All good things end..
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Sander
31 Maart 2014 | Nieuw Zeeland, Christchurch
I can be honest, I would rather stay here than go home, but on the other side I'm looking forward to it :)
Since the last update here, a lot has happened. I went with Jelle and his father to Wellington, where I had some fantastic days, staying with Alys (from Rotorua) and her lovely flatmates, chilling out with them and friends of them, and Irese (the other one from Rotorua). Every day was awesome, they did everything to make me have a good time, but: all good things end.. I took the ferry to Picton, hay south island! Picton was lovely, I stayed in a hostel which was run by jugglers, they even gave us a show with fire. There I met Arved from Germany, who took me to Nelson with his car. There we had a nice sunny time, and we both decided to walk the Abel Tasman Track (about 55 km), but separately. I had never done a multi day hike, so I was a bit nervous, and impressed by the weight of my backpack, but I will never regret a single part of my decision. I walked the track in 4 days, with three nights of camping. It was incredible!! The scenery, wildlife, other hikers, weather, views, just awesome! All my campsites were beautiful situated right at one of the famous golden beaches of the Abel Tasman National Park. At one of them, I even discovered a cave, with.. glowworms(!), and the stars in the sky were the best I've ever seen!
After finishing the track, I met up with Arved again, and we drove north to Takaka, a sweet hippie town, the Golden Bay and Farewell Spit. At Farewell Spit was a beach with many little seal pups, all playing together in a little basin on the beach where you could sit around and watch them playing, really cute. After seeing the clearest springs of Australasia, we got back to Nelson, and I decided to go my own way again. I hitchhiked to Westport on the west coast, and the next day to Punakaiki, with it's famous Pancake Rocks and blowholes. Punakaiki was really cool, and I met Till from Germany, who was happy to take me all the way down to Franz Joseph, where I saw the glacier, Haast, seeing the beautiful Lake Matheson, and finally even Wanaka. The highway from Haast to Wanaka was so beautiful that it took us at least 5 hours to drive this 170 km..
Wanaka itself was really nice as well. Walking into the hostel and seeing four people I had already met somewhere else, was the start of meeting people again. Two of those four in the hostel were Jana and Kathi (from Germany again haha), who took me with them to walk the Rob Roy Glacier Walk, a track with amazing views leading to a beautiful glacier, with huge waterfalls. In Wanaka, I had decided to rent my own car! I had been hitchhiking all the way from Auckland, and it was getting a bit exhausting. I wanted to have some real freedom for a few days and spending my last money on that sounded good to me. I changed my flights to the start of april, booked one from Christchurch to Auckland, and rented a car from Queenstown. Jana and Kathi drove me to Queenstown, and the next day I went to the airport and got the car. I could rent it for six days, and I had to drop it off in Christchurch. Apart from some driving in the Blue Mountains in Australia and driving the 4WD on Fraser Islands beach, I had never been driving a car since I got my license five days before I left home. I had to get used to the car for a short time, but after that I cruised New-Zealands streets with no problem. My lack of driving experience made it easier for me to drive on the left side of the road, I reckon. First I short-visited the Milford Sound, before getting south to Invercargill, where I found a Canadian girl looking for a ride. I took her to Dunedin, seeing the beautiful Catlins and some awesome native wildlife (sealions, penguins) on our way. It actually turned out that she had met Till, and he told her about me, and me about her, a really funny coincidence. Dunedin was an awesome city, sadly I could only stay one night, before heading north to Oamaru, where I saw some more penguins. The next day was my last day with Herbert (that's how I called my car). I took a German girl from the hostel in Oamaru to Christchurch, visiting the beautiful Banks Peninsula on our way. In Christchurch I had managed to find a couchsurfing place, and that's where I am now.
The last three days were awesome, with three other couch surfers from Germany, Austria and Poland and our host Jerome (who is actually Dutch, though he grew up here and can't speak much of it) we visited the Peninsula (again, but still good for me), went to play some golf, got 'fosh 'n chops' (fish 'n chips), and walked a beautiful track along the coast. Also he showed us the city and told us about the earthquakes. Christchurch doesn't give you a nice feeling, seeing all the remaining parts of collapsed buildings, empty cleared spots, not being used for anything but parking and endless rows of containers.. The power of nature has left some deep scars here.
But I'm happy that I'm having a really good time here, while the day I'll arrive in Amsterdam comes closer..
Tomorrow I'll fly to Auckland, stay there for three days, fly to Sydney, stay there (couch surfing as well) for two nights, and then... I'll fly home!
Yeah, that's it for today buddies, see you soon!!
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07 April 2014 - 22:11
Sjouke:
Hi Sander, have a good trip home! (Guess you're already on your way, because in Sydney it's already the 8th of april....)
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley