2 weeks in one post..hope it's not too much for you to take! - Enjoy!

Well I have to admit I'm never going to be able to catch up on everything that we have done during the last two weeks and I really don't want to bore you... So here's a little line up on that:

31.03: We finally got our car! Yes! It's so great! We picked it up at 10 at the "Explore more" office went to the wharehouse to print out a thank you picture for Keith, then to "Pack 'n Save" to get some grocheries for the road and then went back to Keiths house to get the luggage and take off. Out of Christchurch! Onto the wide and open road. Miri was driving it around town and then the first 2 hours.. And it was such a great feeling! .. at least that's what Miri said ;-) finally she could drive a car again! I just looked out of the window the whole time and couldn't stop being amazed by all the cool looking trees and fields and houses and mountains and rivers... and sheep! It's such a nice drive down o Dunedin and we took quite a while to explore everything that we wanted and also had some picknicks along the way.. Oh how we loved to be independent!


01.04: A day in Dunedin.. uhh they had a chocolate factory! Well it wasn't new to Miri but it was certainly new to Dani and me so we went on one of the tours through the factory and got heaps of chocolate with it! We're all going to get fat.. I just know it! Actually other than that there is not too much to do in the town so we went to the Library for free internet ;-)
BUT: we drove out onto the Otago Pennninsula. Such an amazing place! We saw seals, a huge sea lion and 4 penguins! They were so cute!


02.04:That day Palmy took us to (not on!) Baldwin Street (the steepest one in the world!) and then through the Catlins all the way to Invercargill.. and so we started one of the most amazing drives I have ever done! On this drive it was really true that "the journey is the reward"! The scenery was terriffic! It was called the "southern scenic route" and is a must do for everyone! There were so many little beaches and waterfalls you could take a little walk to ..and then the landscape.. We have never seen something like that! I know that I'm repeating myself but it is like that!

When we arrived in Invercargill we had to find the house of Sarah, the girl we were couchsurfing with.. it was our first time couchsurfing and so we were a little disappointed by the house and so on. But it was al right and we saved the money for accomondation.. ;-)


03.04: We thought now that we're in Invercargill we might as well look around the city for a little bit.. BIG mistake! There is absolutely nothing to look at! It's a city, yes, but other than that.. booooring! Uff.. my efforts to make Miri and Dani move on finally worked out and we took the second (shorter) part of the southern scenic route all the way to Te Anau.. our next stop.. on the way we found a slide, a bridge, some nice beaches, high gras we could hide in (I still ask myself from what..)

So our second time couchsurfing.. at Pauls house.. well to be honest it was not only Paul.. when we got to the house there were about 10 guys partying along and we in the middle of all of that! It was totally unexpected but once we recovered from the shock we had a great time! Really, although the place was a real mess, the guys were just great! One of them - all muscle-bound and tough - even wanted to do our dishes and clean everything for us.. so cute!

We also told them that we had booked one of the boat cruises in Milford Sound and 2 of them wanted to join us.. Nick (from Canada, travelling but at that time working as a shearer with the other guys) and Loui (from New Zealand, also working as a shearer). So yeah.. that was our company for the next day!


04.04: It was way too early but we had to get up anyway to get onto the road by 7. Nick and Loui showed up in time and so we could start driving. It was still dark outside and the road to Milford sound (it's a dead end) was really windy and curvy so it was Miri who drove (Dani doesn't like the curzy roads..). Once it started to get lighter we could see the stunning scenery around us.. and about half way through there was a tunnel.. they also call it tunnel of tears.. the mountain it leads through is completely black rocks and there is water coming through tiny cracks and drip down from the sceiling.. it is spooky!

Well anyway.. what a crazy drive! The road is very narrow and steep. Sometimes you have to slow down to about 15 km/h or less to not loose control of the car! And all of this with an automatic car.. Miri was complaining all the time.. I can still hear her saying: I hate this automatic crap! I want to be able to change the geers myself! But in the end we got there.. the car didn't break down or anything and we even had a whole hour until the cruise started. So what to do? Nick and Loui still weren't sure if they wanted to go on the cruise or not.. I have to admit it was quite expensive.. especially when you earn your money in NZDollars.. but in the end they came with us. Cool! Until the cruise started we walked around for a little bit. About 5 minutes before we were supposed to go onboard Miri thought that it would be good to take some water onto the boat.. We had left it in the car which wasn't parked far from the entrence and so she quickly ran to get it. ..and didn't come back.. for about ..10 minutes..11 minutes..12 minutes..well I don't remember. But we had to go onto the boat! We were all worried about her and when she finally came back she told us what had happened: When she got the bottle from the car one of the shuttle busdrivers told her that we had parked in the wrong spot and that we had to move it otherwise it would be towed.. so she had to drive the car back to the official parkinglot and run back to the building.. wow.. luckily she got back in time! ..and we could enjoy the incredible views of Milford Sound together!
It was cold
It was windy
It was amazing

We also made it back to the house without any problems.. we only took a few breaks in between to have a look around and then mooved on. Miri was done because she was driving the whole time.. but the thing is.. you can't do nothing with a house full of people and so at night Paul showed us a little bit around town.. pubbing ;-) It was Paul, Loui, Nick, Dani, Miri and.. me ;-)


05.04: Safari, here we come! Yes, you heard it! We went on a safari though the countryside! Paul has a fourwheel drive and we went up some pretty steep hills, through rivers, onto muddy surface.. he didn't care.. and his car either.. what a wild drive!

