The wild wild west
The west coast of New Zealand was important for the Maori’s as it contained the precious green gemstone jade, that they used for decoration, as a symbol of wealth and because of its strength, as knife or axe. But when the early European settlers discovered gold in the 1860’s, this area became booming and small towns with many pubs were quickly established. The gold rush only lasted for a few years and nowadays the area is most famous for its raw and unspoiled nature and you see more campervans and tourist busses than normal traffic on the roads. We have been traveling along the west coast...
Read MoreThe first week in the campervan
Last night it rained and right now in the early morning it is wet and cold outside and the promised view of the mountains is hidden by large clouds. But a faint sun is already trying hard to break through the clouds and in a few hours it will be sunny and the temperatures will be nice enough to walk around in a T-shirt. Welcome to camping in New Zealand. We are now on the road for one week and we have our first rest day, no planned activities and no driving around with the camper. Time for the kids to play and time for us to do the laundry and and to update the blog. Because there are so...
Read More22 February – A day to remember
22 February is not a special day on our trip, but for many people in Christchurg this is a day they will never forget. Four years ago, on 22 February 2011 at 12:51pm, a major magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit Christchurg and 24 seconds of shaking ripped out the heart of the city and 185 people were killed in the event. This earthquake followed another major earthquake 6 months earlier and the two together caused significant damage to the city centre and several suburbs and altered the landscape and the people of Christchurg forever. Today the people of Christchurg and many others came together...
Read MoreKaikoura – marine wildlife capital of New Zealand
Whales, dolphins, albatros, cray fish, fur seals, gennets, oyster catchers, you name it and you can find it here. Initially we were not planning to visit Kaikoura, as we suspected it to be a tourist trap. Because whales and dolphins can be found here year-round, there is a huge tourist industry with expensive boat trips, flights and even helicopter rides. But we had a few days spare, Kaikoura was on the route and we wanted to go back to the beach. So we decided to try it out and see for our selves what the place is really like. And luckily our initial assumptions were wrong. Yes it is...
Read MoreRest and relaxation in Hanmer Springs
Hanmer Springs is famous for its hot water pools. The Maori were the first to discover the thermal springs, but they never established a permanent settlement. But when the springs were rediscovered by European settlers in 1859, the government started to develop the area and in 1889 the first official bathing pools were created and later on a sanctuarium and a hospital, as the natural thermal water possesses healing qualities, which together with the fresh mountain air and lots of sunshine helped to heal the sick and wounded. Nowadays it is one of the top 10 tourist destinations in New...
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