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Half around the world and back
  • Susanne and Machiel
  • Susanne and Machiel

Half around the world and back

Susanne & Machiel attempt to travel for a bit. En savoir plus
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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    Desert and paradise beach

    31 décembre 2019, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Checkout time was at 9:00 but our daily schedule is early anyways nowadays so it wasn't really a problem. Today was the day we'd get to the most northern tip of the Far North District in Northland on the North Island of New Zealand. But our first stop were the sand dunes of Te Paki. Together with Cape Reinga they are the two top tourist sights in the North.

    The Te Paki sand dunes were stunning in the surrounding area of forests and ocean. From the car park we walked uphill to get a sense of how big they were. Quite tough to walk up in the sand, and the wind blowing sand in our faces didn't help. The advantage of being early was that there weren't yet crowds of other people. Some of the few that were as early as we had rented sandboards to go down the dunes with. It was fun to watch them go down but watching them struggle to get back up the hill made us realise you pay a lot of money for tough walks uphill with a sandboard and getting even more sand in your clothes and mouth when going down. We walked a bit around, discovered some lonely grasses that fought for living in such a place and learned that even in lots of sand that isn't a big dessert you easily lose sense for distance and elevation when everything around you is sand.

    Afterwards we went to the famous Cape Reinga. As expected it was crowded there, mainly around the lighthouse, but the site offered other hiking paths as well to nearby views and beaches, and of course we couldn't be stopped. Our choice was the 20 minute walk to Sandy Bay. It was more of a spontaneous decision and up at the lighthouse it was windy and cold, so we didn't bring our swimming stuff. When the beach came into sight it was becoming clear that that was a bit of a shame. The water was very clear and in contrast to the Cape there were only a few people to share it with. Citing Machiel that he doesn't understand why beaches are painted as a concept of paradise, but if they would be then this one would be it.

    We had a long drive south checking out possible campsites on the way. The ones at the beach were totally full and overcrowded, so we ended up in Awanui. IIt wasn't our first choice as it was fairly expensive, but it turned out really great as we could use a good washing machine and drying rack, swim in an actual swimming pool, and enjoy the free WiFi. Plus it was quite small so not so busy.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    2020

    1 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    We were thinking for awhile what we should do with new years eve. Skip the celebrations and just sleep? That didn't sound too bad given that our bedtime was usually before 22:00 due to tiredness and darkness. But we also didn't want to waste the opportunity to celebrate the new decade while we're here. Even though for Susanne this wasn't the first time, as she was here in 2009 as well.

    So we bought some beer and snacks and looked up what could be potential spots for us to go where there would be anything like a public celebration. It's not as if we were in Auckland. There were only small towns around us. We figured most fireworks would take place at the beaches and that most people would head there as well, so we drove to Ahipara. On the way we bought burgers at a takeaway and ate them for dinner at a random parking lot. In Ahipara we turned onto a parking lot at the beach, but it didn't seem like there was anything going to happen there. We drove further and found another one where there were a few other cars and vans parked. Conveniently there was also a public toilet. We waited until around 23:30 and then more and more people from surrounding homes gathered on the beach, some with fireworks. While being among the first to enter the new decade, we were enjoying being at the beach watching fireworks around us in very comfortable temperatures.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    Welcome to the jungle

    1 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    We went to bed late, so the checkout time at 10 felt a bit cruel. We didn't feel very energetic for another day full of sightseeing but drove south anyways. A few minutes from Awanui we got to the slightly bigger town of Kaitaia. We got some groceries and went to our first i-site, the tourist information of New Zealand. The building was nice and we got some good info's on a nice Kauri forest in the area.

