02-03 May 2012 – Buy a van and hit the road
Buying a car in New Zealand is pretty easy, just go to the post office and register it on your name. Therefore and because of the cheap price we bought Michel’s van. We shared the price and the risk of having an old car, more than 20 years and nearly 400.000 km.
Our first stop was the Abel Tasman Track. We didn’t do the whole track but just a few hours gave us an impression of how nice the track is. Beautiful beaches and blue water. Luckily we could enjoy sunset as well as sunrise as we slept in our van at the car park.
Abel Tasman Track
04 May 2012 – Nelson Lakes National Park
The next day we were at the Nelson Lakes Nation Park, mainly because there was a free campsite and we have heard that the national park is pretty nice. It was absolutely right.
05 Pancake Rocks
Waking up at the sea, driving along the coast, visiting a glow worm cave without glow worms and keeping eyes up for some rocks for breakfast…
06 May 2012 – Franz Joseph Glacier
As you might know from Argentina already, I love glaciers. The two famous glaciers of New Zealand are the Franz Joseph and Fox Glacier. Since they’re pretty close to each other we went to Franz Joseph first and to Fox at the next day. The Franz Joseph Glacier, named after the Austrian emperor, was ok but pretty far away and accessible by helicopter only. But there was a nice 5 hours hike to the summit of Alex Knob, with a great view above the clouds.
07 May 2012 - Fox Glacier
The Fox Glacier was much better, you could even touch it! Good but not as good as the glaciers in Northern Patagonia and very touristic, like nearly everything in NZ.
08-09 May 2012 – Copland Track
Michel told us about a great track with hot pool at the hut, the Copland Track. Actually it was declared as a 7 hours hike but as we took the wrong way first we had to do it in 4 hours before it got dark. Finally it was more like a run than a hike but the hot pools with some beers at the end were great.
The Track
The Hot Pools
10 May 2012 – Being sad because of the lost jacket ;-(
Unfortunately, I forgot my jacket at the hut but couldn’t/wouldn’t do the track again. Now I have to hope that the Department of Conservation will send it to Christchurch, where I could pick it up before I leave to Australia. Else I would have lost my good old Burton winter jacket in New Zealand. Now I have to wait and pray…
Next stop Queenstown…
