty climb. At the top was a tiny café where we had a juice while enjoying the view of lake Tekapo and the sight of Asian tourists that paid to drive up there hold 15 minute long photoshoots with the summit statue.

    Our Campermate app had told us about a free campsite a bit further. On the way we had a look at another blue lake - lake Pukaki, and the surrounding mountains before pitching our tent on our own little peninsula on yet another small lake.

    While eating dinner at our fancy picknick table, a Brazilian guy was fishing in the lake right at the campsite, and it appeared he actually caught something, and it wasn't small. He struggled to clean and prepare it for awhile, but in the end he appeared to have managed, as he and his girlfriend were frying and eating it. Then he walked our way to ask if we wanted some pieces as it was too much for them. It was salmon! Never in a million years would we have dared to think our salmon prayers from yesterday would reward us so soon. The evening was finished by quite the sunset over the Edoras hills.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    Giant's ping pong

    21 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    We couldn't wait to get out of Pigeon Bay. After shaking most sandflies out of the tent, we packed everything and left in the direction of Mount Cook. For lunch, Machiel tried New Zealand's savoury Marmite spread for the first time. It was edible. Susanne had already tried it 10 years ago and wanted none of it.

    We took another break at a giant salmon statue in Rakaia, where we prayed to the Salmon God for good fortune. Who knows, maybe it will pay off one day. Wanting a bit more comfort our next night, we went to a bigger campsite in Ashburton. We really needed to wash clothes, and that was possible here as well. Tricky part with washing for us is that a dryer won't do, we need to air dry our special complex high performance gear or else they might get damaged in the long run. Thankfully they also had drying lines for us.

    The campsite was really nice, practically a large park with their own lake. They actually had showers, and a tennis court where we played a giant version of ping pong. We weren't so good at actual tennis, but it was fun to try. We wanted a swim in the pool after tennis too, but they unfortunately had just closed. We made a lentils curry for dinner.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    Driving in the clouds

    20 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    The reason for choosing Kiwi Basecamp as our hostel for Christchurch was the freshly baked bread they offered in their free breakfast. This turned out to be true and nice. The Internet was also super quick, so we took advantage of it and backed up quite some pictures. Then it was time to take the bus to the airport where we could pick up our second rental car. This time it was a 2012 Suzuki Swift with 184000km on it. Quite a difference to the previous one that had only 5000km and a few less scratches. However, this Suzuki comes with a functional back window wiper and it feels easier to drive. So not bad at all.

    Our first stop was a Pak'nSave for some basic groceries for the next few days. Then we decided to do a day trip to the Banks peninsula. The driving already offered great views but we also did a small walk for a bit more. The clouds were rolling over the mountains but for the rest the sku was blue. We liked it here and decided to spend the night in one of the bays as well.

    Some days earlier at the sandfly hostel in Nelson we looked up some info about sandflies in New Zealand. We found a map that showed you were most likely to be at wars with them on the west coast, whereas on the east coast they were unlikely to bother you. Back then we were happy about that, knowing that we'd head east after Nelson. But arriving at the Pigeon Bay campsite on the Banks peninsula near Christchurch, we learned that this map was clearly a lie.

    The sandflies kept harassing us while setting up our tent and making dinner. By the time we went to bed, hundreds of them had managed to find a place in our outside tent, with quite some sneaking into the inside tent as well when we were going in or out. They're not the most intelligent creatures, but they certainly don't lack in persistence. They take one for the team as well, proven by the one that flew into Machiel's eyeball and some others that attempted similarly suicidal actions. In the end we managed to eat and get into our beds, but it definitely took a lot away from what otherwise was a good campsite with nice surroundings.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    Pancakes

    19 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Our bus was leaving at 16:40 and the Albatross Backpackers where we were staying had a great policy. Sundays start with a free late pancake breakfast at 10:30 and a late checkout at 12:00. So we slept long and then got positively surprised by the whole setup. The hostel owner herself was baking pancake after pancake, they had maple sirup, jam and peaches and some coffee and you could really eat as many as you want. Generally the hostel was a bit alternative and quite nice. They had music instruments everywhere free for use. Art was hanging all over the walls with a small corner in which you could contribute by painting your own master piece (we sadly didn't have time). Lots of board games, a free clothes box, organic tea and coffee. And the people staying there were also nice.