    Kauri trees are native trees to New Zealand. They usually grow in the most diverse forests here. The only problem is that many Kauri trees are getting ill from dieback, a disease without cure that kills Kauri trees. Therefore some areas are completely closed to the public and others have cleaning stations installed. The latter was the case at our camping in the Puketi forest. It was a simple cheap camping but had all we needed, and there were 2 Kauri walks super close by. It wasn't busy either, which meant we could fully immerse ourselves in the jungle and the wildlife.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    Sticks and stones

    2 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Today we wanted to see some boulders. They are visible in Koutu at low tide and a few hours around that. We hadn't really planned that but we were lucky to be there at a good time. It made a nice walk along the beach and there were lots of oysters attached to some of the boulders. Afterwards we drove to the west coast and had a nice yoghurt break at a viewpoint over the natural Hokianga Harbour. Further south the road we did the mandatory stop to visit Tane Mahuta, the tallest known Kauri tree. As expected it was very touristic and crowded. But there was a nice grass field as well which was a good lunch spot. Today's lunch was based on 'Dutch Wholemeal Grain' bread. It wasn't exactly what we know as Dutch bread but not too bad either.

    The mission of finding a camp spot took us to the Kai Iwi lakes. It didn't look bad but it was so crowded that we didn't like it too much. We drove on to Dargaville, where we found a farmhouse that offered camping spots on their huge fields of grass. The owner was really kind and gave us and some other guests a free tour of their collection of regional items. It was a great exhibition with two rooms: one dedicated to the history of kumara (sweet potato) farming in New Zealand; and the other a large collection of basically everything you can find in the ocean, from whale vomit and shark bones, to shells in all sizes. They also had swords of swordfish, and a leopard seal skeleton. Also the dining room for their guests had some interesting collected items hanging all over the ceiling and walls including a small underwear collection, a nudists suitcase, and some other rarities. A really great place to stay.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    Learning about Kauri history

    3 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Checkout was at 10, we had a relaxed morning with a shower on the farm. Before leaving we had a look at a part of their land which had the smallest chapel of New Zealand, some chickens that thought we were there to feed them, and some other funny objects they had no space for anymore in their shed exhibition.

    Next stop was the Kauri museum, but not before we had to return at some point because we realised we had forgotten food that was still in the fridge. When we finally got to the museum, we used a discount card we received from the car rental company, so the entrance price wasn't too bad. We read good reviews about the museum and they turned out to be correct. It was a huge museum with too much information to take in about kauri trees, gum, and New Zealand history. It was very interesting to learn about the value of the Kauri tree and its gum in the past and how they build dams that they would open once the water was high enough to move these huge heavy trees from the forest to the coast.

    When we were ready to leave again we discovered that it had rained in the meantime, so our far too dirty car got a free wash and looked reasonably dirty now. We drove further with the goal of sleeping somewhere close to Goat Island, where we wanted to snorkel the next day. This turned out tricky again as we didn't find 75NZD (45€) an acceptable price for a campsite. We ended up in Whangateau were we spend 46NZD and were positively surprised by all the new facilities they had. And we were lucky too, as they had exactly one spot left. We cooked the usual pasta dinner, had a late evening walk to the local graveyard, and did some more research about where we were going next.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur
    2

    Defeated by water

    4 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    So our plan was to go snorkeling at Goat Island where Susanne also snorkeled 10 years ago. Beforehand we had plotted out a diving shop we'd go to that had good reviews for renting cheap snorkeling gear. However, when we woke up it was very windy and not too warm. Machiel hadn't slept very well and was shivering. We decided to pack our backpacks first as we had to hand in the car in the end of the day. This was a bit of a challenge since we recently obtained some more stuff, like beach towels. But we somewhat managed to squeeze it all in. Then we first had a look at the conditions at the beach. It wasn't too perfect, but there were other people in the water. Susanne decided to give it a go, and rented snorkeling gear at the beach instead of the other shop, as it was somehow even cheaper (35 NZD for 2 hours vs 40 for the whole day) given that she would anyways only use it for 2 hours and not a whole day. The first snorkel wasn't too waterproof which meant it got it bit too salty, but after switching it for another one, it was working well. The underwater world had some really big fish to offer. Among them the big-gray-with-shiny-turquoise-dots-fish and the big-red-white-striped-fish-who-likes-to-stick-to-the-ground. It wasn't as great as in Susanne's memory, also because the sea was a bit rough and therefore the water not that clear, but it still pretty nice. Machiel meanwhile was the flipflop & towel guy. After a while a break was needed as the water was, despite wearing a wet suit, very cold. She went in once more for a little while, but the sea didn't have much more to offer today. The car meanwhile had warmed up a lot but it took Susanne quite a while in it until she felt warm again.