But.. we had to say goodbye.. even though they wanted to convince us to stay another night.. but right the minute we left the next couchsurfer arrived and so at least they weren't bored ;-) So off to Christchurch.. and you know what that town is best known for.. EXTREME!!!!


06.04: Jup, they did it! They booked it the day before.. it was raining the whole day.. it was great!
You don't know what I'm talking about??? well let me give you some hints.. a bridge.. a river underneath.. a rope.. two nervous girls.. what else do you need to know? You probably already know that they did the bungy!!!! Ahhh I would NEVER do that! (I don't think there are ropes for ducks anyways.. it would just pull my feet off my body!) and as a little reward they got a certificate and a T-Shirt. The pictures had to be purchased..

And what do you do after such a successful day in Queenstown??? Right! You do what you're supposed to do,buy some alcohol (just a little bit of course^^), dress up and go out partying!

07.04: After the blood alcohol level had gone we through all our things into the car and drove to Arrowtown. That day you could really sense that fall was comming. The leaves on the trees had this intense yellow color, the wind was freshening and the air smelled like.. fall. Arrowtown, once a cute little town, settled by the remaining population of the lively days of the 1820s when the area was known for its gold resources, is now haunted by tourists over tourists. Apparently some people still hope to find some gold nuggets :-) As you might guess it didn't take long until Miri, Dani and me returned to Palmy and carried on driving. The road to Wanaka winded itself through the mountains and seemed to never end but in the end we made it! One more thing that was on out schedule was the "Puzzling World". But more about that next time ;-) the next days are still to fill..

08.04:

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16.04:

Mecca of sea life - but not for us..

The next day was a Saturday and our mission was: get to Kaikoura somehow. You can probably guess what that means.. a lot of hitch hiking and standing on the street but we made it! We just got there in time to be able to go to the iSite and get some information on the whale watching and dolphin swimming tours. Dani really wanted to do the dolphin swimming but they were completely booked for the next day.. she didn't want to do the whale watching so Miri was struggling if she should do it.. in the end the iSite was closed when she decided to do it without Dani (well she had me with her.. so I told her that at least she won't be alone). But the company was still open and Miri had a freephone number to book her trip for the next day at 12:15.
And the next day there were no whales sighted on the first tour.. they had canceled all the tours for the rest of the day and told Miri that she could go on the one the next day at 7:15.. it was her last chance and actually I wanted to see the whales as well (when do you ever see those humongous animals??? I can't even picture it in my head how big they are...) so we booked that one and went out on the water first thing in the morning. Claudia, a girl we met in the Backpacker came with us as well:

So we drove out there, everybody went outside on the deck, the skipper put some kind of "whale finding thingi" into the water.. we waited.. and there was no whale.. bummer..
so we drove on for about 3 miles and the whole thing started from the beginning..
we did that for about 2 hours (5 times) and did not see one whale! All we saw was Albatrosses.. we were really depressed when we came back.. and tired! All that for nothing! The good thing was that we got 80% of the money back. So at least we didn't waist all our money...
What else happened? hmm oh yeah.. when Miri and I got back to the Backpacker the day before Dani had great news: she found a second hand book store which had the second part of twilight, new moon. Miri and Dani got really addicted to it and so Dani exchanged her German twilight book for that one. Good thing Miri bought herself another book so they don't fight over new moon too much... Those girls.. tststs

On our last day we went out to have some seafood.. yummy!

hmmmm..

So after this disappointment we took off for Christchurch where we could stay at Keiths house (remember.. he gave us a ride to Nelson).. our last hitch hike for New Zealand. It happened to be Nick, an around 50year old sailing guy.. it could have been Miris dad.. just because of everything. He had this part time job as a sailing guide for tourists in the Abel Tasman and has even lived on a sailboat for 6 years.. do you believe that? Well we all got along so good and he told us that he's going to LA on the 14th of April (so the time Miri and I are going to be there) and watch his son run in a race.. he's one of the best runners of whole New Zealand and has got a scholarship to go to Michigan State university! So yeah, we exchanged numbers and e-mail addresses and will probably meet up with him in LA.. isn't that great? Cool guy!

At night we went out again with Keith.. guess where we went.. to the best Thai (of course) restaurant in town ;-) but it wasn't an expensive one or something like that.. afterwards we went to one of the pubs, had a beer with Keith and Shaun (a japaniese girl who lived with Keith). That's it!