    So we didn't mind spending the hours until the bus would leave, by just hanging around, talking to others and... finally getting some ebooks on our ebook reader! Yes, we are carrying an ebook reader since the start of the trip. While we can proudly say that we seemed to have packed correctly as we really use everything on a regular basis and didn't miss anything really either yet, the ebook reader was an exception. The only books on there were 2 Lonely Planets, one from Norway and one from Ecuador. So it was more than time to change that. Now we are also the proud owners of travel guides from South New Zealand, Fiji, and Australia. Actually useful ones.

    A bus ride of 3 hours brought us to the city of Christchurch. To get to our hostel we had to walk 2.2km which felt heavy with all our stuff. On the bright side that gave us the opportunity to see a bit of Christchurch and how 9 years after the big earthquake the effect is still so visible. Not only are lots of the buildings very new, there are also still quite some clear spots where nothing has been rebuild yet.

    Arriving at the hostel, we smelled weed all over the place. Our dorm room was occupied by 2 others that had already stayed there for several months. It's not the nicest if you can't even find a place to put your backpack that isn't already occupied by dirty clothes, opened bags of rice, plastic cutlery, or other trash. It was basically an incredibly dirty student room where mother hasn't visited for quite a while. At least it was only for one night. A few minutes from the hostel we found a Domino's that sold us 2 pizzas for 10 dollars. That was really cheap, and actually pretty good.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore
    1

    Seals!

    18 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    It was getting late in the day and we were pandering between going to try and see seals still this day or the next morning. But then we remembered the free pancake breakfast so the decision was easy: we were going now. We knew they were somewhere almost half way on the 11km walk around the Kaikoura peninsula. On the way we had great views over the mountains rising everywhere around Kaikoura. We also came across some old whaling history of Kaikoura. At some point we got to the car park where the seal colony was supposed to be. We walked a bit on the rocks and spotted one sunbathing and one swimming in the ocean. Nice, but no colony. We continued walking where we saw a small group of people standing around quite far away. Approaching it, there turned out to be a lot of seals enjoying their day. We could get quite close without them being bothered the slightest. The mothers were enjoying the sun while the small ones where eager to hop around and swim in the small water pool within the rocks. We stayed for a while just being entertained by the spectacle, before we walked besides the cliffs around the peninsula, back to the town. There we had Kartoffelgratin a la Oma.Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    Dolphins!

    18 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    Our alarm went of at 5:00. We dressed up, had a cup of lemon flavoured yoghurt and walked the 5 minutes to the dolphin encounter office. It was still dark outside, silent and empty streets. But at the office was full of people ready for the tour. After waiting a couple of minutes in their café, we were led to a movie room to watch some scenic videos about Kaikoura. Probably to fill the time the swimmers needed to dress into their wetsuits. Once they were ready, we all got to view an instructional video about the tour. For the people who were snorkeling how to behave in the water, and for us and other watchers how to behave on the boat. Afterwards we were led to two busses which led us to two boats. That actually meant that the group sizes were quite small. Each boat carried only 16 swimmers and around 8 watchers.

    The search for dolphins began. The two boats took on a flank formation to maximise their line of sight. It didn't take very long before some dolphins were sighted jumping in the distance. Once there we went to the deck while the swimmers were released into the water. Some dolphins were immediately curious to discover the boat and swam around and under it. We didn't really know where to look. They were so many and they were incredibly playful. One really wanted to show off and did a complete round of jumping around the boat. It's hard to describe but the pure sight of them just made us happy and smile. The cool thing about this was that this was not in a controlled environment. These were wild dolphins.

