Happy new year 2011

Up early. Had agreed to go waterskiing with Sam, his sister and their dad. A bit hung over from the night before.
Drive to Wanaka to meet with the dad.

Waterskiing is magic - No hang over in 10 seconds. Maybe due to the temperature of the water in the lake.

Back to farm for giant egg, bacon, beans breakfast. Left Sam, the sheep, the dogs and headed east for Dunedin.
Nice drive with a couple of stops.

Drinks at the hostel a bit late before heading for town for late dinner. Left restaurant at 11 going to the Octagon where the pubs and bars were. Partied for some hours before heading back to hostel at 3 in the morning.

Sheep farming - how hard can it be...

Sam was up at 5 in the morning. We slept a bit longer and when he came back at 8 we had breakfast and then we got into his 4WD for the drive up the hills to move some sheep.

Sam had 3 Dogs to help him moving the sheep from one field to another. In total he has 10.000 sheep and 6500 hectare farm. Not the small place Malene had imagined.
Found the sheep at the top and then we walked with Sam and the dogs before they let us wait at the top while they looked for sheep further down the hills. A bit windy but such a great view from the top of the hill.

Later we also had a chance to say hello to the cows. In the afternoon we did a short drive to Wanaka. Sam had to do some work so we relaxed at a cafe and did shopping for the dinner.
BBQ in the evening with Sam, his girlfriend and Sams sister - winemaker currently working in Australia. Got a bit late - but so nice to hang out with them.

Miford Sound

Woke up early to hit the road for the drive to Milford Sound. Stunning. 2½ hours of driving on a road that just got more and more beautiful. High mountains, snowcapped peaks and lots of sunshine on the way. Couldn't get any better.

Arrived at the boat in time for a short walk to a waterfall. Boarded the boat at 9 for 1½ hour cruise. Mountains just rise directly out of the water in the sound. Waterfalls coming down the hills everywhere.

Back on terra firma, headed the opposite way, still enjoying the drive. Passed Queenstown and decided that since the weather was now so sunny we had to take the gondola to the top of the mountain. So we enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine and the view of the lake and the town.

Headed back towards Wanaka for our evening stop at "Sam's" farm. Malene's friends friend who we had written a couple of times at facebook. Arrived at his house only to find nobody home. So we gave him a call and he was there in ½ hour. Nice guy.

Cooked dinner and went to bed not too late. Another looong and nice day.

Drive to Te Anau

Woke up in Queenstown. Almost no rain in the morning but grey sky and clouds. Had breakfast and packed car before doing a walk around town. Nice place especially at the lake.

Had coffee at the cafe and decided to leave town before it got too chaotic. Too many families trying to get to town to hang out. Rain had restarted.
Drove along the lake to small town Glenorchy for lunch. Small mistake. Little town with only a couple of places open for lunch. Not the kind of food we wanted. But had lunch there anyway before driving to Te Anau for our stop for the night. Beautiful drive and slowly the rain stopped.

Good weather when we arrived in Te Anau. Decided to go for a walk along the lake there to the start of the Keppler track. Beautiful. Had fresh raspberries in the sunshine before heading home for dinner.
Early to bed, long drive tomorrow to Milford Sound

Rain, rain and more rain

Woke up to sound of rain. Heavy rain. Had breakfast and left at 8:30 for a full days driving - with buckets of rain coming down from the clouds.

Waterfall crossing the road a few times. Drove all day.

Lunch stop at organic place in Wanaka.

Coffee stop incl crepes in Arrowtown. Small and posh.

Arrived Queenstown and got a big room at a big backpackers place. Slept in the afternoon and updated blog.

Heading south

Left Motueka after a late morning. Drove all day in nice weather to Franz Josef.
Beautiful scenery along the way.
Long drive.

Arrived late in afternoon only to find the place cold and rainy. Cooked risengrød for dinner. First real Christmas food this year.

Went to bed early. Long drive tomorrow also.

Abel Tasman - 22 km hiking in one day

Early morning departure for Abel Tasman National park. Had to be there for the boat pickup at 9:40 in the morning. Including a nice 45 minute hike to the beach from the car park.

1 hour sailing trip along the coast in super weather with lots of sun and not too much wind.

Dropped of on beach and started 8 hour walk back to car including 1 hour on beach with swimming and relaxing. Good for the body and feet.

Met with Frej and Astrid who were heading out for their two days hiking up north.
Back to hostel to cook lamb and veggies for dinner. Dining in the evening sunshine in the garden.

Christmas - in Heaven

Left Renwick in the morning.
Short stopover in Nelson to do shopping for Christmas. Decided for some fish. Lots of it. Managed to get out of Nelson just before Christmas-shopping-rush-hour started. Some things are apparently universal - late shopping.

Headed north towards Motueka. Arrived at the backpacker place. Got a nice room and realised that they had a super garden. And the sun was shining. Perfect.
Took a walk in the afternoon to town and booked a trip for the 25 with the boat to Abel Tasman National park.

Then back to hostel to cook dinner.
Dinner in the garden in sunshine with wine picked up yesterday. Sauv. Blanc is the best.

Frej and Astrid visited us for cake and Late harvest wine later in the evening. Merry Christmas

Heading for Renwick - and wine

Left for Renwick in the morning. Mission = to get there, rent bikes and visit some wineries. Drive back to the main road was not as bad when the sun was shining but it still took 2 hours.

Arrived in Renwick at 12:30. 13:00 on the bikes. 8 km trip to visit wineries.

9 wineries and lots of different wine tasted.

Super weather. Almost got a bit of sunburn.
Back to backpackers to relax and cook dinner. After a late afternoon nap. Realised that it was the day before Christmas. Not the least in Christmas mood this year, but we both agreed that this was so much better for celebrating Christmas than being in cold, cold Denmark

Relaxing in Hopewell

Hopewell just got better and better. Weather had improved during the night so we decided to go kayaking.

After a while the wind increased so we decided to head back to Hopewell - for the hot-tub in the afternoon. Such a good way to end and kayak trip.

Malene realised that the neighbour at Hopewell offered massage so she went for 1 hour of even more wellness.

Turned out that another Danish couple had also made their way to Hopewell  - Frej and Astrid. So we agreed with them to make homemade pizza for dinner (mostly Astrids projects)

YUM !

Hopewell - in the winter

Woke up to to sound of rain. Not just the kind of rain that would be usual for a summer shower - more like raining in buckets most of the day.

Stayed in bed most of the morning.
Decided to stay an extra day. Later in the afternoon the weather got better and better and we did a short walk to check out the area.

Whale watching Kaikuora

Up early to get on the whale boat. Still 3 meter waves and a strong and steady wind from the north-east.

Barf concert started the moment we left the harbour. We spent 2½ hours on the sea. 3 whales spotted. Beautiful.

Coastline to much to describe in words.

Back to car and headed for Blenheim, then for Hopewell lodge in Marlborough sounds.
Loong, small road to get there. Not nice to drive on since it rained a bit. Gravel for last 20 km. Due to rain felt more like driving on ice. Almost hit a cow standing in the middle of the road. Impossible to brake.

Got to the lodge. Beautiful and quiet.
Other Danish backpackers already there. So far only Danes we have met for a while - and what a remote place to bump into them....

Hiking at Hanmer Springs

Early morning. Malene was feeling ok again so we got up and had breakfast. Wanted to walk to the waterfall so I went to pick up some water - and bought some fresh raspberries on the way back. Drove to the start of the walk to the waterfall. Only 45 minute walk in the forest up the hills.

Beautiful morning with a lot of sunshine - and the odd rainshower coming out of nowhere. Enjoyed the mountains and the walk to the waterfall and back again.
Drive to Kaikuora gave us the first impression on being on the road in New Zealand. A lot of small and winding roads. One lane bridges.
Sunshine lodge next to railway was our destination. Nothing to write about but it was right on the beach and we only had to stay there for the night.
Had a short walk on the beach in the evening to look at the 3 meter waves crashing on the shore. The sound was impressive. Hope they are gone tomorrow.

Yellow banana car

Woke up early and departed for the airport where we picked up our rental car. Small, yellow Honda Fit. Code-name = Yellow lightning banana.

Drove to nearest mall and did shopping. Headed north towards Hanmer springs. Malene driving, me feeling a bit flu-like. Arrived in the afternoon at super hostel.  Nice a quiet - an old one familiy house converted to hostel. Almost like being at a real home. Nice change from all the big places we've been to in Australia.

Went to the hot springs in the evening to soak in the 35 degree warm water and enjoy the evening sun. Sunshine and relaxing. Went back to cook dinner but when we had to eat Malene to bed early instead not feeling too well. So I sat there in the living room and enjoyed the place. A good start to our stay in New Zealand.

Melbourne - Wellington - Christchurch

Woke up at 5:30. Realised we were in port at 6:00 (as planned) but not allowed to leave the boat until 6:40. Had to catch plane at 8:40 so we felt like a bit in a hurry. Turned out we had plenty of time.

Nice taxidriver took us to the airport and we even had time to relax in the lounge for about an hour due to the plane being delayed. Left Australia at 9:20 heading for New Zealand.

Touched down in Wellington and had some hours to spend before catching the 20:00 plane to Christchurch. So we got on the bus and headed for the city centre. The weather wasn't that good. Cloudy, windy and a bit of rain but we did a nice walk on Cuba Mall before we found a cafe for some late lunch.

Back to the airport for a 45 minute flight to Christchurch. Got a bus to Hostel, left our luggage in the room and went for a walk to the town centre. Had a couple of beers before heading home for a nice sleep. Had the 4 bed dorm for ourselves but got a bit surprised when another couple arrived at 1 in the morning......

Catching the boat to Australia

Said goodbye to Bente and McFart in the morning. Left Hobart and headed north for a short visit to Cradle mountain National park.

Turned out to be a long drive - on gravel roads for some parts of the trip. Arrived in Cradle Mountain National park with just enough time to do a 1 hour walk at lake Dove. Very beautiful. Wished we had had 3-4 days there to do a lot of hiking. Headed for Devonport later in the afternoon.

Left car in Devonport and got on the boat to Melbourne. Nice evening with lots of sunshine and a bit of wind.
Local fire brigade had their annual Christmas parade before we left.
Nice cabin at the boat. Had a couple of glasses of red wine before passing out in bed.

Touring the east coast

Last day at the "deluxe hostel". We headed for the east coast and more or less drove all day. Did a few photo stops whenever we felt like it and a single stop at a small winery.
Malene and I headed for at walk at the national park at Wineglass bay. Bente stayed behind in the car. Beautiful scenery eventhough it was raining a bit on our way back. It was a nice 1 hour walk but still a 3 hour drive back to Hobart.

Back at Bentes place we cooked dinner, did some last minute washing and enjoyed the evening before packing the backpacks and going to bed.

Par Avion - to the wilderness

While looking at Bente's kitchen calendar this morning I realised that December 1. is the first day of summer in Australia. How clever to visit right now. In Africa, September 1. was the first day of summer so we have more or less spent the last 4 months traveling in summer.
Headed for the airport early to catch our ½ day trip out of Hobart and into the national park on the southern part of the island. Got into a very small plane with another couple (5 persons + pilot = plane full). Flew for about 1 hour before we touched down in the middle of nature. Got on a small boat for a short sail up the river and then we hiked for 15 minutes to the tup of the nearest hill. And then we had it all to ourselves more or less. Every once in a while you get overwhelmed from nature. This was one of the times. The hike back to Hobart takes between 7-9 days depending on pace. We flew back in 45 minutes (short cut), flew right over the centre of Hobart and touched down to a nice and warm afternoon. Wow

Decided to head for the local wildlife park to see some Tasman Devils. Got there with a lot of other visitors. Turned out there was cruise ship in town so they had had so many people during the day. Lucky for us most of them had left so we enjoyed walking around and saying hello to Tasman devils and koala's.
Headed back to Bentes place for nice dinner - and more DVD.

Port Arthur

Early morning departure - sort of. Destination - Port Arthur - where we planned to spend most of the afternoon walking at the prison. Did the scenic driver down the coast and had a few stops to see the blowhole - among other places.

Arrived at port arthur and walked there for 3 hours enjoying the place (spectacular), the weather (can always use more sunshine) and the story about how the place was built and used during the decades.
Headed back to Hobart for drinks and afternoon snacks in the garden before dinner. Crashed on the sofa and watched DVD the rest of the evening. Yes.

Tree top walk in Tahune

Slept a bit late. Had breakfast and went to Hobart to pick up our rental car. Did a short drive to Tahune 1½ hours from Hobart where we could do some walking in the national park, including tree top walk.

Beautiful place and scenery. Not that many people in the afternoon so we had the tree top walk more or less to ourselves. Went back to Hobart, picked up a couple of DVD's on the way.

Salamanca Market

Saturday is marketday in Hobart so we got dropped of at the end of Salamanca Market in Hobart. And then we just strolled around for two hours looking at all the stuff/crap/things for sale. Most interesting for us were all the fresh fruits and veggies. Malene had a small bowl of fresh raspberries. Yummi.

Picked up a lot of fresh veggies for our BBQ tonight before getting coffee - and heading home to Bente - and Mac (the dog). Relaxed in the afternoon - no brew tour today. Got picked up by Elaine and had saturday BBQ at Murray's house. Lot's of good food including super salmon.
They had the best view over Hobart and the river from their deck. We enjoyed dinner while also taking time to as the sun set over town and the river.

Heading for Tasmania

Got up early for our 6:30 pickup at the hostel. Got to see most of Brisbane from the bus since we had to go and pick up a bunch of other backpackers at different hostels. Arrived at the airport after about one hour. No problems with check-in or security. Plane for Hobart left on time. Watch and learn EU low-cost carriers.
Touched down in Hobart on a windy day. Approach was a bit choppy for Malene. Got our luggage and met up with Bente. Realised we hadn't seen each other in 10 years. How wierd. She had arranged transport for us - Murray - to come pick us up so we were back at her house in Lindisfarne in no time.

Arrived at Bente's house at the same time she got this year Christmas candy package from her mom in Denmark, Timing = excellent.
Had  read the inflight magazine that the local brewery had a tour this Friday afternoon so after a short powernap we went there - to Moo brew to get the brewtour.
Went to Hobart in the evening to meet with Bente's friend for some dinner and wine before going to bed totally wasted.