Mhm, a lot has happened since my last entry:

John  came over and we explored the North island together. We rented a little campervan which was our little home for the next 2 weeks. In those 2 weeks we drove up North to the bay of islands where we went for a fantastic 24hour boat trip: fishing, night-kayaking, visit of an island, a great crew and a lovely diner-we loved it!

On our drive there we found fantastic scenery-john felt like jumping into the water at every beach.We were lucky with the weather, too, only a bit of rain inbetwen, but not bad for New Zealand. Well, john got introduced to my low-budget life: well,w hen I sneaked through the bushes to avoid paying 27 dollars to see a geyser he felt a bit embarrassed I think. Welcome to a traveler’s life (-: We saw boiling mud pools from the volcanoes and enjoyed 2 nights at a campground with natural hotsprings next door which was brilliant.We also enjoyed a visit in a maori-village where they use the hot springs for cooking and baths-that was a very interesting tour and we even got to see tha maori-dance-I really liked it.

Apart from that we just enjoyed the camping, John did the driving and cooking and I ..mhm, what did I do?oh yes, I did the navigating (“mhm, maybe right here…?”) and the organizing.I have to admit I really got used to john’s cooking-was hard to get to my pasta-habits after he had left (-; the 2 weeks went by quickly-so quickly he was back in good old London and I had to do the cooking again )-:

I then moved on to the South Island, I spent a day in Wellington which is a lovely town.But you could feel it getting colder already. I took the ferry from Wellington to Picton-and got the first stunning impression of the South island-the fiord at picton is amazing. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to do the long track through the fiord. I found a cozy hostelin Picton (free applepie in the evenings) with a hot tub. It so happened that i met Mira, Ed and “hart” ibn the hot tub which led to a diner and pub evening with drinks and a big bill for the boys-it was great. the next day I moved on to Kaikoura: again, a great hostel with interesting cozy beds. I signed up for a whale watching tour, but it was too windy that day.Instead I took a 3hour walk along the coast of Kaikoura which was brialliant. the air is so fresh and as it is autumn the colours of the trees are jus amazing. the scenery is fantastic!!!! I moved on with the trans scenic train which goes along the coast and ended up in Christchurch-and I fell inlove with Christchurch: just the right size of a town, just the right amount of green, shopping and entertainment.went to the cinema and watched a german movie. Unfortunately I had only a day in Christchurch, too. the next day I picked up my new home: a little wickedcamper called “poison”. Poison and I hit the road and enjoy traveling together since a few days. From Christchurch I made my way south and spent the first night close to lake wanaka where I was signed up for a skydive. well, the first night in the car was really snow-we have frost over night! but with a sleeping bag and 2 thick duvets I managed. just getting out of the sleeping bag in the morning is hard work! unfortunately the skydive was cancelled, too and so I spent the mornign in a maze-I managed to find the 4 towers, but I couldn’t get back to the exit-after 1.5 hours I ended up using the emergency exit (-: In the parking lot i bumped into Chris from Ireland who could give me a few nice tips for the road.

I moved on to Queenstown, signed up for another skydive and then explored the town. first I went to see the kiwis in the animal park-finally I saw a kiwi-they are funny birds!I took the gondola and up on the mountain you have a fantastic view over the lake of Queenstown. I know the pictures all look a bit the same, but it isn’t! you feel like taking a picture every 5 minutes as colours and light are changing. I took a ride with a luge and really enjoyed myself up there. In the evenings I usually drop dead by 9.On the way to Queenstown I stopped in Arrowtown, a great little frontier town in old style with the most colourful trees I’ve ever seen!By the way it’s getting colder and colder.

next day: finally I get to go for my skydive: and I loved it!!! the good thing is that you don’t have to do anything_the crew puts you in a nice suit and harness, your instructor connects you to himself, you hop on a tiny little airplane adn as the green light comes on, the door opens and off you jump!!!the moment we sat in that open door I though: anja, you are mad, what are you doing????!!! but a second later I flew threw the sky and was amazed. It feels very weird but great and before I realized the parashoot was open and we had a smooth ride to the ground. I had some great pictures taken. seriously, I can only recommend it-it’s fantastic!!!After that I drove to Milford Sound and stayed at the most historic campground ever-out in themiddle of nowhere, electricity off from 10-8, candles, but a sweet kitchen and hot showers. It is run by Helen and Bill who were just fantastic. And there happened to occur another Anja-story: just down the road is a little grotte with glow worms, so I told Helen I would walk down there. obviously it was pitch dark and a dirt road in the rainforest. well, helen said there is no dangerous animals and there is no one around here except of people of the camp. well, I just walked for 5 minutes when I saw a light-(now that is scary already in a dark forest)-as it came closer it turned out to be a man carrying his haedlight in his hand and a saw in the other! I asked him politley where to find the glow worms, he pointed me the direction very friendly and we both kept on walking. a minute later I though:well, great, here I am , on my own, in the rainforest in the middle of nowhere and I just bumped into a guy with a saw!!! Well, I found the glowworms and made my way back. oh well, I thought that was quite funny and I told helen expecting her to say:”oh yeah theat was joey, ben, marc…” but no, she became quite worried and ben ended up driving down the road to find out about the stranger.  A big mystery. well, after a while the mistery was solved: the “saw” was actually a bow of one of the guys who stayed in the camp and happend to be a hunter.puh, lucky us! Helen, bill and I had a good laugh and I had a godd nights sleep!

This morning I went for a cruise in milford sound: on the way there I drove through the snowy mountains-amazing! It rains a lot more in that area and it is very foggy which makes it look very mystical. Mountains and fiords all over-I could have stopped every five minutes for a picture…after the cruise I slowly made my way back to Queenstown where I am staying tonight again. I will try to see mount cook on my way back to christchurch, but even though it is not many kilometres, it takes a long time as the roads are very windy and you can’t go too fast. Well, I fell in love with the South island of New Zealand-it’s brilliant. the pictures don’t really show the real dimensions-so you have to come here and have a look yourself!!!