Queenstown – Arrowtown – Wanaka – Haast, New Zealand
We woke up to a view today – again! I get the feeling, that this view is following us around ever since we first made it to the summit road in Akaroa on our first day on the road. The view has been there, changing disguises every hour, combining lakes, rivers, mountains, cliffs and the sea to make us stop along the road and stand there speechless and awed. Today’s disguise is some mountains surrounding a lake glittering in the morning sun – which comes in quite handy as we still have no water on the van…
After breakfast – pancakes once more, as the 1.5 kg flour package (the smallest one we could find) does not fit into the plastic bag yet and we would not risk to spread flour all over the van, would we? – We ask around in Queenstown for the prices and details for the sky dive Elys had planned to do in New Zealand’s action capital. In the end, Elys postpones the adrenaline adventure to another day and location as her cold still troubles her and we spent a cozy half an hour in a cafe having hot chocolate topped with marshmallows and internet before we head out of town and up one of the more crazier roads in this country, winding up a mountain in wild serpentines accompanied by a view over the valley I cannot find the right words to describe…
Down on the other side we pick up a hitchhiker – Guillermo from Argentina – who has to endure my wild driving up and down the next mountain pass facing to the side of the car. I imagine, that he spent some really uncomfortable hours staring at the green vegetation blur passing by. He confessed to me later that he was feeling “a little sick” when we finally made it to the “population: 5”-town of Haast on the west coast, where Guillermo slept alone in his 6 bed dorm and we spent the evening watching TV in a gargantuan camp kitchen all to ourselves on a lonely campground. If you should ever happen to visit New Zealand, don’t go to Haast. It is a depressingly sad little town in the “Wopwops”! (Wopwops = middle of nowhere in Kiwi English)
Day 278: Out in the Wopwops
Queenstown – Arrowtown – Wanaka – Haast, New Zealand
We woke up to a view today – again! I get the feeling, that this view is following us around ever since we first made it to the summit road in Akaroa on our first day on the road. The view has been there, changing disguises every hour, combining lakes, rivers, mountains, cliffs and the sea to make us stop along the road and stand there speechless and awed. Today’s disguise is some mountains surrounding a lake glittering in the morning sun – which comes in quite handy as we still have no water on the van…
After breakfast – pancakes once more, as the 1.5 kg flour package (the smallest one we could find) does not fit into the plastic bag yet and we would not risk to spread flour all over the van, would we? – We ask around in Queenstown for the prices and details for the sky dive Elys had planned to do in New Zealand’s action capital. In the end, Elys postpones the adrenaline adventure to another day and location as her cold still troubles her and we spent a cozy half an hour in a cafe having hot chocolate topped with marshmallows and internet before we head out of town and up one of the more crazier roads in this country, winding up a mountain in wild serpentines accompanied by a view over the valley I cannot find the right words to describe…
Down on the other side we pick up a hitchhiker – Guillermo from Argentina – who has to endure my wild driving up and down the next mountain pass facing to the side of the car. I imagine, that he spent some really uncomfortable hours staring at the green vegetation blur passing by. He confessed to me later that he was feeling “a little sick” when we finally made it to the “population: 5”-town of Haast on the west coast, where Guillermo slept alone in his 6 bed dorm and we spent the evening watching TV in a gargantuan camp kitchen all to ourselves on a lonely campground. If you should ever happen to visit New Zealand, don’t go to Haast. It is a depressingly sad little town in the “Wopwops”! (Wopwops = middle of nowhere in Kiwi English)