Today we got up at 9 o’clock and started to walk back to Te Anau (two and a half hour walk),

where we had left our car.:)

 From there we continued our roadtrip to Queenstown. We took the 94 Highway and enjoyed the view of the magical scenery  around us: mountains, rivers, awesome trees and so much untouched countryside, it was unbelievable. There were moments I felt like being in a dream but then again I realized this spectacular surrounding was real: Just beautiful. 🙂

We also drove alongside beautiful lakes, and I’m not able to describe neither in words nor by photos how beautiful it really is. But nevertheless enjoy the photos …

In Queenstown at first we went to a library to get our accounts and internet communication organized. Bad luck!  There is no free wifi available at all in Queenstown, even not in a public library :0. Luckily I could use my mobile as a hotspot. Then we watched some guys playing rugby, went to the supermarket and enjoyed some sightseeing in Queenstown. It is a really nice town, where a lot of outdoor-adventure-activities are offered around the beautiful Lake Wakatipu.

Today we got up at 9 o’clock and started to drive back to Invercargill. The night was really cold and I didn’t sleep well and was really overtired.

On our drive to Invercargill we decided to visit the Art Gallery over there.  It wasn’t actually an outstanding gallery – I prefer more creative artwork – but we had good fun puzzling out what the artist may have intended to express by one or another piece of art. 🙂

After the art gallery we decided to walk through the Queens Park. It is a really beautiful park just located next to the museum. We went to the playground and did some workout. 😛

At about one o’clock we started our trip to Te Anau (2 hours drive). On our way  we enjoyed the beautiful scenery next to the highway, we were sorrounded by huge mountains. 🙂

It was just magical. 🙂 In Te Anau we went to the lake, had a tasty snack there, went swimming and sunbathed on the beach. It was a really sunny day and so we decided to prepare our dinner on the gascooker.

Today we had pasta with tomatoe sauce, onions and parmesan cheese.

When we had finished our dinner, we washed our dishes and started at 20:30 to go for a hike.

(Free camping is not allowed in Te Anau ). So we left the car behind us and walked through the dark for 2 and a half hours. It was really adventurous and there were some moments were I definitely felt scared, walking along with only one friend by my side through a dark forest, along the lakeside in a country I don’t know. :/ But it happened to be the best experience for the day and maybe in my entire life, walking in the dark, not seeing the earth beneath us just trusting your ears and nose and feelings. 🙂 As we arrived at a spot where we could camp, we built up our tent and sat down in front of the fire, enjoying good conversation and being proud of ourselves that we did it.

🙂 Tomorrow we will continue our roadtrip to Queenstown. 🙂

Today we got up at 9:00 am had a good breakfast and went to the Botanic Garden in Dunedin. It was really cold in the morning so we just had a short pass through it. 🙂

Then we went on to see Baldwin Street, which is the steepest road in the world. 🙂

At first  we drove up this road by car and then I ran it up by feet. After that we decided to visit Otago Peninsula, the place where you can see albatrosses, seals and some pinguins.The trip to this spot was really spectacular, it was 26 km of curves on the left side right next to the sea. The water looked beautiful, and we really enjoyed driving along this Portobello Road. 🙂

When we arrived there we had an awesome view of the sea, we saw seals, seagulls, albatrosses and penguins. 🙂

When we had enjoyed this wonderful scenery for about an hour and  we continued our trip to Invercargill. Just before we started, I had got a call from the ANZ bank in south Dunedin that my bank card has arrived and I can pick it up (wow! Really everything is working perfectly here :))

I was quiet happy about that and we started to Invercargill. On the way  we stopped at a lake and I jumped into the water to get a little refreshment ( the weather had changed to sunny by then:) ). We arrived in Invercargill at about 6 o’clock and went off  for a little town-exploring-tour. Invercargill is a rally nice little town. 🙂

We didn’t really know where to stay over night (all the couchsurfing-hosts I had written to hadn’t answered ). So we decided to look up on the website www.rakers.co.nz where we could possibly find a free camping-site. Luckily there was one situated about 25 minutes from Invercargill. We drove there and found out, that it was next to a river and that we would stay there all alone in our car. We were keen on trying  and staying there for the night. We watched some movies in our car before we fell asleep. 🙂

Tomorrow we will drive to Te Anau. 🙂

For our first night Tim Lars and I had slept in the car.

Then we drove to my workagency, where I handed in my worksheets (25 hours in two days 🙂 ). After that we went to the shops to buy some groceries and stuff for our roadtrip (e.g. a tape with a cable to listen to the music from our phones).

At 2 o’clock we started our roadtrip: First destination was Dunedin (4 and ½ hour drive).

On the way we visited the Moeraki Boulders but just for a short time, because a sandstorm came up and the weather was changing really fast. :/

After we had arrived in Dunedin, we  went to the city centre to find out, what else you can see in Dunedin. It is a really nice city full of Hundertwasser-architecture and situated right by the sea.