    We drove to Auckland trying to find a cheap gas station to fill up in. This wasn't easy, but we found one with a small detour. Arriving at the car rental location in Auckland, the car was quickly inspected while we were packing whatever was left in it. Then we walked to the hostel we booked. Yes, for the first time in 13 nights we were sleeping at a hostel again. It didn't have any atmosphere but it was functional and provided us with a good kitchen to bake the free kumaras we got on the kumara farm 2 nights ago. That was delicious.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    To Tongariro

    5 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Auckland was surprisingly quiet and empty for being a big city. We took the bus in the early morning from the SkyCity bus terminal, destination National Park. Not a national park, but a small town near a national park called National Park. From here we want to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing which is supposed to be one of the best day hikes in the world. The town isn't big but has a small shop that sells groceries, souvenirs and basic outdoor gear. It was good enough to provide us with all ingredients for a nice pizza dinner. The atmosphere in the lodge we're staying in is like a mountain hut from the 90s or so. They have a ping pong table, a nice kitchen, hot tubs and we even got upgraded to a private room with en suite bathroom. Not bad after so many nights in our tent. Good to know we can stay here 3 nights.En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    Stressful research

    6 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    We booked 3 nights in this town as it would give us a bit of flexibility with when we would do the Tongariro crossing. This turned out to be a useful decision as we were told rather immediately that it wasn't going to happen the first full day we'd spend here. The winds were too powerful, but according to the forecasts it was going to get a bit better the next day. Fingers crossed. We had a lazy morning but also wanted to do some research on our future plans in New Zealand as we didn't have any accommodation or transportation booked after this town. Due to our indecisiveness this became a stressful process. To make the day a bit more fun we had lunch in the local takeaways and played some pingpong in between. Still took us a lot more time to research from then on,
    and only late in the evening we finished what we wanted. Good news: we heard the shuttle bus is planned for the next morning, so we were now completely in hike preparation mode.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    The Tongariro crossing

    7 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    The weather was still a bit questionable in the morning, so the operators decided that instead of the usual schedule of shuttle buses, there would only leave one, at 9:30. With the latest shuttle back leaving at 18:00 that also immediately decided for us that a side trip to the top of Mount Doom would not be possible. Our shuttle dropped us off at the trail at 10:10, so we knew we had to cover the 19km in less than 8 hours. In the meantime, we'd face 1100 meters of elevation. Tough trail on paper, and we also planned to enjoy the sights now and then instead of just marching on. The trail started easy, mostly flat and an easy to walk surface, some parts even had wooden walkways. With 1500 people walking this on an average day, it's clear that they invested a lot in preserving the nature. Today it didn't feel too crowded though. The first quarter was therefore covered quite quickly and arriving on the top of the devil's staircase, it was time for our first lunch break. The wind was climbing up the mountain with us, and we had to find some shelter behind boulders to not get too cold. The top of Mount Doom was shy at first, but was showing itself more and more. It stayed mostly cloudy most of the hike, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. We continued walking through a flat valley before hiking up to the Red Crater. This and the way down on the other side were probably the hardest parts of the hike with lose rocks and sand, so easy to slip and fall. It was here were we encountered the two least prepared people, hiking down wearing sneakers and a sweater having not more than a shopping bag over one shoulder that looked like it didn't contain more than a water bottle. It just didn't look right at all, but who knows, maybe they made it.

