Where on earth..?

South Island NZ in a van

Yes, we really did it, hired a camper van for a month! Crazy idea, none of us has ever before set a foot inside one... Is it gonna be fun or will we kill each other from lack of space? Time will tell, but it IS a very good way to see this country, freedom to drive where-ever whenever and camp just where we want to. Some nights we've tried wildcamping, but mostly we try to park in holiday parks to get electricity, heating and shower facilities. Its not much bigger than a normal van, but higher, you can easily stand straight inside. It has a mini-kitchen with all you can need and actually seems to work all right! (The van can be found in many pictures)

Spent this day in the city of Dunedin, second largest in the south island and had a minor catastrophie when trying to shop for easter eggs. As the Easter Bunnie is the one bringing the chocolates (this is to be taken seriously!) we of course have to snoop behind each others backs attempting to buy the best ones. And OF COURSE we would do that in the same shop at the same time, almost colliding in the aisle, hands full of eggs... There went that suprise, but we now know there's gonna be LOTS of chocolate this easter =)

So, after Christchurch we've been to the coastal town of Akaroa, where we went on a dolphin watching tour and saw seals, birds, one penguine and lots of wild dolphins (see pictures)! I also found myself a doctor for a minor problem that should be OK now. We stopped in a few towns on our way to lakes Pukaki and Tekapo in the middle of the island. The non-real blue colour of theese lakes is amazing, again see pictures. Here Raine also did that skydive of his. On the way to Dunedin we stopped on the coast in Moeraki, which was a beautiful fishing village that a little bit reminded us of the finnish arcipelago, but was somehow exotic anyway. Lovely place, could easily spend a week there.

It's all so beatiful here, we cant stop beeing amazed. The amount of natural wonders in such a small country is unbelievable. So far we've had great weather (if cold at times), so we're waiting for the rain to start as we are soon heading further south...

Have a great easter and eat lots of chocolate =) !

posted by Carina @ 9:49 AM