Blogs from New Zealand, Oceania

Hallo zusammen endlich endlich ist es mal wieder soweit und ich habe mich zusammen gerissen und mich mal wieder hin gessetzt, um Euch ein kleines Update zu geben. Eigentlich wäre ich ja schon wieder in Deutschland, denn am 17. April 2024 ist mein Visa ausgelaufen und mein Flug von Auckland nach Frankfurt ist an diesen Tag gestartet - allerdings ohne mich. Und das kam so: John kam auf die grandiose Idee einfach mal die Immigration zu fragen, ob ich nicht verlängern kann und natürlich ist das so eine Sache, wenn ein Neuseeländer sagt: „Ach probier das doch einfach mal!“, aber auf der anderen Seite keinerlei Ahnung hat wie das so mit Visas, Einwanderung und eben überhaupt in dem Zusammenhang mit Regierungsinstitutionen funktioniert. Aber John ist einfach jemand der einfach mal probiert und schaut was passiert… Ich ... read more

After having some fish and chips and paua (abalone) fritters, a coastal Kiwi favorite, we drove several hours up and over the beautiful mountains running through the backbone of the country. We stopped at the alpine hamlet of Hanmer Springs before dropping down onto the desolate west coast. We were quickly finding there is more solitude to be found on South Island, with long stretches of uninhabited and inaccessible coast. It wasn't until the 1960s roads were built and these areas were even easily reachable. We spent the night boondocking outside of Hokitaka before moving on to the southern Alps and glacier country. We stopped at Franz Josef glacier for a quick hike through the rainforest to a viewpoint of the glacier, but the clouds and rain from that morning had socked in most of the ... read more

We flew early to Christchurch in the South Island from Auckland after a terrible night sleep in a beautiful boondock spot along the bay just minutes from the city center. Unfortunately some partygoers decided to get raging drunk and were smashing beer bottles during the night. There's always one night of idiots while boondocking, let's hope that was it for the trip. We picked up our beautiful 17 ft. Toyota campervan that would be our home for the next 11 days. It was a huge upgrade for us, our first van being functional but this being cozy and luxurious by comparison. We drove a few hours north up the coast ending at the seaside town of Kaikoura. This town is one of the best places on earth to snorkel with dolphins in the wild and the ... read more

When I arrived in Dunedin around lunch time 4 weeks ago, I went to the hostel to drop of my bags and went out to discover the city. This let me to a streetart scavenger hunt which was very fun. Sadly one of the artworks I had been looking forward to the most had been over painted (there was a reference foto). The next day I went on a nature cruise to see the albatros and sea lions. We were very lucky as we saw three of the four sea lions that live in the harboor. My last day in Dunedin I visited the world steepest street and spent the afternoon at the beach. With 16°C water temperatur the ocean wasn't very warm, but warm enough to go swimming. Beaches really are my most favorite place ... read more

I'm leaving Queenstown after three months. Three months.....somehow it feels like it has been both less and more than that. Time passed in the blink of an eye, makong it unbelieveble that it's actually been this long, nur there are so many memories packed into these three months that it feels like it has been much longer. Leaving Queenstown and the people I met behind is really wired, especially, because if I return in the future most of them will be gone aswell. That's the thing in a city full of travellers, there is always someone leaving and someone new arriving taking their place. I am now sitting in the bus to Dunedin and I am equally as sad about leaving this chapter behind as I am exited for the adventures ahead of me. I'll spent ... read more