Road Trip: Day 17 - Christchurch

Today, we went to a penguin colony. Because the penguins only come at night and leave at day, the whole place was free (until night broke in, of course), so we went and looked if we could spot some seals. We did: one on the rocks, and, — this is where the surprise is — on the grass inside the colony. It appeared to have come through an open gate, left open so the penguins could leave if they wanted. We spent the time watching as two employees tried to chase it away with a shovel and a stick. First it went onto a walkway, then behind a stage, then back out of the stage and onto it, then back onto the grass. Then the process repeated again. After a long pursuit of the seal, which we actually thought was a sea lion, the two people managed to get him out a side entrance.

After this, we hopped into the “truck” to drive to the start and end of our tour, Christchurch. There, we checked in to a campsite with a trampoline and a playground. 

Once it was time for dinner, we drove to an indian restaurant. There we ate butter chicken, tandoori and many other indian delicacies. Afterwards, Niklas and I went to a nearby playground to play.

Road Trip: Day 16 - Oamaru

Today, after another slight snowshower, we drove to a seaside village called Oamaru. There, we went to a campground right next to an awesome playground. The playground had a flying fox, a massive slide, swings, a balance course, a fireman’s pole, and, best of all, a hamsterwheel. Oamaru being a favourite breeding site for Fairy Penguins, at night, all the little penguins walked up from the beach to their nests. As some had their nests situated under or near the toilets or kitchen block, we were able to see how they waddled up the beach to the campsite. The only annoying thing was that it was still raining.

Road Trip: Day 15 - Lake Tekapo

This morning, Mum and Dad went on a pre-breakfast walk, but I was too tired to come along. Then, after breakfast, we walked to the lookout — or at least we wanted to. But the rain that hadn’t come yesterday came today, with extra force. It came down in sheets, drenching us to the bone. Grandma and Grandpa were the first to turn around, then Dad and I, and Mum and Niklas wanted to reach the end. When Dad and I reached the car (or the truck, as we now call it), Grandma and Grandpa had also only just reached it, even though they had turned around a good deal earlier than we had. Anyway, we made ourselves comfortable — got out some tea, took off the wet clothes, and turning on the heater. Then Mum and Niklas came. They had made it within 50 metres of the viewing station, then saw the big crowd there and turned around. There was also no Mount Cook to see, just dull grey clouds. Because of the bad weather, we also decided to drive a day early, so we drove to Lake Tekapo.

Lake Tekapo

The campground was quite good: a decent playground and good toilets — what more could you wish for? The only problem was that it was crowded with people and still a bit rainy. But then, in the afternoon, the rai turned into something else: snow. Snow! After waiting all this time, there’s snow!

Road Trip: Day 14 - Mount Cook

Today, we drove to Mount Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand, at 3754m. The weather, forecast for miserable, was proved wrong and the sky remained an impeccable blue.  We planned to stay there for a while to do some walks to see Mount Doom — as Mount Cook was the very mountain at which they filmed the movie Lord of the Rings. As soon as we arrived, all of us except Grandma and Grandpa walked to the first of three suspension bridges on the track to the Mount Cook lookout. We plan to walk the whole track tomorrow.

A panorama of the bridge and river, with the mountains in the background. No Mount Cook here.

Not Mount Cook, but still very high.

Road Trip: Day 13 - Rest Day No. 2 in Wanaka

Today, we decided to walk the Roys Peak Track. That was a steep track that wound up Roys Peak, through the sheep pastures. It was a serpentine, winding, 16km track. The rain was beginning to pull up and it was clear we weren’t going to make the peak, but we kept going. At one point, I thought I saw a shortcut, although steeper than the rest of the track and Mum, Niklas and I followed it. But only the start was an obvious “path” with the rest of it just green grass for the sheep. It was also steeper than the start, which meant that when we finished the “shortcut”, our thighs were seriously aching. After that, we picked a close spot for lunch and ate. Once we were finished with lunch, we went back to the car. There were dark clouds on the horizon and it was getting rainy, so we might as well return to the campground.

Two cute sheep

Road Trip: Day 12 - Rest Day No. 1 in Wanaka

Today, after jumping on the jumping pillow, we drove to a walking track, the Diamond Lake track. The track wound up toward Diamond Lake, then forked: one way there was a round track of the lake, the other way there was a loop to the summit of the nearest mountain, Rocky Mountain. What we did: we walked to the Diamond Lake lookout, then continued to the Lake Wanaka viewpoint. There we split and, while Mum and Dad continued to the summit, the rest of us went back to the campervan.

Diamond Lake panorama

When we came back to the resort, we ate a delicious dinner of pork, then went back onto the jumping pillow. Then we got some old bread and wanted to feed the chickens, but a lady from the reception handed us two bottles of warm milk and we were allowed to feed the lambs. Then we went to the chickens, went on the playground, but then the pillow started to deinflate and we couldn't jump anymore.

Road Trip: Day 11 - Wanaka

Today, we drove to Wanaka. On the way:

• A stop at Roaring Billy Falls, where I perfected my stone-skipping.

And…

• After driving past Lake Wanaka, with spectacular views of the water, and then past the spot where that lake and another lake, Lake Hawea, were only 100 metres away from each other, we then drove along the shores of Lake Hawea, with more spectacular views. Then we reconnected to Lake Wanaka to get to Wanaka, and to book in at Wanaka Lakeview Resort.

On the bridge

The resort was awesome. It had a jumping pillow, two lambs in  a pen and three chickens. (As Niklas would say, bok!)