Pidrik´s Reise durch Mittelerde

Hey there!

Well, we´ve been on travels for 3 weeks now and have seen heaps of wonderful places meanwhile. As you guys have recognised, this episode´s gonna be in english again. Last time I told you about our weeding job that was pretty over, saturday March 7th we started our journey through the South Island. We went straight down the Eastcoast and passed Timaru and Oumaru, two nice little towns, Oumaru has a magnificient wildlife as there are heaps of penguins and albatrosses and stuff. We also saw the so called Moeraki Boulders, big stones, completely round like balls, sitting on the beach. Unique! Then we drove to Dunedin, which means Glasgow of the South or something. We really liked the city (120.000 inhabitants is quite a lot for NZ relations though :P), we stayed a few days and I explored the hole city barefoot. Actually I´m kinda turning into a Kiwi here, strange pronounciation and walking barefoot all the time :D. Anyway, we visited the Cadbury Choclate Factory there. It´s the only one in the world we were told that still allows a view on the actual production. Intersting and foremost: tasty. They even have a choclate-fall (a waterfall with choclate instead of water oO). Wow! Over the Otage Penninsula we made our way further south. One night we stayed at a campground in Purakaunni Bay, which was so amazing talking about landscapes. Mountains, forest, cliffs and camping with the wonderful beach right in front of our car. That was a really good debut to see, how awesome the south is. Of course, this stuff is hard to describe in a blog, but maybe the pictures that have been uploaded by Pia gonna give you kind of an impression how it looks like here. And this bay is not really special, the south and the west are really wonderful, even better than all the amazing stuff we´ve seen so far. I met an Indian and a British guy there, and we tried to make a campfire, but be failed though. Too much rain down there, to much wet wood. But it was funny nontheless. However, we went on to explore the Southland. First was an area called The Catlins, a lot of rainforest and waterfalls and the Cathedral Cove, a giant cove, high as a cathedral and only accessible at low tide. Every day we did new walks and hikes there, a beautiful place to do stuff like that. At Curio Bay (which is outstanding beautiful as well, I know I say that way too often :D) we saw a petrified forest and a yellow eyed penguin, the rarest penguin species in the world, and hector dolphins, the smallest dolphin species in the world. We also visited the Slope Point which is the most southern point of NZ. We spent on afternoon in Invercargill which seems like a really nice city to me and went on to Te Anau, the gate to Milford Sound. Milford is also called The 8th Wonder of the World, and everywhere you step, people reommend that you should visit this place. It is a giant fjordland, rugged and wild. A 125 km track of mountains, rainforest, coasts. We spent 5 days there to do lots of walks to explore this area. Where the first two days were still pretty cloudy (we were acutally IN the clouds all the time), the last 3 days the weather was perfect. One of these good days we hiked up a mountain path to a former glacier lake, and I even took a short swim (very short). But at night it got pretty cold, one night it even froze outside. Got pretty chilly in the car as well, folks. We also visited a place called The Chiasm, a wonderful blue lake and waterfall, former glacier as well I guess. Full of tourist (hole Milford track is full, but there and in Milford Sound which is the very end of the Milford track it was extreme), so first we thought we couldn´t really enjoy this wonderfull place. But fortuately, a girl on the carpark gave us the hint to walk apart from the formed paths. So we found a small way through the forest which lead us to a small glacier lake. Nice and warm as it was there in the sun, and completely alone (nobody at all there), we both decided to get off our cloth and jumped right into the lake. Freezing cold!!! But this stuff really wakes you up ;) :D. On the last day we drove to the very end, the Milford Sound. We did a cruise on a ship there, this shit really is awesome. Seriously guys, I really recommend when you read this blogpost and all the places I mention, you should look up some picture on the Internet. Pia didn´t upload everthing and it´s so hard to decribe why everthing looks so wonderful here. So if you´re interested, look up some stuff. After Milford we drove to Queenstown and spend some days there. Fergburger (gourmet burger place) and saturday nightlife inclusive. On day, we visited an ice bar. Everthing in there was made of ice, it was minus 8 degrees in there. We got jackets and gloves and stuff, but still it was soo cold there. But even the cocktails were served in iceblocks instead of classes. Funny experience. After we stepped out of that ice bar (4 o´clock in the afternoon), Pia already felt kind of drunk (good amount of vodka in there). So we walked through the city, Pia kept on drinking and I bought some burgers here and there. Nice days! We also watched a rugby game at a pub, but we still don´t quite understand how this exactly works. Then we went on to the Westcoast. Beautiful, beautiful places here. Biggest rainforest, highest mountains and the rough sea. I really liked it there. We visited the Fox Glacier and the Franz Josef Glacier, the world´s only glaciers that can be found next to the rainforest. Both glaciers have retreat a lot during years, we saw pictures from 5 years ago, where the glaciers have been a few hundred meters bigger than now. Global warming and things and stuff. The valley left behind by the glaciers were really nice to watch as well. Westcoast is Jade county too (NZ greenstone gem), so a heaps of small shops and crafters can be found everwhere, selling wonderful Jade jewellery. Pia bought a really nice neclace with an extraordinary shape and color in Hokitika. In general, the town of Hokitika was pretty sweet. They have the web address KoolLittleTown.co.nz, which is quite a suitable describtion I reckon. At the beach there were lots of skulpures made by locals and tourist out of dead wood lying at the beach. Awesome stuff. A yes and we visited the so called Pancakes Rocks which is a big rock formation, stacked like pancakes. Absolutely outstanding, and a mystery as geologists still can´t really explain why the rocks have this structure. I loved this place. Then we went up further north and arrived in Abel Tasman and Golden Bay, the sunniest region of NZ. Beauiful beaches everywhere and little islands lying in the Tasman Sea. Today we hired a kayak and did a great tour along the coast the hole day, best weather included.

