The sea, sand, seals and shells (~ Dec 29th)

On the campsite I had to pay more than 20$ a night (almost the price as a bed in a hostel!) so I left and headed out to hitchhike to a place called Warrington. Ronja and Sönke told me it was a nice small free camping site close to the beach.

I made a cardboard sign and stood on one of the main roads north in Dunedin. It didn't take 5 minutes till someone stopped. At first I didn't notice, they passed me and stopped about 100 meters behind me and honked to get my attention. I got in. Didn't really fell too comfortable though... 2 men sitting in front, tats all over (some looking weirdly like the iron cross from Nazi germany?), no hair and speaking with a really really strong accent (I think something south british?). I couldn't tell or understand alot. I wondered if I should have waited a wee bit longer.
But it all worked out. They started talking to me when we were almost there and were apparently into techno and raves (hoping there'd be a party at the campsite on New Years). They dropped me off and said good bye.
I looked for a place to put up my tent and built it between several cars, but I noticed it was very windy again, almost like Wellington... Windy Warrington aswell?! I put my heavy bag inside and hoped the tent would survive (on the package it said the tent doesn't fare well against strong wind or rain... an indoor tent?!). But it said it was ideal for festivals. No idea who makes these tents... But I buy them^^
Anyway I headed out to walk a little around and looked at the nice nature around. Very nice land tongue, great beach with life guards alot of the time and apparently there are sea lions around! And supposedly penguins come into land at some point too, a wildlife paradise!
When I got back to go for a swim (I wanted to get me trunks etc) I realised all the cars were gone and my tent was almost hugging the ground. Now it looked bizarre, that my small orange tent was in the middle of the campsite... So I relocated to a place behind some trees and bushes (where it wasn't windy at all) and where some other people were staying. Then I headed out into the ocean.

Of course the wind didn't stop at the campsite but was blowing the sand all over the beach and onto to ocean aswell. I didn't mind and jumped into the water and went for a small swim, it was once again one of those beaches, wehere you can walk out a long way and not get too deep. I started swimming around, sort of exercising and when I turned to the beach I got a face full of sand! That's how strong the wind way, even 20 meters out I had sand in my mouth... Anyway I went back out and saw something getting attention further up on the beach. It was the sea lion! She just casually was strolling along, looking at the weird humans standing around. The life guard got a little worried, when she started moving towards a car and hoped, that the humans would behave. They did and the sea lion lost interest and eventually went back into the water. 

The Warrington beach

I chatted with the life guard, she was just 18 and finished school, thinking about what to do next. She had always lived in Warrington and knew the sea lion, her name was Joy and was coming to the Warrington beach for the past 3 years, to give birth to a cub. Problem was, that there are several humans around and the mating season of male sea lions is the same as the breeding time of the females. So they do not like it, if the female already has a kid and kill it (which happened to Joy and her first baby). The second time she found a better hiding spot, though it was in the middle of a bike trek, so it was cut off, because the ground was almost the colour of the sea lions. And then some idiot human killed that second cub. Unbelievable. Who would do such a thing?! I can't imagine what must have gone wrong in someones life to kill a little sea lion cub. (not 100% sure if it was in this order, but still one cub was shot by a human...)

But she was back and everyone was hoping, that she could find another good hiding spot and be protected from humans at the same time. Third times a charm!

I went back to my tent and chilled a little. Suddenly I saw something on the hill opposite on the campsite. It was Joy!! She started "barking" and then slid down the hill to the campsite and walked around. She came close to another persons tent and seemed to like it there. The guy stopped everything and gave her some space, but was actually in the middle of putting up his tent. His girlfriend was in the car and just stayed in there, almost trapped. About 10 minutes later Joy left again and walked towards the beach again.

Joy! Looking for a partner/ hiding spot on the campsite?

In the afternoon I went on a walk again and headed out to the end of the lagune and stumbled across some people taking their miniature horses for a walk, that was kind of cute. They also had a small dog along. I had heard that these small horses are very stubborn and not easy to control. And indeed, as soon as the people let 2 of them walk a little freely they sprinted away, so the third joined and got loose from the lady. A wild pursuit started. The horses "running" with their little stubby feet away along the dunes and the humans yelling at them and walking fast after them (they hadn't yet wanted to run after them). It was kinda cute how these short legged creatures ran around, free and all. The tiny dog didn't understand what was happening and just hurried after it's humans, though they had much longer legs and even the horses' legs were longer than the dogs, it could barely keep up. In the end the dog just stopped and eventually the owners caught the horses again and came past the dog again. Now our paths crossed and I simply walked behind them while they were walking through the dunes. On these were some plants, which hindered the sight of the tiny dog again, which suddenly lost sight of it's family and only saw me as a potential helper. I guided it back to it's humans so they could be united once again. Cute little pup ;-)

During the late afternoon I was in my tent again after another short swim and I heard some commotion happening outside. I realised people gathering again around the tent, where Joy was before. She had returned! This time she was relaxing in the shade and was being annoyed by kids and some other adults. Everyone wanted a picture of course and some got too close for that, making her get agitated and maybe a little aggressive, luckily no one was too close so she attacked or did something dangerous. I had planned to head out to the end of the lagune again and try and spy some penguins. 

