Babsi & Conrad

Here we are in the land of the kiwis

Although one of the long-awaited highlights on our trip, we didn´t spend much time preparing our stay in New Zealand. With a couple of guide books and countless recommendations (which triggered expectations) in our pockets we left Christchurch southbound. No doubt our well travelled rental car (190.000 km) knew its way around and started a clockwise tour around the South Island.

Travelling - it´s more than just sight seeing and sun bathing: planning, accounting, controlling - it´s all part of it. No question who´s the boss here.

The south-eastern coast offered incredibly close encounters with penguins and sealions.

Baby penguins up close

We mostly stayed at basic but fantastically located campgrounds mangaged by the Department of Conservation (DOC) - either near the coast, along riverbanks or next to pristine lakes.

Camping in New Zealand

We got almost annoyed by saying "I´ve never been so far south in my entire life" during the last three months. We have pushed our geographical boundaries so many times on this trip - but visting Slope Point as the southernmost point of the South Island marked a - however temporary - end of this. Not much there but you feel like you could almost see Antarctica.

Slope Point

Beautiful and lonely beaches everywhere

Arriving at the Fjordlands National Park in the south-west corner of the South Island, we also paid the world-famous Milford Sound a brief visit.

What a camp spot! (along Milford Sound road)

Especially a short but steep hike up into a mountain saddle was worthwhile as we not only felt some snow under our feet but also witnessed an amazing sunset overlooking Milford Sound and the surrounding mountains.

Afternoon hike through patches of snow

We couldn´t come to New Zealand but not go 'tramping'. We decided to do the Dusky Track, which doesn´t get the attention as most other tracks. It is not only a bit more demanding but also harder to get to. After an hour of gravel road and 32 kilometers on a charted boat across Lake Hauroko (with about 460m the deepest lake in New Zealand) we were dropped off at the trailhead and right away eaten by sandflies, tiny little beasts, the bites of which do hurt for days. The next days we spend crawling up and down and across tree roots and through dense and misty native forest (and lots of mud, too) but also had amazing views across the mountains and towards Doubtful Sound. Similar to the campgrounds mentioned before, the DOC provides basic huts along the way, so we 'only' had to carry our food for six to eight days but no tent. We were lucky on our first night, when we were welcomed by a group of local farmers who invited us to a delicious and unexpected steak dinner and chocolate cake. No wonder they could enjoy all this luxury: they were flown in by helicopter the day before. Luckily, they even left some supplies behind when they left, so we decided to stay another day at the hut and bake some bread - only using flour, water and cheese.

Our water taxi across Lake Hauroko

Delicous! Cheese filled 'bread'

Kea - beautiful but always suspicious to steal your belongings

The 'Pleasant Ridge' with views across to Doubtful Sound and the sea

'Walkwires' made some of the river crossings easy and enjoyable

Lush and overgrown forest - making it hard to find the track

Another lake crossing at the end of the track (Lake Manapouri) and we were back in civilisation - only to realise that not just we but also our car had an empty battery.
Eventually we made our way up North along the west coast with a few sightseeing stops along the mighty Mount Cook, highest peak of New Zealand.

On the beach with Mount Cook in the back - towering above the clouds

Cicadas - often heard, seldom seen

Always worth stopping: unusal roadsigns for us

Our northernmost stop on the South Island was the Pelorus Sound (part of Marlborough Sound), where we spend a day kayaking the quiet and not so quiet waters.

A giant stingray amongst countless jellyfish

Jetty at Elaine Bay

Sea-kayaking near Elaine Bay

Lunchtime on a lonely beach

We crossed the Cook Strait by ferry and arrived in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. There we spend two lovely days with distant relatives, who moved from Austria to Wellington in the 1960s. It´s been great to see this Austrian-Kiwi mix, especially when having a conversation in German.

Our Christmas present was due on our next stop: In Taupo - the centre of the North Island surrounded by an unique landscape shaped by volcanos - we went on a small plane and disembarked at a height of 3600m. Although our 'tandem-masters' pushed us out of the plane rather than us jumping bravely, we had a mind-blowing 45 seconds of freefall, followed by a wonderful, peaceful and much slower descent with the parachute open.

Let´s go skydiving!

Landing approach into Taupo airport

Another hiking trail, the Tongariro crossing, normally a more or less easy family day walk across some picturesque volcanos was nothing but a fight through stormy clouds. So, although we´ve 'done it', we only know from postcards what it would look like.

Mount Tongariro in stormy clouds

The Bay of Islands, north of Auckland, attracted us with its superb conditions for a day of sailing. Although we didn´t have the best wind, we had a very relaxing day on the boat and some remote beaches in the Bay of Island.

Early morning in the Bay of Islands

Skipper Conrad - pretending to be in control of the 40ft yacht

Mermaid Babsi - looking for dolphins, penguins and stingrays

Islands in the Bay of Islands

A brief stop in Auckland - including another visit to family (second cousin once removed ?) - finished off our excellent time in New Zealand, a land too vast to capture in four weeks.

Auckland seen across the crater of Mount Eden

Thanks to time difference and international dateline we arrived in Santiago de Chile on Sunday, 10 February, a few hours before we left Auckland.

Our first day in Chile´s capital was full of gathering information at various offices (tourism, national parks, language schools etc).
Next, we´ll be heading to Valparaiso, 120km northwest of Santiago on the coast, for a crash course of the Spanish language.

¡Adiós y hasta luego!

Stay tuned!