    The sights from the Red Crater area were beautiful. We had Mount Doom with its red glow, as well as the Red Crater itself, plus the cyan Emerald lakes down the hill on the other sight. We also started smelling sulfur, so the whole package was very Iceland-esque. Logically we tried to spend as much time as possible here, having a second lunch break right after the top of Red Crater. This was especially nice since Susanne didn't have much time here last time as she climbed Mount Doom back then and the weather got foggy once she reached the emerald lakes. To not miss the bus, we had to move eventually. The path was leading up a little to the blue lake. While not being spectacular itself, we had nice views of the area we had left behind us. Once that was no longer in sight, we still had 10km to go, all downhill. Ironically we could see the busstop already down the hill, but it took forever to get any closer. There was a decent view over some lakes and hills, but the repetitive hike down, mostly on some sort of rubber mats they had laid down, was certainly our least favourite part of the hike. With a few kilometers to go we thankfully reached a forest, so we had something else to look at. And forests in New Zealand are always very nice to look at because of their diverse plants.

    We reached the bus stop a few minutes before 18:00 and the shuttle arrived with us. Perfect timing. We still waited for some more people to arrive before heading back to our lodge. While our bodies didn't feel like they did nothing, they didn't feel as bad as we'd expect after a 19km hike either. So while being a long hike with lots of elevation, the relative ease of walking it makes it pretty doable.

    Back in the lodge we enjoyed a short stay in the free hot tubs and then ordered some food from the in-house bar which was pretty good and a lot.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur
    1

    The Capital

    8 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    After 2 months of travelling we are increasingly noticing that days of not doing anything special and days of research and booking things are also part of the deal. Today was going to be such a day. Our bus to Wellington only left at 15:00. So we had some time in the morning to book accommodation for the South Island and inform ourselves about the Abel Tasman Coastal Walk, one of the so called Great Walks of New Zealand. We also decided to cook for lunch instead of dinner since our bus would arrive in the late evening in Wellington. The bus ride itself took 5 long hours including a short stopover in Bulls - a town were people find themselves very funny 😉

    The hostel in Wellington was mainly decided based on its location: right next to the transport hub where our InterCity bus arrived and where our shuttle bus to the ferry would leave the next morning. After making our beds and eating a bread with salami dinner, we wanted to go to the supermarket around the corner, but for whatever reason it was closed. Not having time in the morning we walked a bit around to find an open supermarket so we'd have a breakfast to eat. Then we slept in probably the least comfortable beds so far this trip (including our tent mattresses!), in which it felt like the mattress had a sinkhole in the center.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    Crossing the Cook Strait

    9 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    After a pretty bad night in shitty beds we had a quick breakfast before catching our shuttle bus to the station. From there we were driven to the harbour where the ferry would take us to Picton on the South Island. The ferry took about 3 hours, we had some comfortable chairs, free sometimes available WiFi and nice views over the Malborough Sounds. Arriving in Picton we picked up our checked in bags and entered the bus to Nelson. The bus ride was cool, it was quickly noticeable that the nature on the South Island is a bit wilder. We checked in at our hostel and immediately walked to the Nelson i-Site for information about the Abel Tasman Coastal Walk. We wanted to combine a multi-day hike with a day of kayaking. It wasn't exactly possible how we imagined and got extra difficult through having to find a good combination of available campings and good weather. Loaded with a kilo of information flyers we walked back to the hostel. We liked it as it wasn't too big and got recently renovated. We made dinner in the very nice kitchen and then researched how we wanted to do the trip. We booked the needed campings along the trail and went to bed.En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    Playing darts

    10 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Waffles for breakfast is a good start to the day, one of the pros of this hostel. We knew we had to leave it to relocate to another hostel, but we weren't in a rush. We booked some more accommodation for the following week, did an attempt at playing darts and talked to some people that also happened to sit in the common rooms. When we knew we could check in at the other hostel, we put on our backpacks and walked through the town. We picked up some wholemeal bread which turned out to be very good. At our new home we immediately put on a wash, and played some table football. They also had a nice outside area here. We just couldn't spend much time there since you get eaten alive by the sandflies. Finding a supermarket here wasn't as easy and making wraps didn't work out well as we couldn't find minced meat nor good lettuce and avocado. The good side of this was that we had spinach for the first time in 2 months and it was delicious.En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    Nelson