Second time Joy arrived and just lay down in the shadow of a guys car

You can tell it's a female, because her skin is much lighter, a male would be much darker (info from the life guard)

Panorama of the beach in the late afternoon

Nice shells leaving traces in the sand after the tide

That's what I did. I waited. And waited. As it slowly got dark I got ready to head back home, because it had started raining and with that weather I really wasn't up to keep waiting in the dark aswell... So I gave up and went back into my tent.

Luckily I had my little plastic thing to cover up my tent, so nothing got wet inside, I actually didn't want to risk it, so I'm not sure if my tent is actually water proof or not. Because of the wind and rain the piece of plastic got torn so I threw it away the next day, though it only cost 3$, so I got a new one for the next camping experience!

In the morning some germans approached me and asked me where I got the plastic and if it worked, because they had bought similar tents and wanted to make them waterproof as well. So I told them and when they told me they'd be heading to Dunedin soon, I was able to hitch a hike with them back into the city. Sweet as!

Look at these wicked selfie skills!

Christmas in New Zealand (~ Dec 25th *duh*)

Wooo! Merry christmas... well not really. A little late for that...

For Christmas I was in Dunedin. One of the bigger cities in NZ, second biggest on the south island (if I'm not mistaking). It's pretty far off in the south and more a uni city, but in my opinion with some nice things to do, even if you aren't studying there. But during holidays and such the city loses several 1000s of people, because the students all go home.

Here I camped - the first time in NZ. Because I arrived a day before my friends came along, I checked in a hostel to have a nice bed before sleeping on my air mattress and in a sleeping bag.
It was a rather small and cozy hostel and I was dropped off by my nice lift. The people inside were all in groups and in holiday spirit. I did some shopping and had dinner and checked the post office, my parents wanted to send me a christmas package :D
Of course it was closed, but I took fotos of the opening hours during the holidays, so I could come back, when it's open. And they close an aweful lot during the holidays. 25-27th december and then again 1st-3rd january. And some days with shorter hours (like the 24th and so on)
Wow... Anyway I got ready to head out the next day to meet up with my friends.
They arrived at about lunch time on the 24th and so shortly after I followed with my luggage and took a bus to their campsite. They were just returning back from shopping, when I arrived, so I put up my cheap 17$ tent (and additionally I bought a 3$ plastic, actually used for painting, to make it waterproof ^^ ). Luckily it didn't rain while we were in Dunedin, though the weather could have been a lot better! We had an awesome bbq session, made some music and I wore my blinking santa hat all day ^^
The next 2 days we hung out together, visited Dunedin and also the Cadbury Chocolate Factory! That was amazing! Of course we got alot of chocolate, which was awesome. We also got a small caramal chocolate santa, because we did the tour on the 26th of december! ;-)
On the 27th Ronja and Sönke left and I extended for another day, before I left as well and went to a small free camping site to save some money.

As quickly as I wrote this, is how I felt it happening to me. In a rush I was there, my friends arrived, we ate, had fun and suddenly they were gone again and christmas was over. It was nothing compared to celebrating at home with your family. Especially for me, because since 2009 I also had to drive home, it felt like a special place and in that time of year, you get the "christmas spirit" as you might want to call it. Time slows down and you enjoy everything. Now while I was travelling it seemed more like a normal day, except that there were some decorations here and there, people wearing santa hats and christmas music being played in almost every shop/ place in the cities.
It might also have to do with the fact, that it is warm, you know you are on the southern hemisphere and it is summer, no chance of a white christmas. Though our christmas was cloudy and not as summerly as people told me the previous years were.
But it was nice to be with friends at least, who you could spend this nice day together with. I really enjoyed hanging out with them and with them getting into the christmas spirit (before I didn't really feel much). But when I put on my hat and people wished me merry christmas and then finally meeting them and celebrating together, I got it. It was a good day!
We tried recording a "winter wonderland", but the wind destroyed all the audio I think but sang it just for us and just had a fun evening with christmas Gin Tonic and the great bbq food ;-)

