We have been living the van life again for almost 2 weeks now! We said farewell to our lovely helpx hosts in Christchurch and hit the road. It was sad to say goodbye to them after so many weeks in their home, and we are so grateful for everything they taught us and the amazing time we had together. We are also looking forward to new experiences in the North!
When I was young, I had a very hard time with change and with the various transitions we face in life. As I grew older, I gradually learned to adapt better, but I was still never comfortable with change. One thing I have really learned to embrace in New Zealand is change. We are constantly transitioning from one thing to the next and truly our only constant out here is change! Whether it is leaving a city, a host family, a job, and now the entire South Island. Of course, saying goodbye is still difficult, but I have also learned that it always works out. I can't let my fear stop me because then I would be missing out on all of the new experiences that await us. This trip has made me face change and difficult transitions head on which has really helped me deal with it so much more effectively. As a traveler and when living out of a van you always have to be flexible and ready to adapt to many different and sometimes difficult situations and these are important lessons for so many aspects of life.
Okay enough of the touchy feely and now back to the fun stuff :) We decided to slowly work our way to the North Island and take in some of our favorite places one last time on the way. We went from Christchurch to Queenstown (with a pit stop at Lake Tekapo to soak in the blue water and Twizel for some delicious Salmon) In Queenstown we did the million dollar cruise which takes you out onto Lake Wakatipu where we got to see the mountains and many of the million dollar homes in Queenstown.
We also were able to meet up with some friends that we met when we were traveling in the Catlins. It was so fun to see them and hear about their last few months in Queenstown. From Queenstown we traveled to Wanaka and did an incredible hike to Rob Roy Glacier. We were able to get really close to the glacier and the views were amazing!
Unfortunately, after this hike we were hit with 3 days of rain, so we ended up driving a big chunk of time because we were unable to do much else. We drove up the West coast until we made it to Nelson.
In Nelson we were able to meet up with our Helpx host family. We got to meet their new baby girl who is 1 month old and had fun seeing their 2 year old son again too! We found an amazing campsite nestled in the Marlborough sounds and spent the last couple of days exploring this area! We have truly loved every part of the South Island and have made so many priceless memories! From the incredible people, the astounding scenery, gorgeous weather, and diverse cities to say it has left an impact is an understatement. It is hard to say goodbye to it all, but we also look forward to the adventure that awaits in the North Island.
On Monday we took our giant ferry boat to "windy Wellington" and it definitely has lived up to it's name! We have enjoyed exploring the city the last few days and overall the weather has been beautiful! Even though Wellington is a larger city it has an impressive amount of green space and we have done many hikes and enjoyed many different overlooks of the city. It is considered the coffee capital of NZ and we both have enjoyed some delicious hot drinks while here. Wellington has been the perfect start to our adventures on the North Island and we look forward to where Waka will take us next!
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