    11 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    The day started again with a waffle, toasts and cornflakes for breakfast. Then we had our productive hour of the day, where we organised transportation to and from the Abel Tasman National Park, a water taxi to pick us up at the end of the hike and a kayak for the first day. All that for 378 nzd for the 2 of us was certainly not cheap but we felt it was a fair deal, especially after knowing that prices in South America were often higher despite that living costs there are lower.

    The weather was nice and we decided to have a walk through Nelson. We don't really know why but we really like the city and its atmosphere. While failing in finding a new bikini, we did both succeed in buying new sun glasses 😎. We also visited a church that had held a creative Christmas tree competition for non-profit organisations.

    So we are almost ready to head off for a 4 day kayak and hike along the coast adventure. Once again we will hence be offline for a while.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur
    1

    Motueka

    12 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    So in the previous hostel in Nelson we spoke to an Israeli girl who had a van. She said back then that on Sunday she'd planned on driving north and that she would take us to Motueka if we'd want to. Our plans weren't set in stone yet back then but now we knew we wanted to go there on Sunday too, so we contacted her. She was still up for it which was great, especially since the InterCity bus going that morning was already fully booked. We walked to the old hostel and before we knew it were on our way to Motueka in an old Toyota van.

    Arriving there it turned out difficult to park to drop us off as there was a busy market in the park in front of our hostel. We couldn't enter our dorm yet as it was too early, so we walked around a bit on the market and in the town to continue searching for a new bikini for Susanne. The old one had sadly given up after at least 6 years. We were lucky and not only found a new one but also got some great Asian food and fresh strawberries on the market. For a second lunch, we got some fish and chips at a takeaway and ate it in a mediocre park.

    After a nostalgic walk around the town visiting the hostel where Susanne stayed while working here 10 years ago, it was time to prepare for the upcoming hike in the Abel Tasman National Park. We had already sorted out which clothes and gear to bring as we left everything else in the hostel in Nelson that morning. But we still needed to buy food for the coming 4 days and pack it nicely in our bags. To turn our leftover 500gr of oats into 4 breakfasts, we decided to buy eight 35gr bags of oats with cinnamon and sugar to add one to each breakfast. For the rest we stuck to the usual hiking foods and amounts.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    Sea kayaking

    13 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    After a rushed early morning of eating breakfast and final preparations, we were picked up at 8:00 by our kayak operator. We were taken to Marahau, where our kayaking trip would begin. Together with a German family of 5, we got a quite detailed introduction on how to use the kayak, where to put out bags, what to do if we happened to turn around the kayak or in any other emergency situation. The briefing was really good but also took about one hour. He asked if we had any kayaking experience, we answered: "yes, on small Dutch canals". We were good to go. Anyone could do sea kayaking, apparently.

    By the time we were actually in the water it was 10:30. This gave us 5 hours to kayak all the way from Marahau to Anchorage which was supposed to take us 4 hours and didn't leave a lot of slack for breaks. But we were still positive we could make it, given that the ocean water looked calm enough in the bay, and we were told we'd have the wind in our back.

    That however turned out to be utterly wrong. We were told to stay near the shoreline for the calmest weather, but even there we soon started getting strong headwinds and high waves. It was also going towards high tide, and the tides are particularly strong in this area, or so we heard. In the bays the water was OKish to kayak around and have a look at cliffs and see and hear the bird life. But every time we kayaked around corners of cliffs the wind got very powerful and the waves were several meters high. It really felt like a rollercoaster and that the waves could slam us over if we didn't hit them at a near-perfect 90 degree angle. At one point we felt in desperate need of a break and saw the German family on a narrow beach, so we figured we'd stop there as well. With no sea kayak experience we didn't really look at the waves near the beach too much, and when trying to navigate onto the only free spot left at the tiny beach we managed to get turned sideways by the waves. Thankfully some of the family saw this happening before it probably actually happened, ran towards us and dragged our kayak straight and onto the beach.