Wow I look crazy.... And those santas blinked! ;D

VCP Beer! (VCP is my scouting organisation in Germany)

Woooo! Cadbury factory

The Cadbury trucks, these delivered milk to the factory and transported the chocolate around town

Ah yes, Kids love it! (right Benjamin? ^^)

The Dunedin Justice building and

the Dunedin Trainstation are built in the same old fashioned style

Christchurch (~ Dec 21st)

Thanks to my lift I was dropped off directly at the hostel. When I told him the name he wanted to see if it was the same hostel he once stayed in and when he saw the neighbourhood he remembered it and told me it's a nice place ;-)
A German girl who was just returning helped me get inside with all my luggage (you had to buzz the door or use a code to get inside). I met her later again for a little stroll through Christchurch. She showed me some sites (like the main cathedral, which is still pretty much destroyed from the earthquake 2011/2012).
Back then there were 2 big earthquakes, which devastated a big parts of the city. Now many people live more outside and the central part of the city is really open and empty. Most old spots of the buildings are now car parks and just not really pretty (instead of making them green areas or whatever...)
Max (the guy who brought me to Christchurch) told me everyone has a story about his night, when the earthquake struck. His was, that he couldn't sleep and wanted to grab a smoke, but because he was out he walked to an 7/11 and was on the street when the streets and land started shaking. The store was destroyed and his appartment as well. So he said you could think smoking saved his life, but he pointed it more to his sleeplessness.
After that earthquake in the end of 2011 many afterquakes happened, so many people got used to them. Later someone said, that sometimes he and his brother would watch TV, when the earth started shaking no one moved, when it stopped, they were still sitting on the couch and watching TV. It bothered no one... That wasn't too good, cause then in 2012 another major earthquake took place, closer to the earths surface and in daytime, so when one of the office buildings collapsed, it was full of people and many more died in that earthquake than the "stronger" one in 2011.

So anyway, you can still see, that the city has to recover. Many constructions sites , some buildings still in ruins, some just being torn down. And containers. Containers were for many people a popular way to "build" something quickly, such as shopping places, living spaces and even a church. Similar to what I have seen in Hamburg, where some classrooms are entirely made out of containers and many living places for refugees were also built out of containers.

One of the pieces of art on the walls, of course making a parking area more attractive...

The next day I did some shopping and walked around Christchurch some more, visited the botanical garden and later actually met up with Sönke to see "Star Wars Rogue One", the newest movie about a Galaxy far far away. Sönke and Ronja had a tattoo appointment the next day, so he was excited and couldn't stay for long, so he left and I once again said bye untill Christmas.

Some green thingy in the botanical garden

"O sole mio!" - a little fun boat ride on a canal through the botanical garden

The next morning I headed out to do a free tour of Christchurch (recommended by Sönke). These are nice and cheap possibilities for travelers to explore a city, they offer the tours in different cities, though I imagine there are by now several different companies doing them. By now I also did one in Sydney (Australia, Melbourne also has a free tour), but there is also one in Wellington and Auckland. You could of course not pay anything, but the tourguide isn't paid, so they are dependent on the tips of the people attending. So many give generously. Which made me think about maybe starting a similar business in Hamburg, if there isn't one already. The guy was friendly and told us alot of things and of course showed us around Christchurch, with its container shopping mall, container church and the different buildings which were bought for only 1$, because of the severe earthquake damage. Some smart investor buys it and tries to renovate it or tear it down to build a new building. But none of them are finished yet, if I remember correctly...
Many of the open walls (which were once covered by the neiboghring building) are now artwork, many street artists have painted, drawn or whatever on the walls. That is in fact cool. Just walking around and suddenly seeing a big painted elephant, on another wall a woman with feathered hair and so on.
At the end of the tour the guy started talking about the future of Christchurch and got a little dramatic. It sounded almost as if he was comparing the city to a phoenix: "Like a phoenix, it shall rise out of it's ashes and come to new glory! It will be a cultural hub for everyone, great art and more beautiful than any other in New Zealand!" That was a good ending, I had a feeling others were indifferent about his passion. I don't know. But it was worth it, if you ever go to Christchurch I can recommend it (I don't know if there are tour guides who aren't as passionate/ good as he is).

This building still has the old fassade! On the rest of the building is gone, so rebuilt by containers!

The new modern church in the central district of Chch!