Then I received a message from a couchsurfing-host that we can stay at her place. She’s called Emma and lives right next to the city centre. We were there around 9 o’clock and got to know Emma. 🙂

She lives in the student area of Dunedin in a house together with 6 other students. 😀 We had an awesome night. 🙂

Today I got up at 5:30 am and went to work. I drove through Christchurch for half an hour, it was full of construction sites, so it was really hard to find my way, but I actually made it. I started at 7:00 am. My task was to vacuum the interior of the cars (Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Holden, Ford and Toyota).

Then I had to wipe and clean everything inside the car. 🙂  After that I had to check whether there’s enough water in the water tank of the car. If not I had to refill it. 🙂 Same with the petrol. 🙂  The best part of the work was that I had to move the cars from one spot to another, so that I had been driving approximately 40 different types of cars by the end of the day. Some were automatic, some manual, some really fast, some not so fast. After a while I have learnt where I can find the right button to open the cap for petrol in each different car. I have also learnt where the new automatic cars have their parking break and found out that I really like the interior of the Holden.

I worked together with three other Germans till 12 am.

Then the AVIS workers joined us and the work got really fast. 🙂 It was a very good system and we worked like on the assembly line. 🙂 Fast, good and efficient. 🙂 The lunchbreak and the smoke-goes were really necessary. 🙂

close enough??^^

…choose a colour

After 10 hours work the boss came to me and said that I have to finish my work for the day. I didn’t like that but accepted it. :/ So I called Tim Lars and met him at the beach, where I went swimming in the sea 😀 The water was really cold but today was a nice day 33° C so it was alright. 🙂

I spent some time with Tim Lars and he told me, that he will sleep in a tent tonight. 🙂 That’s awesome, alone in a tent in Christchurch. 🙂 Good luck with that. 🙂 I will work tomorrow from 7:00 am again, hopefully a bit longer. :/ After that I will catch up with Tim Lars and we will sleep on the beach or in the car for one night. 🙂

Today I woke up at about 8:00 am and started my day with a good breakfast. After breakfast I went to the botanic gardens with a German girl and enjoyed a lot of flowers and beautiful nature.

Then I found out about where I can apply for my IRD and off I went. After a long one-hour-walk I found the office and managed to fill in the forms. 🙂 I will receive my IRD in 10 days. 🙂

tomorrow and Sunday. 🙂

Then I went to a job-centre. 🙂 It was called Travelstaff and I had to pass a test and had to do a drug test, too. I passed them all and got a job at AVIS Car Rental (cleaning cars inside and outside, refilling fuel) tomorrow. I wanted to work as much as possible and so I even got two shifts ( 14 hours/day) for tomorrow and Sunday. 🙂

The problem was, that I needed a New Zealand bank account to get paid. So I went to the nearest Westpac and found out that I need a proof of my address to create a new bank account. I went back to my hostel (one and a half hour walk again) and got the proof. 🙂 Then I went back to the Westpac and they said that I have to make an appointment for Monday. I wasn’t really happy about that- you can imagine – but I figured out that I could try at another branch and so I did. I chose ANZ and succeeded to open a bank account there.

Luckily it worked and I could walk back to the job-centre to give them my bank details. 🙂 They said that they also need my IRD so I explained, that I had applied for it today. We figured out, that I would have to send them my IRD number as soon as I ‚ll have got it and then they will pay me my salary. 🙂 So I acchieved everything on one day and I was really proud of myself.

At 16:30 pm I met Tim Lars and we went to the beach together. 🙂 It was just great. When we returned we planned our trip together and had a lot of good conversation. 🙂 In the end I will take our car to come to my working place tomorrow. After I dropped another guy from Brasil at his house, I drove home and cooked my lunch and dinner for the next days.

Today I took the plane from Sydney to Christchurch at 10:15 am and arrived in Christchurch at 15:20 pm. There I exchanged my money, bought a new sim card and took the shuttle to my hostel. 🙂 After I had arrived there I got to know my really lovely roommates, who are from Hongkong and England. Then I did my laundry and went to the shops to buy some groceries. 🙂 It was really expensive. :O I also realized that the architecture here in Christchurch is really very different from what I had seen in Australia.

On the way to the shops there were a lot of construction sites. That’s because of the former earthquakes which had happened in New Zealand some years ago. :/

When I returned Tim Lars (a German friend of mine) was waiting for me in front of my hostel. 🙂 I was really happy. We had talked to each other on the phone several times before and had made this appointment. 🙂 It was so nice to talk to a good friend after such a long time. 🙂 I will start a roadtrip with Tim Lars in some days. He showed me the car which he had already bought and we enjoyed really good conversations in my hostel (while I was having dinner) and in our car. 🙂

That was just the perfect welcome-gift in such a beautiful country. 🙂

I have already seen some parts of the beautiful surrounding here and realized the different climate. It’s really cold here compared to Australia, but that’s alright. 🙂 Tomorrow Tim Lars and I will figure out the formal stuff about my working visa, my IRD and our plans for our trip. And if there’ll be enough time, we will probably  go to the beach.:)

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