    We ate some bread but the weather was cloudy and cold, and the beach was only getting smaller towards high tide. Another couple arrived and when landing had the same problem we had: their kayak was pushed sideways. This time Machiel could be the hero as he dragged their kayak onto the beach. But the waves were looking increasingly unfriendly and we were wondering how we were going back out there. We had realized by now that reaching Anchorage was out of the question. It was past 13:00 at this point and the part to come was mostly on open sea and nicknamed the 'Mad Mile'. Thankfully the kayak operator had clearly explained that we could also leave the kayak at Observation Bay, not far from where we were.

    However, to get there we needed to actually get back into the water without turning the kayak upside down or filling it entirely with water. This was a fun challenge but we eventually made it (albeit it with Machiel sitting in a puddle) and paddled our way to observation beach. When we called the kayak operator to let them know we would leave the kayaks here, we also heard from them that the weather had gotten worse than expected this morning. Then it was time for a bit more lunch before we started our 1.5 hour hike to Anchorage. The trail was easy and especially enjoyable since we had our big bags transferred by water taxi.

    In Anchorage we found a very nice spot for our tent opposite of a dried up river/ocean bed. There was a really good kitchen area for cooking, and clean toilets too. There were many birds walking around the campground. They were nice to watch and not shy but we found out soon that they would do everything they could to get peoples stuff. Plastic bags seemed to be one of their favourites and so we soon found our trash bag and it's content spread out over 20 meters. That taught us the lesson and from then on we were more careful.

    To finish off the day we went for a walk along the beach and found some cool huge boulders that we could walk through. While the kayak ride was wild, we still had a good time but it was even better to enjoy the nice landscape when not being shaken by the waves. Yellow beaches, jungle that reaches up to the beach and blue turquoise water - hard to get better than that.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur
    21

    A mistake we've never made before

    14 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    We woke up to sun hitting our tent. It was breakfast time. And it was here that we realised we had left 500gr of oatflakes and 400gr of milk powder in the hostel in Motueka. We don't know how this could happen. First time for everything we suppose.

    And this was not the W Trek. There were no shops and restaurants around here. So, in the face of overwhelming odds, we were left with only one option: we were going to have to science the shit out of this. We had 35gr of sugary cinnamon oatflakes per person per breakfast, which would last us not very long. But by mixing it with water we'd create sugary cinnamon oatmilk. This is high level stuff. Then for this day we could add the banana and apple, and the next two mornings we'd crumble our remaining energy bars into it, plus a handful of nuts, and voilà: we had ourselves a still not filling enough but somewhat mediocre breakfast that could hopefully get us through these mountains without snack breaks.

    Not that we believe in God, but it felt like heaven had sent out some local bird to steal a bag of pita bread for us. We asked all other campers around but when none admitted it was theirs, we happily took the few slices of pita bread to add to our diminished stock of food.

    The hike was first leading along the beach before going into the jungle again. The weather was great and we came across some very clear rivers. A side trip of a few minutes led us to Cleopatras Pool, a nice natural pool within the river and a natural mossy slide. This made an excellent lunch break spot while watching others going into the cold water and use the partially painful looking slide. We still had 9km to go and continued along Torrent Bay, more jungle, and a hanging bridge above Falls River. We considered trying a swim at Medlands beach but decided to continue to our campsite at Bark Bay, set up our tent, and then try there instead. We first walked along the whole long and nice bay to have a look around and to find the best spot in terms of wind. There was a very clear river entering the sea on the other side of the bay but we eventually ended up walking into the water in front of our tent. Turned out the water was pretty shallow and it would take very long to get anywhere deep. This was probably because it was almost low tide and is probably way better at high tide. We anyways rolled a bit around in the water and then decided to try the shower we spotted on our arrival. Bad timing had it that we had to queue behind 2 other people and the shower gave up before it was our turn. However, their was still a water tap with a bit of an unreliable stream but good enough for us. You can't really expect more when being on a hike in nature.

