New Zealand Weekly Update #1

Last updated on November 27, 2022

24th of October until 30th of October 2022

Approximate reading time: 7 minutes

Ground Control to Major Tom

Do you know the movie „The Secret Life of Walter Mitty“? A movie about a guy, working in an office, daydreaming about possible adventures all the time. Being brave, travel around the world, coming back with this unexplainable smile and energy. This is one of my favourite movies as it tells a story, most of us thinking of. Step out of the comfort zone, being brave, take a risk and coming back with a story to tell. To inspire ourself and others. As I was sitting in the aircraft flying from Frankfurt (Main) to Taipeh on the 24th of October, I just had to listen to the theme song of this movie and found myself in this kind of adventures. 6 Months of working as a canyoning guide in New Zealand are ahead and a 50h journey until I will arrive in Queenstown, my first real stop. The first flight took me nearly 13 hours, conducted by China Airlines. Comfortable, nice food, nice movies. And afterswards waiting 18 hours at the airport in Taipeh for the next flight. I slept in different lounges, was walking in the transit zone and checking the gate every hour. 4 hours before departure, the gate was announced and I went trough the security check and checking the area. And I was lucky, Taipeh is offering showers free of charge for travellers, 15 minutes for each and I was prepared 🙂 And it was awesome!

Next flight – Taipeh to Auckland (New Zealnd) – 12 hours and thousands of miles between me and the beautiful island. Again China Airlines, again comfortable, good food and some rest. In Auckland I had to pickup my luggage and change the terminal, as they have two of them (one for international flights and one for domestic flights). So I took my bags, went by bus to the domestic terminal and did the check in of the bags by myself – and it was quite easy. Security check and go for it – all the way to Queenstown. Short flight, coffee and snacks. Half past nine, we arrived at Queenstown Airport. And the landing approach was just amazing, in between huge mountains. Unfortunatelly, it was too dark to see everything. Grabbed my bags, ordered an Uber (my first one, and it was great). 10 Minute drive to Queenstown center and gosh, this town is not as big as I expected. 12.000 inhabitants and they do have an airport! I was born in a town with more than 20.000 inhabitants and there is a train going only one per hour – this is just ridicoulus haha! (and I don’t talk about the fast trains…)

Life in a box

I checked in into the hostel „Jucy Snooze“ for an affordable price, even if there is almost no privacy as you share the room with others and you sleep in boxes (but with curtains to darken your space to sleep).
A short walk outside to check the area and get some food (and as I needed something fast and easy going I choosed the golden M). Walking to a liquor store and talked to the staff there. And they told me, New Zealanders love to get drunk just for fun – so germans do :). But there is a huge difference between both countries – in New Zealand its expensive to get drunk , really expensive…
Some hours of sleep later, I woke up and was not able to realize that I am in New Zealand and it will last even longer. I did a short run in Queenstown along the water and realized, that the long journey obviously strained my body as it was hard for me to breath deeply. So I had to stop the run after just 3 miles…
Nevertheless, the area and the landscape are just amazing.

Afterwards, I went to an office of the Automobile Association to convert my german drivers license into a New Zealand one. And the queue was very long as there has been only one person working that day. Fun fact, the office of the AA was part of a pharmacy :). The woman at the AA office told me, she will keep my german license and I need to get a new one when I am back in Germany. Not that bad as the image printed on the license was quite old 🙂

Later, I’ve met a guy from Great Britain, who lived in NZL for more than 7 years and he was about to leave the country the next day, still waiting for his visa. So we decided to have a drink together on the rooftop of the hostel. A beer for 12 $ NZL – this is about 8 €… . As I was really tired this evening, I decided to go to bed quite early, at about 7 pm.

Wānaka – here we go!

Friday, 28th of October, going to Wānaka by bus. I have had a short lunch at the hostel and used my time to have a walk in Queenstown again, enyoing the beautiful landscape and the warm weather – summer is coming soon (and my body is not able to understand as it is used to much colder temperatures this time of the year). Walking up the Queenstown Hill a little bit and realizing, that Queenstown is really, really small 🙂
And at 11.30 am, I took a bus to Wānaka, 90 minutes of driving. Up the hills and through a remote area without any villages, just pure nature. I was talking to an american woman who will also stay in Wānaka and who is looking for a job at the moment.

After arriving in Wānaka at 1pm, we said goodbye to each other and Max picked me up by car. He lives in Albert Town together with his girlfriend. At the site, where also my boss lives. And she offered me to sleep in her house the next days to recover a little bit. Just wonderful!
Located at the Clutha River, Albert Town is even more remote that Wānaka, if you are searching for silence and peace, this is your place to be 🙂 – just 10 minutes by car from Wānaka.
After my arrival, I just had a walk along the Clutha River and the grocery shop. And had some rest in the beautiful house of my boss – even the view outside the window of the living room is just stunning!

Why do you hike? Go by bike!

The next day I planned to go to Wānaka by bike along the Clutha River, it is about 8 Miles away from Albert Town and is full of amazing views, fantastic landscape and stunning nature. I had to stop again and again just to enjoy the moment and the nature as it is just wow! Go to Wānaka by bike was a fanstastic idea, as I was faster and was able to see more of the area – thanks to Max who offered me his bike for a ride.

Wānaka itself is a small town, located at the Lake Wānaka. Some bars, gyms, a big supermarket (and this was just clean and sorted, really impressive and just like wellness to do your groceries here).
I had a walk along the Lake Wānaka and waved to masses of bike drivers in weird costumes and a big sign with „Tour de fridge“ written on it. Don’t drink and drive -I think this day these guys just igored this motto haha.

As I still had no adapter to have a power supply for my electrical devices, I went to the Mitre 10 MEGA Wanaka – a huge store for home improvement supplies. And I was talking to myself all the time while driving with the bike. Just to remember myself to stay at the left side of the street. And if I had to cross a street, to always look to the right side at first. This will take some days to get used to it…

Back in Albert Town, my body crashed down, I felt tired, powerless and severe headaches have occured. So I went to bed at about 8pm. And stayed until 11 am. Unfortunatelly, headaches have not improved even after several medication. So I decided to stay in the house, relax a little bit and go for my first weekly update. I’ll try to keep you updated every week with some pictures and stories, fun facts and things that went wrong 🙂

Hope you enjoy the updates, enjoy the stories and maybe they inspire you to find your own Walter Mitty!

Cheers

Felix