    We were told that we were lucky because there were 3 kinds this morning while they usually see one or two: dusky dolphins, Héctor dolphins and common dolphins (if we remember correctly). We weren't so good in spotting the differences. We also tried asking them for a selfie with us but sadly they ignored that and just kept swimming and jumping around. So be it.

    After the tour it was still only 9 in the morning. We went back to the hostel for second breakfast and some resting.    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    The wine station

    17 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    After 3 days of very limited breakfast it was extra nice to have a free and almost unlimited waffle, toasts, cornflakes and coffee breakfast. We certainly made use of that. Then it was time to get to the bus station where our bus to Kaikoura would leave around 9:45. The bus ride wasn't spectacular but wasn't too bad either. It took us 6 hours to arrive in Kaikoura including a 2.5 hour stopover in Blenheim. Blenheim is known for its wine. Apart from wine it doesn't have more to offer than a nice park with a clock tower. We bought some lunch and ate it there while waiting for the next bus. The Internet connection in the bus was decent and for once we didn't overthink things and just booked a dolphin watching tour in Kaikoura for the next day at 5:30 - yes, the sunrise tour. In Kaikoura we had to do quite some walking. First to the hostel and then a 5km return getting food at the supermarket. But it was a nice walk too with views on the sea. We made soms great beetroot wraps.

    To make this post a bit more interesting, here some price indication on New Zealand travel life:

    Hostel bed in dorm: 25-35 NZD pp sometimes including breakfast
    Camping: everything is possible from 0 to 35 NZD pp, on the North Island we mostly camped for 15pp
    Fuel: 2,10-2,30NZD per liter, our small rental cars consume 6-7,5 per 100km
    Small rental car including 0 excess insurance: 100 NZD per day in the Christmas week on the North Island, 40 NZD per day now on the South Island
    A burger, chips or other things at the takeaway for 2 people: 8-18 NZD
    Groceries: 30 NZD per day    Leggi altro

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backViaggiatore

    Leaving paradise

    16 gennaio 2020, Nuova Zelanda ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Today's hike was a small one. We only had to reach Totaranui which was like 4km from our campsite. From there a water taxi would take us back to Marahau, with a shuttle taking us back to the sandfly hostel in Nelson. On the way to Totaranui the hike partially was on a 750 meter long beach. We arrived around lunch time at Totaranui, giving us 3 hours before our water taxi would leave. That was perfectly enough time for 2 swims, lunch and a real fruit water ice cream. Yes, Totaranui actually has not only a DOC office with a small kiosk but also street access and a campground with campers, vans and huge tents. We're back in society.

    The water taxi arrived and all we had to do was get on it. But just like when we were kayaking, the waves weren't the friendliest and the water taxi therefore couldn't get very close to the beach. There were a lot of people waiting with us and when the skipper allowed people on, a little girl who tried first got injured because the metal plank he had 'rolled out' for us to walk on swung left to right and hit her on her leg. By then we had several kids crying and the skipper decided to relocate the boarding to the other side of the beach. That meant we got a free extra beach hike. There the water was calmer and everyone could board without further incidents.

    The ride was a bit bumpy but the views were nice and this time the engine did all the effort of moving us around rather than our own arm power. Back in Marahau we had to wait for our bus and then drive all the way back to Nelson. We arrived there a bit after 18:00 and were incredibly hungry. First we had to check in to the hostel though and receive our stored luggage back. This turned out to be tricky as they just couldn't find it. Machiel had the smart idea to just check the 6 bed dorm we had stayed in previously and voila there it was. They just never stored it in the luggage room and it was standing on the ground in the dorm since we left. Thankfully everything was still in it.

    We had a very needed dinner in the pub restaurant of the hostel, had a long enjoyable shower, tried to pack our backpacks as good as we could and went to bed early.    Leggi altro

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