So many seals

Miri was watching the beautiful sunrise in the morning

As I told you we booked a kayaking trip for the third day. We were all so excited for it. Finally out on the water again! But first of all we got some instructions on how to handle the paddles (booooring) and how to stiff the kayaks. Before we took off we got some cake (hmm yummy!) and then we got into the kayaks. Miri and Dani of course took one together and I got to sit in the pocket of Miris swim vest. Ready for take off! The first stop was Tonga Island. It is famous for all the seals that live there. And I have to tell you.. there were soooo many! And Miri and Dani couldn't stop looking at them, taking pictures and saying: ohh they are so cute! Well they were. I was kind of jealous.. a little.. bit.. much.. well anyways it was great seeing them hang out in the sun or the little ones play with each other on the rocks. They just looked so comfortable and relaxed.
So we went on along the shore line to one of the beaches and had lunch there. Sandwiches.. Miri let me have some of her lettuce ;-) and then they had some more delicious but very sweet cake! hmmm

messing around on the campsite

seals!

they were so close!

seriously.. that's without any zoom! You could almost touch them!

Who are those crazy Germans?!?

After lunch the others from our group went to hike for the other half of the day and so Miri, Dani and I had our personal guide for the rest of the day! Her name was Kate by the way and we could go everywhere we wanted to. It was great!

Miri chilling at the beach

Dani, Miri and Kate

Go, go, go.. FASTER!!!

kayaks everywhere..

So in the end of the tour we went to Anchorache bay where pretty much every tour ends and the beach started to fill up with kayaks pretty soon

...

what is that about???

Another day

The second day of hiking was pretty much like the first one but way more exhausting! Well at least for Miri and Dani ;-) We got up pretty late and it was still cold so nobody really wanted to pack up and get ready.. and we had the same problem than the day before..

Dani in front of our almost flooded tent

the beach at high tide

sunrise colors on the rocks

We left at about 11ish and started walking towards our next campsite. It turned out to me way further away than our map said but we didn't notice that until after 3 and a half hours we were half way through and still had another 3 to 4 hours to go. And that is without breaks! The map that we had said that the track that we picked out for that day would probably take us about 5 hours.. so you can tell how frustrated we were! But still the park was great and there was even a village in the middle of it! It seemed so weird to actually pass houses where people lived on the track. Those houses were only accessible by water so ther was a big beach and many boats as well.

hae?!?!

Dani on the low tide track over the beach

..and Miri.. even though it said low tide track we still had to walk through the water.. why???

So as you might guess we got to our campsite pretty late. As soon as we got there Miri jumped into her bikini and took a quick swimm in the sea. Uh that looked refreshing!
And then we had to set up the tent again...

nice view on the beach..

prooved it!

On the track

Abel Tasman was one of the most amazing places I have seen so far.. really, I’m not kidding! There are woods almost like in the rain forest, sandy beaches with clear green water and endless nature! We started early in the morning on the track so there were only a few who crossed our path. Miri and Dani had pretty heavy backpacks with them so it was quite exhausting in the beginning but as we went on the complaining got less and I could finally enjoy the nice view from Miris backpack. WOW!

A new morning has begun..

..we're starting the track with the sun right on..

The first stop we took was at a campsite right next to the water. It was a narrow beach but just perfect. Miri and Dani lay out on the sand and enjoyed every minute of the sun shining on their face.

..and soon we get pulled into an amazing world..

..that makes us smile..

..and relax in its beauty..

The whole day was pretty much filled with walking, looking at the amazing landscape around us, taking breaks wherever we felt like it and of course.. eating! We took a lot of nuts with us to get some energy once in a while. Uhhh how Miri loved them!

So when we got to the final track to the Watering Cove (that was the name of our campsite) it was only about 2 o’clock and so we decided to spend some time up on one of the lookout points right next to it. Miri and Dani took so many pictures.. quite some funny ones as well.. have a look:

they didn't even take their backpacks off

..but it looked like so much fun!

At around 5 we were down at the campsite. It was right at the water and it just looked so cool! Miri and Dani set up the tent right on the beach so we could have the nice view all the time. So the night came and we all went inside, talked for a little bit, tried to stay warm (especially Miris feet felt quite cold) and ..suddenly heard the water being very close! We all just looked at us and then started hurrying to get the front of the tent open to check where the water was at. And what can I say.. it was pretty close! I would say about 4 Meters.. not more than that. Uff.. that was quite a scary moment.. but also a beautiful one! We were the only ones on that part of the beach, the water right in front of us floating around the rocks that had been out of the water when we came to the campsite and the sky was so clear above us that you could see every star. Miri and I have never seen so many stars! It was amazing!

We decided to wait a little bit to make sure that the water wouldn’t get any higher. It was around high tide so we didn’t have to worry about it and went to sleep.

our tent was at the very back of the beach

Dani

and Miri