Ok guys, I think that´s enough for now. Hopefully you could enjoy the words I wrote, although it´s really difficult for me to decribe properly how I experienced our journeys through the land.

Over Easter there´s gonna be a music festival in Golden Bay which we´ll attend, the week after that we gonna stay with a Kiwi family for one or two weeks (we give them a hand in the house and garden and get accomodation and food in return). This is called ¨woofing¨ and is pretty popular here in NZ. Further plans after that ain´t made yet ;)

Hopefully you are all doing well,

Cheers + greetz,

Hen

Hey liebe leute da draußen!

Nach unserem letzten blogeintrag hat sich eine ganze menge ereignet. Dieser blogpost könnte daher etwas länger ausfallen ;)

Nachdem wir mit dem kirschenplücken in central otago fertig waren gingen wir gleich zum nächsten job über. Unser boss auf der kirschplantage hatte uns in kontakt gesetzt mit dem leiter einer örtlichen forschungseinrichtung. Auf dieser staatlich finanzierten plantage wird in allen richtungen geforscht, sei es kirschen, arprikosen, pfirsiche, äpfel, pappeln usw.. Der dortige leiter bot uns ein paar tage arbeit (himbeerbüsche zurückschneiden und zusammenbinden) zu einem guten lohn an, da sagt man doch gerne ¨ja los¨ :P die arbeit erstreckte sich dann mehr so auf zweieinhalb wochen, weil man für uns dann doch noch die ein oder andere tätigkeit ausbuddeln konnte. Nach ein paar tagen bot man uns sogar an, in die kleine hütte auf dem gelände der farm zu ziehen (quasi für umsonst), da sagt man doch gerne ¨ja los schnell¨ :D naja jedenfalls hatten wir eine echt gute zeit da, nicht zu anstrengende arbeit in einer wunderbaren atmosphäre mit den besten kollegen überhaupt. Wir haben da insbesondere mit kat (tschechien) und joe (england) zusammengearbeitet, war echt kool. Der job war dann mitte februar vorbei und unser im letzten blogpost angesprochener zwiebel job war direkt an der reihe. Dazu sind wir wieder 500 km richtung norden gefahren, in die region northern canterbury. Ebenfalls sehr trocken und warm im sommer gibts hier wiederrum ne menge weinfelder, plus ein paar zwiebelfelder und nen haufen diesteln, darüber hinaus wächst hier scheinbbar nich so viel. Manchmal erinnert mich die landschaft ein wenig an griechenland. Die diesteln haben bei zwiebelpfücken übrigens ziemlich gesuckt^^ der job im allgemeinen war aber wohl ganz gut, wir haben 17 dollar die stunde verdient und die fahrten wurden mitbezahlt. Die arbeit an sich ging auch wohl klar, wir mussten die samen oberhalb des stängels ernten (klingt irgendwie voll komisch) und die werden dann nach japan verkauft. Der campingplatz auf dem wir alle untergebracht waren war definitiv zu klein für 40 zwiebelplücker und keine ahnung wie viele ¨normale¨ camper. Wir hatten ne kleine küche für uns alle und nur eine toilette pro geschlecht. Aber wisst ihr was, das war trotzdem mega kool. Wir waren quasi immer umgeben von anderen backpackern schrägstrich co-workern und haben in den 10 tagen arbeit ein paar gute leute kennen gelernt (wirlich überall her, korea, spanien, frankreich, neuseeland, usa, kanada etc.). Daumen hoch :D wir haben sogar an unserem freien tag nen fußballspiel auf dem campingplatz gemacht. Ich war ja für ¨deutschland gegen die welt¨ da wir so viele deutsche bei dem job waren, aber irgendwie haben sich zu viele gedrückt sodass wir einfach mixted teams gemacht haben. Am letzten tag dort wurde uns noch ein paar tage extra arbeit als unkraut-jäter angeboten. Eigentlich dachten wir nach knapp zwei monaten arbeit sei jetzt mal ein bisschen reisen dran, aber eiin paar tage extra arbeit schaden ja bekanntlich auch nich nech und somit befinden wir uns am heutigen tag (freitag, der 6.3.) zwar immernoch in northern canterbury, aber als jäter und nicht mehr als pflücker. Und weil die irgendwie grad wenig supervisor haben, haben die mich einfach zu einem befördert und mir den van anvertraut mit dem wir jeden morgen zur arbeit fahren. Volltrottel :D :P mehr kohle krieg ich aber wohl nich, nur mehr verantwortung. Ein land ist das...^^ Die arbeit wird wohl noch bis morgen dauern für uns, heute ist grade frei weil es zum ersten mal seit wochen richtig regnet. Danach wollen wir uns mal auf den weg in den süden und zur westküste machen, bevor der sommer um ist. Angeblich gibt es da landschaftlich wirklich aussergewöhnliches zu sehen, manche haben uns diese abschnitte als das ¨wilde, pure neuseeland¨ beschrieben, man darf also gespannt sein.