The entrance and side of the building is made of containers, the roof built out of special tubes, so it is light and pretty much earthquake safe

The glas of the front window is made out of old church windows, which were destroyed in the earthquake

xxx empty white chars, each representing a person, that died in the earthquake, to the left is a small info board and on the back a list of everyone, who died there

The old cathedral, they are still discussing, if they will tear it down or just repair it

The church wants to replace with a new building, but the community and some others want to repair it

Many cranes, building sites and some new buildings, you see this alot in Christchurch

Another piece of art

Actually some of the oldest buildings, which survived the earthquake and are in the middle of Christchurch!

On the tour were all sorts of people, seniors from Australia, students from Australia and from the USA, backpackers from european countries and of course germans. One of them I hung around with later and had some lunch. Back in the hostel I got a free sleeping bag (2 asian guys had left in the middle of the night with 10.000 alarms) and left different things in the room, saying good bye, cause they're leaving back to their home country. I didn't get which one, they just said home and otherwise didn't speak alot of english (or didn't chose to). Then new people moved into my room. We talked and 2 of them were german students, who were studying abroad in Auckland and travelling aroung the south island for the summer break. They got a good tent, sleeping bag and mattresses almost for free from other people, who were also leaving back home. Apparently many people leave New Zealand from Christchurch.
In the night again at almost the same time as the night before again an alarm went off. It was the new asian guy in my room, who jumped off his bed and took his packed suitcase etc. to leave without a word. Weird thing was, that he came back at about 7am. We were wondering if he missed his flight or something... But we didn't want to wake him. Anyway he was back and I had to leave. Well wanted to. I had looked online for a good spot to hitch a hike to the south (before christmas all buses are expensive or booked out...). I took a bus all the way to the edge of the city and waited. It slowly started drizzling when a car stopped and took me to Ashburton, about an hour south of Chch. It was Arnheim, a half dutch half australian guy, who offered me to call him in case I didn't get a ride to Dunedin that day. He dropped me off at a busy road towards the south in Ashburton where I again dropped my bags and got ready for a long wait. Luckily it had stopped raining, though it still was really cloudy and didn't look too nice.
I only waited about 15 minutes when another car stopped. In the back a mountain bike, so just one seat left for me. David was his name, he works in Blenheim and is a biologist, interested in small birds and is a very active guy, doing many outdoor activities. He of course was on the way to his family for christmas, they live just a little west of Dunedin and he knows Dunedin well, because he lived and studied there. On the way he showed me a little around Oamaru. Well he just drove around and told me there was a great steampunk museum. I was interested, though of course didn't want to make him stop for me and had no clue if I could or wanted to spend a night here.
We drove on and finally arrived in Dunedin. Here again he showed me a few things, such as the steepest road in the world. Well the steepest residency road of the world (though I remember some very steep roads in Italy!). Anyway he drove up there! It was crazy! That road is really freacking steep! I felt like in a rollercoaster driving up, ready to rush down! But n the top there's not much to do/ see. Houses to the left and right, just a little view. But a few nice things saying it's the steepest residency road in the world. The street was big enough for him to turn around and drive back down again, slowly of course. He said in the past people actually died doing stupid things like jumping in garbage cans and rolling down the hill...
Another thing he told me was, that the cycle lanes in Dunedin are broad because once a famous professor was run over by a car, while riding his bike. That's why they made the cycle lanes broader, so this won't happen again (I guess). You could still see the old marks, which were nearly half as wide as the new ones!
He then dropped me off at the hostel, because it was basically on his way on to his family. I got out and checked into the hostel for a day, before going to the campsite to celebrate christmas with Ronja and Sönke =)

Near the Cathedral, that artsy thing in the background is a popular meeting place, closeby the "wizard of Christchurch" walks around and gives speeches!

FYI: The wizard is a old man, with long grey beard who walks around in a wizard robe and has a staff of Gandalf!!! Oh and he gets paid for doing that from the city...

I only saw the wizard for a short bit, he rushed past me, so I couldn't ask him any questions...

A ferry ride and the hitch hike south (~ Dec 18th)

My week in Wellington was over and I had turned my back on the north island for now. Time to visit the south and see whats going on there.
The ferry ride was ok. Many people around (of course germans as well) tried to sleep or were engaged in talking, I tried getting a little bit of sleep myself and visited the upper deck to have a nice view around Wellington and see the ocean. Unfortunately I didn't see any dolphins or whatever, because it was getting dark soon.
Once the ferry arrived we were taken by bus to the terminal where I got my luggage, including my Guitalele, which was alright, and the bus diver told us she'd take us to the hostels for free! Awesome! (because it was raining) I took the bus all the way to my hostel and luckily I called ahead I'd be late, so I could get inside and was able to go to sleep quickly. The owners had hid a note telling me which room and bed I could have and leaving me the door code and so on for the stay.
The next day I paid and planned my next move. Sönke and Ronja were traveling by car onward and were expecting to meet me latest in Dunedin, maybe in Christchurch. So I extended my stay in Picton, hoping to get a bus, though these were all booked or very expensive. I hesitated and decided to probably hitch a hike. But that was still a few days ahead.

