Today we got up at 10:00 am. Again we had spent a night at a free campinground. 🙂 We had watched a good movie and enjoyed a funny night. 🙂 We continued our trip to a lookout from where we could see Mount Cook.

Then we fueled up our car and drove to Punakaiki (3 hours drive). On the way we stopped at some beaches to jump into the water, got tanned and ate something for lunch. 🙂

In Punakaiki we visited the Pancake Rocks and the Blowholes. 🙂

It is just awesome to see how the rocks have been formed by the power of the water. 🙂

At 5:00 pm we continued to Westport where we wanted to stay for the night, to charge our devices and to skype with our parents.

🙂 By the way Happy Birthday Mum ! 😀

Today I got up at 7:00 am and was picked up by the van at 7:45 am. 🙂 This time I knew that I would jump, because the sky looked just blue and the wind was calm. 🙂 So I put on my really sexy jumpsuit and all my equipment (oxygen mask, helmet, gloves and glasses) 🙂

Then I met my jump instructor. He was called Boris and I had already met him yesterday and had a good conversation with him about what it is like to be a skydive instructor. 🙂 I felt very safe and happy when I entered the plane. 🙂

Boris and me 

On the way to the plane I had a short interview with my cameraman and a small talk with Boris. 🙂 After the plane had taken off I enjoyed a really nice view of the scenery beyond me ( sun was shining, some beautiful clouds) and after ten minutes we were at 9000 ft. high. I had to pull over my oxygen mask. At 10.000 ft. the first skydivers had to jump out of the plane. 🙂 It was funny to watch them fall out of the plane and I had another interview with my cameraman. 🙂 At 12.000 ft we stopped again and some more jumped out of the plane. 🙂

I was the only skydiver left in the plane because my jump was from 15.000 ft and from second to second I got more nervous. Boris strapped me to himself and I sat on his laps. Then we reached 15.000 ft, Boris, the cameraman and I did a HiFi-interview and took some photos and then I had to go to the edge of the plane and had to sit down. 🙂

I thought that this would be the hardest seconds but I felt pretty safe and really wanted to jump. 🙂 So Boris and I jumped after a crazy picture.

The first minute was just awesome. 🙂 60 seconds of freefalling through clouds, the earth getting closer and enjoying the most beautiful view I’ve ever seen. 🙂

just flying…

.

During my freefall my eyes began to get wet and my mouth was trembling because of the 200 kpH high speed. 🙂 It was really hard to breath and in some seconds I didn’t only have pressure on my ears but also had the feeling of being unable to breathe at all. :/ But I enjoyed the fascinating view and had really much fun with Boris who entertained me by some funny stuff on our  way down. 🙂 It was like riding a rollercoaster, I was so light and free, it was just amazing. 🙂 Then Boris opened the parachute and a wonderful lovely feeling returned to my stomach, I was drifting through the air, enjoying the view and finally knowing, that everything went all right. 🙂

parachute worked

Then Boris said „Let’s do some crazy stuff“ and so we were floating through the air, in circles, getting faster and closer to the ground. 🙂 I enjoyed the adrenaline rushing through my body and craved for more. 😛 Before we landed I had to lift up my feet, and  then Boris landed us safely on the ground. 🙂

just happy

I thanked him for this really great experience and that he has saved my life. 😛 Then I went back to the lounge – happy of just having been through the skydive of my life – where the lovely skydive assistents were waiting for me and where I could watch my video. 🙂

In the video you can see  that I really enjoyed the view… I almost never looked straight into the camera but to the ground which was coming closer (probably that was more important for me than looking good )

At  about one o’clock Lars Tim and I continued our roadtrip to Haast. There we relaxed on the beach and had some lunch. Then we went on to the Fox Glacier. We arrived there after a short drive and after  a short walk ( 1,1 km) we enjoyed an awesome view.

Fox Glacier

That is me with new shirt

Then we drove to the Franz Josef Glacier and there again we enjoyed a spectacular view of the glacier. It’s just fascinating,  that this is a glacier from the iceage.

just being crazy in front of Franz Josef Glacier

This day we woke up at 7:00 o’clock after we had slept in the car after the theatre yesterday. 🙂 I hoped that I would have my skydive today and so  I was really excited.  I started my first trial   to my skydive at 8:15. An orange van picked me up and a lovely lady showed me an introduction video and explained everything to me. 🙂

On the way to the airport of the skydive we picked up another Chinese woman, who also wanted to jump today. 🙂 I couldn’t talk much to her, because her English wasn’t too good and I was just enjoying the landscape. 🙂 When we arrived at the airport we got the message, that the skydive was cancelled, because of bad weather ( cloudy and steamy). So I was driven back to town. 🙂 There Tim Lars and I decided to try some mountain-biking.

🙂 It was really extreme mountain-biking in the sticky Forest. It was just awesome to race downhill these small hiking tracks to jump over stones, trunks and wood. 🙂

Pure adrenaline rushed through my body. One jump was really awesome, I was flying for 2 seconds and I was relieved feeling  my backwheel safely touching the ground again.   I challenged myself a lot but still on some mountains I had to give up (we took the intermediate and professional tracks). It really was a funny and exhausting experience passing lots of beautiful look-outs of the Lake Wanaka. 🙂

We returned at 12:00 because my second attempt to do the skydive was at 12:30. The same van picked me up and I was driven to my skydive-centre. 🙂 But it was cancelled again :/ So Tim Lars and I went mountain-biking again. This time we decided to drive seperately because I wanted to jump and to try some extreme stuff and Tim Lars wanted to drive in a more easy going way, take some pictures and didn’t want to jump. So I went on by myself.

just jumping…

After we had returned at 5:30 pm and had given back the bikes we prepared our dinner. Pasta with tomato sauce and sausages.

This morning we continued our roadtrip to Wanaka (1 hour drive)

Lake Wanaka

After we had arrived there we wanted to buy some tickets for a theatre play, that we wanted to see and went to the building where we thought we could buy the tickets. We went into a bar, and the people  were really nice and said, that we could use the elevator on the right. So we did. 🙂 We got out and a huge alarm bell started to ring :/ we didn’t know what was going on and just realized that we were locked in the building then.  We tried to use the elevator again to get back  but the alarm system stopped all the other systems and it didn’t work. :/

trapped ^^

We were trapped in a locked building. After 10 or 15 minutes the owner of the theatre club opened the front-door and we told him our story. He laughed and said, that we can purchase the tickets at 4:00 pm. 🙂 We were really happy to get out of this weird situation and went on sightseeing  Wanaka. 🙂 At 4 o’clock we purchased the tickets for the theatre. Tomorrow at 7 pm we have to be in the Gin and Raspbery Bar.

the play

the bar

on the beach

Lake Wanaka

our campingground

  The weather had changed to sunny by then and we spent the rest of the day on the beach. At 6 pm we drove to our campingground and parked there. I  instantly fell asleep.

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.