April

If, after reading the previous post about my exchange, you thought my travels were slowing down, you were wrong. They were just getting started. Following the surf camp, I spent a little over one week doing all assignments for uni and catching up on the lectures, which was not too hard. Then, it was already time to head to the airport to fly to New Zealand. It was a trip that we had only planned a few weeks in advance, where we rented a car for one week to do a road trip through the South Island, sleeping in a different hostel almost every night, while trying to cover as many highlights of the island as possible. It would turn out to be one of the best trips of my life.

With all of us being on a student budged, the trip started in the typical, cost-cutting manner: We took one of the last trains from Brisbane to the Gold Coast, from where our plane would depart, and spent the night at the beach before going to the airport for our 6am flight. It was another reminder that with the right kind of people anything can be a good time. Speaking of the right kind of people, our road trip crew was made up of Celina, Jessica, Vincent, Kaius, and me. We all had the same mindset and energy going into this trip, which made it very enjoyable.

After landing in Queenstown we picked up the rental car, did some shopping at Warehouse (an NZ department store), and got Domino’s Pizza for lunch. Then, we headed towards Te Anau, which is the last town on the way to the Fiordland National Park. The drive there already gave us a good impression of the beautiful nature that we would see in the next days, with vast meadows and mountains surrounding us on all sides. We arrived at the campground where we had rented a small hut for two nights, unpacked our things and went to a nearby lake to watch the sunset. It was later that evening when we started our daily ritual of making pasta for dinner, before going to bed early to be ready for the next day.

The next day we woke up early before sunrise, at which time it was still unbelievably cold (just above zero degrees C), and the freezing cold water in the campground toilets did not make things better. We packed as many layers of clothing as we possibly could and made the drive up to Milford Sound, which is the most famous fiord in New Zealand. Of course, we made a few stops on the way to admire the landscape during the early morning hours.

In Milford Sound, we took a boat tour through the fiord, which went all the way to the ocean. On it, we learned all about fiords and this one in particular. A fiord is a canyon that was carved by a glacier, which is then flooded by the ocean. I still find it hard to believe that a glacier can carve into anything, but apparently the immense weight of the ice, and the constant movement created by the ever-increasing weight getting pushed down from the top over thousands of years does a number on some rocks. And now, we get to marvel at the beauty it has created.

We enjoyed some more time in the fjords and then made our way back to Te Anau, stopping at several spots to take pictures and to do a quick hike at one of them.

After a brief morning session of stretching and yoga at the roadside, we drove back to Queenstown to do some shopping, which concluded with us buying 5kg of pasta, 10 glasses of sauce and breakfast for 3 days. Afterwards, we found ourselves back at Domino’s Pizza, because who can resist a pizza for 6 NZD? (That is 3€). With the food sorted out, we drove to our next destination, Wanaka, where we went to a lavender farm, and then despite running out of daylight, did a hike up Rocky Peak. The hike turned out to be a bit tricky, due to some muddy steep sections. Not keen on descending those in the dark, Jessica and Vincent turned around, and the rest of us continued to the top, where we were rewarded with a stunning sunset scenery of the valley. With only one working headlamp (mine was safely at home in Brisbane, grrrr), we still made it down safely, as the moon was bright enough.

Following the most beautiful evening was was probably my favorite morning of the trip. The autumn colors were immaculate, and we saw a shepherd and his dogs herding sheep across the road in front of us. We stopped at the blue pools, and several water falls, before making our way to the west coast, where we headed to Fox Glacier. Fox Glacier is not only the name of the town where our next Hostel was, but also the name of the glacier that we went to see. It is one of only two glaciers that penetrate into the rainforest. We then went to a viewpoint at a lake, called the View of Views, where usually you can see a nice reflection of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman in the lake, but we were unlucky with the clouds hiding the peaks and the ducks ducking up the water. Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand, peaking at 3724m. In a few days we will get to see it again, after having traversed the mountain range to access it from the other side.

The next morning started off with a very curious fantail, which was chirping all around us during our first picture stop. Abandoning our little friend, we headed to Hokitika, a coastal town famous for its greenstone (“Jade”), which is swept ashore on the nearby beaches. We spent a long time on one of these beaches, but only Jessica was able to find a really nice piece. The rest of us just found poorer quality pieces, which we still took to one of many greenstone shops in town, where they drilled holes into them to make them into necklaces. We also had our first meat pies, which are a very delicious hearty treat that is very popular in New Zealand. Less of a treat were the cold, canned ravioli that came after, but it was nothing that could dampen our spirits.

We continued our journey over Arthur’s Pass to traverse the mountains, heading away from the west coast. We stopped at the Devils Punchbowl waterfall and at Castle Hill, a very unique rock formation that is popular for bouldering. We walked around there for a while, while Celina and Vincent even climbed one of the huge boulders. Our next hostel in Springfield was just 20 minutes away, where we were greeted by the very friendly host, who gave us tips on what to visit the next day. Another day of pasta for dinner, another beautiful day in the books.

With our freshly made plans for the day, our first stop the next morning was at the Rakaia George. We then went to check out the Big Tree Walk at Peel Forest. There were, in fact, some big trees there. The next checkpoint was one that we had been looking forward to the whole day: It was the famous Fairlie Bakehouse. We were told they make the best meat pies in New Zealand, and of course we had to try them for ourselves. Sure enough, they were heavenly!

We continued to Lake Tekapo, a frosty blue lake surrounded by mountains, where we did the Lake Tekapo Peninsula Walkway and took a short swim in the ice cold water. The last bit of driving for the day was along Lake Pukaki, from which we could already see our destination, Mount Cook.

After another early breakfast, we had made plans to hike up to the Mueller Hut, which is located at 1800m, and offers stunning views of the surrounding mountains, including Mount Cook. Right at the beginning of the hike, we saw warning signs about avalanche risk, heading up to the Mueller Hut, which was a bit concerning. We decided to continue reaching the snow line and then reassess if we want to go all the way. So we started hiking, and soon were greeted with a stunning view of Mount Cook, which we were able to enjoy for the rest of the hike.

We went up to the snow line, which was at around 1500m and saw many people returning from the top, from whom we gathered that the walk to the hut was safe. However, most of us only were wearing sneakers, which were not really suitable for the steep and snowy terrain we were in. Kaius, Vincent and soon also Celina were determined to make their way to the hut anyways, while Jessica and I turned back to wait at a lake further down, not keen on taking any risks on this rather beautiful day. And so after an hour of waiting, we reunited with our fellow adventurers to have lunch at the lake before making the descent. Down in the valley we started walking another walking track to Hooker Hut, but found the track to be closed due to construction on a bridge. Overall, it was a very nice last hike in New Zealand, and with 17km walked and 1000m of elevation gained not the worst Strava upload.

The last day of our trip consisted of driving back to Queenstown to return the rental car, needless to say with some scenic stops on the way. We were devastated to find our most familiar place in NZ, the Domino’s Pizza, still closed at 10:30am, but made do with lunch from Woolies.

Our trip concluded with flying back to Gold Coast, taking the train to Brisbane, and rewarding us with delicious and well-earned pizzas from Domino’s for dinner. It was a trip I will never forget and I am grateful to have been able to do it with such a nice group of people. The end of this trip marks the halfway point of my stay in Australia, and I am excited to see what else it has in store for me. Read more about it soon in part 4.