You might be able to tell, but it was crazy windy on the deck above! After all, we were still in Wellington ;-)

Nothing much to see.. just the Peninsula on which the studios and the WETA Cave are on

In the hostel we were able to take bikes for free and of course get infos, maps and so on about the small town. So I grabbed a bike and started driving around town. I decided to check out a viewpoint and visited the ocean during the afternoon. Supposedly they had a Maori village at that viewpoint, though no archeological survey was done and just a few "holes" in the ground showed that people had lived here, who dug them.
The view was nice and you could see the ferry moving through the amazing fjord towards the small town Picton. In all: this landscape was breathtaking.

The old Maori hut sites

View from the top, before wakling down to the "beach"

A slight turn to the left reveals this, a small Maori Totem reveals that a site once was here (though that was placed much later)

Even further to the left, all the peninsulas and so on, behind that is Picton, where I started my bike ride!

Down on the beach, just a short walk from the parking pot at the top

How I would love to know how to sail... no borders, just being able to go wherever you want to (as long as food and wind don't run out)

On the way back I encountered these birds, it was a mother with little babies

though I took many pictures none on which you can see them... vampire birds maybe?

In the evening I made some dinner and got to know some people. Some were on bicycle tours around the world and had visited alot of places. Though I can't imagine doing that. Because it seems they were almost constantly on the road, they must have saved alot (really alot) of money, the one guy I met had not worked in over a year and a half and was only in "expensive" countries (he flew from Turkey to Australia then New Zealand, of course you don't have travel expenses, but still accomodation and food has to be paid etc). I don't know how he did it. Anyway I also met some people from France and the USA, who I had a nice dinner with.
After another day of relaxing I checked out and I was ready to try out hitchhiking.
From the lady who runs the hostel I got a hint, where the best spot to wait is (at the street where the ferry road and main town road meet). So I dropped my bags there and held up my sign: "Christchurch"

I stood there waving my thumb and waiting, after about 10 minutes a car stopped! The guy wasn't driving all the way to Christchurch but to Blenheim (pronounced: blennem). Cause I didn't know what he meant (I didn't get his pronounciation) I simply agreed and got in (very smart ^^' ). He was a nice guy, Toby, who was on a working trip in Picton and Nelson and actually lived in Christchurch, but was taking a flight down there and not driving (the car was rented from Nelson). He said he wanted to improve his karma for hitchhiking, because he used to hitch a hike some times in the past now and wanted to get some in the future and so stopped for me ;-)
Because of the earthquake the direct highway to Chch (Christchurch) was blocked and there was a huge detour through the inner part of the island. So instead of a 3 hour drive it takes about 6 via the inland route. He dropped me off at the junction where the detour starts and where there was a spot for cars to stop after a turn (so they were slow!). Great place to wait!
Unfortunately my karma seemed to have failed me and I was waiting... I always smiled at the people and tried to stay in a good mood. For 15 minutes. 30 minutes. After 45 I got some food and still tried to wave my thumb and show my cardboard sign indicating my destination. After about an hour finally a guy stopped and took me all the way down to Chch! He was even so kind to drop me at the hostel =)

He, Max, was a fresh police officer in a small town a little south of Chch and had attended a wedding near Picton, so was on his way back home. I can imagine him being happy to find me, because the route through the island turned out to be very... boring... Nothing much to see. No spectacular mountains, some nice forests, but nothing special if you have been to New Zealand. So pretty average I'd say for Kiwi standards.
And because of the hills etc the radio doesnt always work, so a partner to talk to is definately a good thing!
We talked about our travel experiences, his trips to europe and how he got into the police. He also told me the most probable time a police officer in NZ has to fire his gun, is when a sheep is running on a highway. Running after them only results in hilarious youtube videos and isn't too effective, so shooting is most of the time the easiest and best solution. We talked about other things, like the gun laws, university stories and had a good time. I missed out to ask about any contact details to maybe stay in touch...

We drove all the way through to Chch, I invited him to dinner, but he said he'd get dinner at his parents who live close by. So we parted ways. It was a nice trip and I wish him well =)
So after a little more than 7,5 hours I had reached Christchurch at about 6 pm.

Greetings from Picton! Hey Mate! That's a Weird spot to hold your club...