Christchurch - Auckland Airport

Good Morning from Auckland Airport!!!
We spent one entire week in Christchurch where we successfully have managed to sell our car (Flippo the Toyota!!!) on the Backpackers Car Market...and where we also met up again with our friends Kristina and Stephie from Germany for 2 days... The weather was so so cold and on some days it was also snowing...brrrrr
We left yesterday evening by plane to Auckland where we spent the night on one of the many benches of the airport and now are waiting to check in to our flight for the Cook Islands...
Next stopp RAROTONGA...

CHRISTCHURCH

We are in Christchurch since yesterday... the weather is fine and the hostel we stay in is pretty good...:O)) Have to go now....ciaooooooo

Seals!!!!

Just 30 km north of Kaikoura you can see a whole seal colony lying there on the beach...on and between rocks!!! FREEEEEE animals!!! Spectacular!!... and you do not even have to pay for it!!!!!
In Kaikoura we have also met up with Kathrin and her brother Matze and did the Whale Watch toghether...

Sunset in KAIKOURA..., 14th June

LEWIS PASS ...somewhere in between Greymouth and Hammer Springs, 14th June

Punakaiki - the PANCAKE ROCKS and US!!!!

Pancake and on top Dany e Claudi

31st of May to 10th of June...Picton (Sequoia Lodge) CENA DI ADDIO :'-(

Miwa, Rosa e Gina
pizza per 14....AFFAMATI!!!
Yumi
Dave e Dany
Caro (..und der Pony sitzt :O)))))) e Rosa

Pubblichiamo anche se in ritardo :-) alcune foto della cena di addio...
We forgot that we haven't written about our time in Picton...ohh (it's because the computer didn't work at that time!!!) ...well we stayed in Sequoia Lodge where we have found work as woofers aswell...what a great hostel!! Thank you Robyn and Paula!! Toghether with us there were Caro from Germany, Rosa from Taiwan, Miwa from Japan, Gina from England, Aussie from Oz, Dave from the UK and many more nice people...we had a lot of fun, especially on our last evening there when Dany made Pizza for 14!!! Yummyyyyy!
On our free day we did the 1 day Queen Charlotte Track in the Marlborough Sounds...to go there we had to catch the watertaxi from Picton and after one hour it dropped us off at Ship Cove...the same place where Captain Cook arrived some hundreds of years ago when he discovered New Zealand..WOW...amazing, especially as at this time of the year only very few people do the track (we where 3 altogether) ..and so we felt a little bit like pioneers aswell ;O)))) only us three there...we spent a great sunny day with basically 5 hours moderate walking and caught the watertaxi again in the late afternoon from Endevour Inlet (named after one of Cooks ships) back to Picton...where we went straight for the HOT SPAPOOL to relax :O))))

Rain...Snow...Sunshine!!!:O)) KAIKOURA and WHALE WATCHING!! Dolphins too!!!!

Hi...we have left Motueka and went to Punakaiki to see the PANCAKE ROCKS (they look like manypancakes one on top of the other :O)) that's where the name comes from :O))), we stayed in a really nice isolated place called TE NIKAU RETREAT...seemed more like a mountain hut than a backpackers...very nice, there we met Helen (UK) and Philippe Louis XVI (:O)))) Canada), a really nice couple and because of the heavy rain we stayed there not only 1 night but 2! (there is nothing to do already...just imagine when on top of this it is raining!!!!!!!!!haha!!) oh...by the way, on the way to Punakaiki we had a FLAT tyre!! :O((( but Dany managed even during heavy rainfall to change the tyre and to get us going!!! yeahhhhhhhhh!!
So 2 days later we were on the road again ready for new adventures...we stopped in Greymouth, ok little town further down the Westcost and we stayed in another awesome hostel GLOBAL VILLAGE, oh, this place was so great!!!!!! Whoever passes through G. -> this is the place to stay overnight!!! The next day was pretty warm and sunny and we decided to take the LEWIS PASS cross the country over to the other side of the island to KAIKOURA...we passed by the Southern Alps and saw a lot of snow!!! In the afternoon we stopped in HAMMER SPRINGS - beautifuuuuuul!!! little ski town in the mountains with a large thermal area and hot pools- for a cup of hot chocolate before finally haeding on to Kaikoura.
KAIKOURA...many hostels, but only few good ones...went to do the famous WHALEWATCHING tour today and that was just AAAAAWESOME!!!!!!!!!! Bright sunshine and
and a clear view as far as you could see...Kaikoura is right on the pacific and in the back there are the mountains...wow!! Well, our trip started at 12.45pm, we met there also Kathrin and her brother Matze (we arranged yesterday that we could be on the same tour together) ...we went out on a boat especially equipped to encounter the signals of the whales...we saw 5!!! sperm whales and many many dolphins!!!!!! ahhhh so so so beautiful, we had such a great day!!

SALUTI DALL'ISOLA SUD....

Ciao ragazzi!!!
scusate l'assenza...sempre causata da forza maggiore :-))
Adesso ci troviamo a Motueka (Parco Nazionale Abel Tasman), non distante da Nelson nell'isola sud!
FA UN FREDDO BOIA :-))))) alla faccia dell'inverno :-) fortunatamente solo di sera, mentre durante il giorno il sole splende....e si sta davvero bene!!!
Appena potremo pubblicheremo altre foto...non vi preoccupate, grazie per il sostegno via e-mail e' sempre bello ricevere vostre notizie!!!
Insomma tenete duro...
A presto
Dany e Claudi