We met at the airport at 7 on Monday. I realized then that Wellington’s airport is quite small compared to the other capitals’: There is no need to arrive more than 20 minutes in advance especially when you don’t have any suitcases to check in. I was a bit worried about my shampoo in my hand luggage but in fact it is not a problem at all, you can even bring a knife!

 

 

The flight lasted less than one hour. Ten minutes after taking off we were told to get ready for landing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 When we arrived in Christchurch we went to the rental car agency and we were quite relieved to learn that the car we had was an automatic one and not a manual (it depended on the availability).  Driving a car on the left side is not natural so I’ll let you imagine driving a manual car on the left side of the road!

We decided to spend the day in Christchurch which is the second largest city in New Zealand. There was not much to do: this town has been partly destroyed by an earthquake two years ago killing 185 people. A large part was still under construction.

 

 

We went to an unusual new mall: it is made off containers! 

 

 

 

We also went to the city museum and to the coast 

but the weather was not very good for walks: we went to the top of a hill to see Christchurch but the only thing we could see was clouds. Fortunately it was our only bad weather of the week!

The next day, we went to a small town Akaroa that was built by a French colony. Some indications were still here such as some names of streets, shops…

The road to this point was really windy but the view was impressive!

 

 

 

 

 

This day was a long day because we decided to drive directly to Dunedin. The only reason we wanted to go there was to see penguins… we didn’t! We had paid to see them but they didn’t tell us when we were buying the tickets that it was not the right season to see them…

 

What we should have seen

 

 

But we saw a lot of seals as it is a protected area, even baby ones! This place is also famous for albatross but again, if you want to see them you have to pay as they are in protected areas…

 

We left Berbelijn (the girl from the Netherlands) here beca

 

use she was going further south to spend the next two weeks and also because there was an Aerosmith concert in Dunedin that evening!

Then we drove to Mont Cook and stopped at a special beach where there are round rocks: the Moeraki boulders. Their shape is due to the coastal erosion and is at the origin of many Maori legends.

 

 We arrived at night at Mount Cook’s backpackers: now the sun sets at 6pm, the joys of the winter!

Once again I was very surprised to see so many Germans!

We did some walks the next day. Mount Cook National Park is classed a world heritage area by UNESCO and its highest mountain, which is the highest in all of New Zealand, is Mount cook: 3754 m high! We didn’t feel like doing a big tramp and the good thing was there were really beautiful things we could see by walking very short distances!

So we went to the Glacier Lake, Tasman and Blue Lakes

 

 

 

 

We wanted to spend the next day by Lake Tekapo but all the places we called were already fully booked… were we going to find a place for the night?? The last hope was to ask the place where we had spent our last night and they had three beds available! We also discovered they had a free sauna!

 

 

 

On the last day we drove to Lake Tekapo and used a way different from the highway, going among the mountains and the lakes.

We got back to Christchurch and went to the mall again but this time without the rain!

We got back to Christchurch Airport and spent the “night” there to catch our flight at 7am.

Now that I have been to the South Island twice I am planning on going to the North Island for a big weekend with my dear flatmate! But that is another story, for now I have to go back to my studies. I received my exam schedule and the date is approaching!