    The campsite was actually located on a bit of a sandbar, in front the beach and sea, behind a lagoon that's filled at high tide. Remarkably, even here the New Zealanders were able to install water toilets and a nice kitchen area with drinkable water. A pretty cool spot to set up your tent and have dinner.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    Walking on the seabed

    15 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Waking up with a beach view - we could get used to that. After our improvised breakfast we had a 15km hike to do of which the last 3km were only passable around low tide. And since low tide was either at 7:22 or 19:53 we decided to go for the evening low tide and take our time in the first 12 km. After about 2 hours through the usual amazing jungle, we arrived to Onetahuti Beach. We had heard that this beach was very nice and that turned out to be true. It was great weather and the sun had quite some power, so it was only logical that we would go for a swim, especially because now it was almost high tide, so the water was quickly very deep and that made it very easy to actually swim. The water was cold but who cares if you can swim in such a location! There were no showers here either but by now we were pretty handy rinsing the salt off using a foot tap.

    Afterwards we were very hungry. We decided to only have half of our usual lunch, and then cook at Awaroa in the late afternoon while waiting for the low tide crossing and have the second half of our lunch when arriving to our campsite. This required some discipline but worked out somewhat.

    Having spent 2 hours at Onetahuti, it was time to get moving again. Already while walking along the beach we noticed that it was really getting high tide: the trail which was basically the beach was getting very small and a part required passing over a small ocean river. The trail afterwards was surprisingly hilly but apart from exhaustion also offered amazing views of the Awaroa Inlet which was still filled with more or less shallow water giving it all shades of blue and turquoise. In Awaroa we prepared dinner and then decided to wait at the hut for the crossing. It was also a good moment to evaluate how much food we had left for the following 24 hours: 9 wraps, 70gr oats, 2 energy bars and some nuts, honey and peanut butter.

    We read beforehand that the crossing is possible from 1.5 hours before up to 2 hours after low tide and low tide was predicted at 19:53. Speaking to a ranger at the hut, we heard that predicted low tide times are not so accurate and that instead of starting the crossing at 18:22, we should attempt no earlier than 19:00 and even then it would probably still mean we could get wet up to our waists. That wasn't exactly what we had invisioned as a low tide crossing.

    Turned out we were not the only ones being surprised by the delay and depth. Several people were waiting on our side of the river, but a couple from the other side attempted the crossing first. Someone on our side had binoculars, so we could follow their progress and it wasn't looking too good as they clearly struggled to find the shallowest path to walk. After they arrived and some others on our side started crossing as well, it was time to go. The sun was going down and after the crossing we still had to hike some kilometers and set up camp. The crossing was a combination of sticky mud with sharp shells, and now and then we had to go knee deep through a stream that tried to pull you to the right. Susanne lost her flip flops a few times, but eventually we managed to reach the other side. There we struggled to clean and dry our feet so we could put on socks and shoes again, while being under attack by sand flies. And believe us, sandfly bites are among the most itchy things you can imagine. Especially because they tend to bite your feet so every step you'll feel it. After putting on shoes eventually we walked to the campsite in one go, spoke to the other people that crossed, and went to bed.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    Leaving paradise

    16 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ⛅ 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.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    The wine station

    17 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ⛅ 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    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    Dolphins!

    18 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ 🌙 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.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur
    1

    Seals!

    18 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☀️ 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.En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    Pancakes

    19 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ⛅ 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.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    Driving in the clouds

    20 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☁️ 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.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur

    Giant's ping pong

    21 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ☁️ 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.    En savoir plus

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  • Susanne and MachielHalf around the world and backVoyageur
    21

    Greetings from the Salmon God

    22 janvier 2020, Nouvelle-Zélande ⋅ ⛅ 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.    En savoir plus

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