Abseits der arbeit haben wir uns den kurort ¨hanmer springs¨ mit seinen heißen quellen reingezogen, was wellnessmäßig entspannend war, wir waren nochmal in christchurch und in wanaka wo sich ein laden namens ¨puzzling world¨ befindet. Die haben da nen riesiges labyrinth wo ich mich natürlich todes verlaufen hab und ne menge räume mit optischen täuschungen und illusionen und sowas. Ist bisschen schwer zu beschreiben über nen blog, jedenfalls war das echt kool da.

Ok meine lieben, ich mach mal schluss. Beste grüße vom andern ende der welt, hier ist wie ihr lesen konntet weiterhin alles tutti, englisch wird auch immer besser usw danke tschööss.

Euer Hen

Hey guys!!!

It has been a while since we´ve written you the last time. Meanwhile, we actually experienced a lot. Just after my last blog post, we made our way to christchurch, some of you may have seen the pictures on facebook. It might be the most interesting city we´ve been so far. Huge parts of Christchurch has been destoyed by 2 earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Although this has been some years now, the town is still very demolished. You see place where cinemas and skyscrapers have been, some of them partly, some completely destroyed. A small sign in the concrete reminds the visitor that once the city´s shopping mall was here - now dozens of stores just sell their stuff in containers. A very impressive day in a town that used to be a metropole and still struggles with the quakes´ impacts.

In order to find some work in the central otago district, we headed further south. Our route went from christchurch to lake pukaki to alexandra. On our way we saw some awesome places and campgrounds. Very special was the lake pukaki, with shiny blue water and snow covered mountains in the background. A stunning panorama on a beautiful hot summer day, but unfortuately I buried the car in the gravel beach of that amazing place! Now I know: Loose gravel beach + frontwheel drive = you get stuck :P it needed 3 very friendly kiwis, a 4 wheel drive jeep and 2 german tourists to pull us out of this aweful situation.

We arrived in alexandra (¨alex¨) on sunday 11th. It is a small city in central otago that is very influenced by horticulture industry, especially stonefruits like cherries, apricots and so on. This area is the dryest during summer season in NZ. On monday morning we went to the local office that coordinates seasonal work and got a job immediately! On the very next day, we started as cherry pickers. And guys, I didn´t know it but...I fucking love cherries!!! Altough the work is tough (starts at 6, 8 hours a day, 7 days a week) I love it so much eating kilos and kilos of cherries every day :D we are payed by bucket, so the more buckets you make every day, the more money you earn. The first week we were quite slow, but fortuately on our orchard we receive at least the minimum wage, (16 dollars, 10 euros). The second week we did much better and earned round about 900 dollars for the week which is really good money. I love it being in the heat in the cherry trees and eat and pick. On cherry for the bucket, one for me :D sometimes they are soo sweet and juicy - simply delicous. We stay at a campground in alex which is supposed to be a ¨normal¨ tourist park, but you barely see kiwis here. Almost the hole campsite works as cherry pickers too and they are coming from all over the world. When you enter (or attempt to enter^^) the kitchen between 6 and 8 p.m you will be overwhelmed by chinese people. In general you hear almost no english here in the dining area, but korean, chinese, french, a lot of spanish, czech, finnish and of course german. We´ve made really good friends here, this place is much much fun. Some days ago we hired mountain bikes and rode them on some close bike trails near the river. Simply great! With us: juel (mexico), phillippe (france), tatsu (japan), dorothea (sweden). We also hang around with some british guys, one canadian, czech and some germans also. Almost every day we make barbeques here, hail to the NZ´s beef steaks! :D we did amazing burger sessions (angus beef burger patties on the bbq), corn, steaks, lampsteaks and a lot of other tasty stuff here. We really like it here. Unfortualty, our work already ends on wednesday (28th of january). Terrible, i don´t know where I´m supposed to get 1 kilo of fresh free cherries every day then! In the meantime we try to find some new work for the aftermath. We´ve got an onion picking job coming up in mid febuary (no, I won´t eat the onions instead of the cherries :P), but until then we haven´t found anything yet.

Lovely greetz to everyone at home, I heard you guys have some snow there. Hard to imagine, here we´ve had over 30 degrees the last days, hottest place in hole NZ!

Peace out,

Yours, Hen