Plans are made to be changed

14 december 2017 - Picton, Nieuw-Zeeland

Do you ever plan ahead? Do you often have to change your plans after that? It's probably something I get to do everyday again, and I love it.

I left the beauty of the Fiordland by bus, onwards to Invercargill. And for the full 3 hours, I did not feel any regret for not cycling this remote farmers area. Besides that, I first noticed how narrow lots of the roads are and how lucky I am to have cycled so far without any accidents. Invercargill is a typical farmers hub, you'll find everything you need if, you're a farmer. For tourists it's not too interesting. However, Elco, an old friend of a friend from back home, picked me up and took me to the dairy farm he's been working on for a couple of weeks. And if there's anything that makes me happy, its cows!

I got welcomed very warmly (again!) and made the workers some lasagna to thank them for it. As it was my 22nd birthday the other say, I ofcourse did not forget about Pavlova, cream and fruit too! It was so nice celebrating my birthday on a farm once again. Elco showed me around the big dairy farm (1000 milking cows) and taught me to milk along with the carousel machine, absolutely awesome! After milking for a couple of hours, we went to a pub closeby and had supper with some other (dutch) workers from the neighborhood and they even sang "Happy birthday" to me even though most did not even know my name. So kind and special!

Elco and I took the ferry from Bluff the next morning to Stewart Island on a nice and calm ocean with some beautiful views. We found the hostel just before some heavy rain started, but as soon as it seemed dry we went for a hike. The Ryan Creek path leads you through thick bushbush, some very pretty little bays and we did not see any other people along it. There were so many birds singing we had never heard before. Tasting the local fish and chips was the grand final of an awesome island day.

We were called early the next morning, a Fisher found the weather better than expected and so we could come fishing! We caught 5 blue cods per person, almost a barracuda and I even caught 2 fish on one hook. We had so much fun and even got to take the fish, all cut and ready for frying thanks to Gary. The ferry back to bluff was simply rough.. Waves so high that most people could not help but empty their stomachs along the way. Crazy. But the blue cod compensated all that in the evening - it was delicious!! Thanks Elco for these awesome days!

I got a ride the next day from Charlotte to Dunedin, where I met Yara at the Geeky gecko hostel (I met her in Te Anau and Stewart Island too). We went to the Cadburry chocolate factory, learnt all about it and ate sooo much chocolate. Delicious. Trying to get ahead of bad feelings afterwards we hiked to the steepest street in the world, rainy but so cool to see, go find the very original photos we took there ;). As Yara left the next day I walked to the beach and enjoyed a quiet (rainy) day.

Some bus days followed, to Christchurch first. I am not sure what I expected after the earthquake couple years ago, but definitely not so much destruction. Sad to see, but very impressive how people continue their lives and build everything up again. The ride from Christchurch to Picton was loooong but so beautiful through the Marlborough wine region, as I set front row in the dubbeldekker I had the absolute queen view! And guess what.. The sun's out again!

Well, I'm off for some tramping trips (Queen Charlotte trail and Robert Ridge track) and be back on the north Island for Christmas with certainly many stories to tell. For now; enjoy your winter holidays, snow, ice and Christmas!

Foto’s