New Zealand Weekly Update #38

10th of July until 16th of July 2023

Approximate reading time: 5 minutes

Lets get it started

Good morning fellas, hope you had a great week so far. I am almost done with my preparation to go back to Germany in a couple of days. Most of the stuff is already in my suitcase, the route through Germany is done. And I am looking forward of seing all of you again. It is gonna be an exciting, emotional and amazing time. Back here in New Zealand, we went out yesterday to watch the rugby game South Africa vs New Zealand and the bar was busy as. But most of my collegues and some friends joined and it was heaps of fun, and a couple of drinks as well 🙂
Today, no hike or adventure since I try to sort out everything for Germany and try to relax a little bit. So lets have a look back at week 38 (jesus, 38 weeks already, it feels like ages and like nothing at the same time. I am used to New Zealand already way too much 🙂 )

Spicy steep up the hill

Monday, Lisa and I decided to hike Corner Peak, which is just about 25 min away from Wanaka. So I droped off my car at the AA (since it was time for a service) and we went to the carpark with Lisas car. Hiking poles ready. Bagpack ready. Go. It was quite cloudy and Lisa was a little afraid that we might end up in the rain, but we went up anyway. After about 1km, the quite easy track becomes steep. Steep as. And since it was a little wet, we slipped from time to time and decided to walk a little beside the official track, since this one was muddy. Step by step up the hill. And from time to time, a little sun as soon as we made our way out of the inversion. Step by step and way up high – sometimes a little rock climbing, sometimes a short flat track. And ahead, two peaks, whereas the second one was Corner Peak. In summer time, the area between both peaks might be beautiful to set up a tent and stay there for a night – I’ll keep that in mind when I am back 🙂

As it has been already 1pm, we decided, to not move on and had a break at a nice spot with some tea and chocolate. And an awesome view. Lake Hawea in front of us. Breasthill behind us. Inversion below. And sunshine all over the area. Just incredible and full of energy.
Last year, there was a guy who hiked Corner Peak each day for more than 50 days. New Zealand people are kinda crazy fellas!

On our way back, we have been lucky to see a rainbow in the middle of the inversion, which is called a glory. I have never seen this before and it was a stunning moment and experience. AS we went through the inversion again, it was a little wet and even more slippery the way down and I ended up landing on my bump from time to time, sliding down the mud 🙂
And you already might know it, after hike time means skinny dip time. Into Lake Hawea, cool down and refresh yourself. Bbbbrrrrrrr!

Video to come soon 🙂

Matariki

Since friday was a public holiday (Matariki – which is a time to gather with whānau and friends to reflect on the past, celebrate the present, and plan for the future). I was off and ready to go for another adventure. This time with Anthony, a good friend of mine from Germany. And since his leg is good again, he was ready for a nice hike. This time, we decided to drive to Queenstown and go for a hike at the Moke Lake. Here you can go for a loop track or you can hike up the hills to have a great view to the area below you. It is also called secret viewpoint track and it was really secret. We did not find any track, so I decided that we just hike up the steep track through the bush. And that was sometimes spicy as! Steep as! And partly muddy as 🙂

So we took our time the way up, had some short breaks and made our way up step by step. And literatelly thorugh the bush. And Tony told me, that we need to find another way back since he was not keen to go down the same way. Fair enough, and finally we ended up on the track and had a great view to the valley. While Tony took some shots with the drone, I had a little nap. And honestly, the way back on the track was much easier 🙂 Not as steep and dangerous as the way up. Arrowtown for lunch. And it was already really busy since Arrowtown was celebtrating the Matariki with some music, events and food. So we ended up in a little bar and had some fish and chips and beer (and it was bloody expensive this day…). And afterwards, we went for another „small hike“ in Arrowtown. We assumed, it might be just along the river, but we ended up walking up and down little hills into a valley, in the mud and after 90 minutes we had a great view to Arrowtown. And some mulled wine afterwards in the streets of Arrowtown. And finally a great day agan with Tony, missed it 🙂

Video to come soon 🙂

What else to say?

Well, time is running. DingyInternational is coming home. Even if it is just for a couple of weeks. And it will be heaps of hours on the road to make my way to all of you, but it is worth it. It is gonna be interesting to see you and talk to you. To hear about your stories, your adventures and experiences. About was has changed. Wat is still the same. And what plans you might have.

See you next week (or in two or three weeks 🙂 )

Your DingyInternational
Felix