Globitrotter – Page 4 – has moved to a foreign country

Testimony after 300 days

Yes, I admit, after 300 days we do miss a real home. We are dreaming about having our own fully equipped kitchen, our own shower, our own bed and wardrobe and not having to find a new place to stay every day.

We do not miss it enough to cut our trip short, no no, there are still things to explore. But we have a different attitude now than at the beginning of our trip. I think one year on the road was a good length for us. We are mentally prepared to get back in the summer and are very happy with that. We do not feel the urge to travel as we did in the beginning. Now it is more about just having time off, spending your time just as you feel like. If the trip had been shorter we might not have felt so content but rather stressed that it was all coming to an end too quickly.

Stress free environment at Wineglass Bay, Freycinet NP, Tasmania

I have a feeling we have slowed down during this year. Sometimes I think I will get a shock when I come back and see everybody leading their busy lives. How long will it take to get back into pace? Do I have to? Do I want to? I would definitely want to get a job and that means a certain level of stress no matter where you work. But I will do my best to keep the rest of my time stress free which I hope to have a better chance of doing after this trip.

We quite enjoy having lots of time to do “nothing” and try to use the time for something useful as well. Andy is learning a lot of stuff but is sometimes frustrated because he could do so much more with a good internet connection (the prices here are ridiculous) and his digital drawing board. Me, I am reading, writing and learning more about Photoshop to be able to do something with a few of our thousands of photos.

The cool cemetery in Lithgow, Australia, and the great clouds made a good base for some HDR testing.

We eventually passed the limit of how much hiking is fun to do in a short period of time. It is also getting colder here, especially at night, which adds to the reluctance to go on multi day hikes. During the whole trip we have been camping or staying in huts for 40 nights and most of them were during a couple of months in New Zealand. The total amount of hiking days we have not even tried to count. We are pretty sure we will not do any more over night hikes but just shorter day hikes. The tent and sleeping bags can now stay at the bottom of the backpack.

About a week ago we picked up a van, in Sydney, which is a bit larger than the one we had in New Zealand. Now we have enough space to cook inside the van, there is a fridge, microwave and toaster even. There is also a table and it is lovely to be able to sit properly in the van and not having to spend time in a communal kitchen or TV lounge. Especially since the campgrounds here in Australia does not seem to have as nice facilities as in New Zealand.

Our home for the next 2 months.

When writing the last testimony we had a master plan for what to do after the trip. We think this is still the same but other ideas have been discussed so we are not as sure anymore. I guess time will tell…

Overland Track

The Overland Track is the most well known hike in Tasmania and probably Australia. It runs 65 km from Cradle Mountain in the north to Lake St Clair. If you stay at all huts along the way it will take 6 days to finish. That would allow you time for side trips such as climbing the Barn Bluff and Mt Ossa. We had some bad luck with the weather and actually felt we did not want to stay in the bush for that long so we finished the track in 4 days instead. On the Overland Track you are required to carry a tent since it is not possible to book places in the huts. Due to this the backpack was a bit heavier than usual so although it was not that far to walk every day it was still quite hard.

IMG_4117_a

Fantastic colors on the high plains.

The first part of the track is above the tree line with great views but then ends in the bush. The part through the bush is not too exciting but the first part makes it all worth while. Walking on the high plains with the button grass, the snow gum trees and the small lakes is spectacular. The hike over all reminded us very much of New Zealand except for the animals (like wallabies, wombats and tiger snakes), gum trees and the smell of eucalyptus.

Gum trees at Windemere Lake.

This was most probably our last multiday hike on this trip. It was the 11th one since June last year and most of them the past 3 months or so. Honestly we are feeling that we are done with this type of hiking for now. It is not that much fun anymore to stay in huts or camp. I think we need a break. 🙂 We will do some shorter day hikes but nothing advanced.

More images from Overland Track:

Overland Track

Last day and drive in New Zealand – Christchurch

It was time to return the van that had been our home for the past four months and move on. Our last day of driving was full of adventures. We decided to go for a drive around Christchurch with suburbs. That was interesting. As you might know there was a severe earthquake here in 2011 which was the second deadliest in New Zealand and destroyed much of the city.

Many buildings were completely destroyed and some left too damaged to use. A lot have been demolished, lots of buildings are empty and some are being rebuilt. Driving around town is chaotic since many roads are closed and there is road work in lots of places. This in addition to one way streets made it not a good city to drive in for the visitor. We had to turn around a number of times because the street that looked good on the map was suddenly closed.

Here are some photos from Christchurch. The city has a special atmosphere at the moment with much of it destroyed in the earthquake. There is lots of construction going on and many streets and buildings are closed. To keep the city alive they have built a city center out of containers. It actually looks nice!

Christchurch

Oamaru – capital of Steampunk

Somewhere along the way we had heard that Oamaru is a great little town. We could not remember why but we knew we wanted to pass by. Basically it is known for two things, Steampunk and penguins. The latter I don’t think needs much explaining but the first one might if you are as ignorant as me.

Yellow eyed penguin

Steampunk is a style with the slogan “Tomorrow as it used to be”. It features steam powered machinery in a western 19th century setting. The style can be recognized from many movies (eg Fritz Lang’s Metropolis or Wild wild west), computer games and art work. Oamaru has a small museum dedicated to Steampunk, a playground and art work around the city in Steampunk style. Actually some of the people who live there look Steampunk. 🙂 This in combination with the old Victorian style buildings is fantastic and creates a very special place.

Have a look at the photos and see what you think:

Oamaru

Mt Cook

After our long day hike on the Routeburn which left us pretty much happy and done with hiking in New Zealand, we drove into Mt Cook Village with the intention to stroll around the valley floor and gaze up at the snow capped mountains, including Mt Cook (the highest peak in New Zealand), for a few hours.

We went to the visitor center to find out which would be a suitable hike for us. There were a couple of short, flat hikes with good photo opportunities. Stupidly enough I asked about the trail conditions up to the Mueller Hut which is a very popular hut with great views of the surrounding mountains. We had read that the trail was supposed to be pretty bad and we had no intention of doing any advanced hiking this day. However the person at the visitor center said that it is not too bad and that it would be nothing if you have a bit of experience.

Half an hour later we were on our way up to the hut. 10 km round trip and 1000 m elevation… How did this happen? We were going to take it easy. Well, turned out we had to anyway because I was not feeling very well this day and I was slower than usual. We made it to the top of the ridge and almost to the hut. But we decided to stop about 15 min before the hut and enjoy the views from there.

IMG_3980_a copy

Andy did a great job to cool and find stubby holders for the beers that we had brought to celebrate the last hike in New Zealand. Beer has never tasted better!

The views were very much like in the European Alps and we are looking forward to seeing them again when we visit Switzerland at the end of June.

Mt Cook

Napier – Art Deco

Because the weather was bad in the mountains we decided to spend a few days in Napier and surroundings. We wanted to visit this area anyway and this is were the sun was this week.

Most of Napier was destroyed in 1931 in an earthquake. In spite of the big depression the city was more or less rebuilt in 2 years. The result was a city centre with almost all buildings in Art Deco style which was popular at the time. A few buildings that were built just a few years before the earthquake survived otherwise everything had to be rebuilt. The first house that was built was already designed and planned before the natural disaster and as they were working they made as much noise as possible to give the city some hope of the future.

The city is obviously very proud of its history and everyone is participating in conserving the architecture which is like a huge outdoor museum. It is important for the businesses that renovates old buildings to keep the old style and original details are restored. I am personally very fond of the Art Deco architecture and enjoyed every moment in this town.

The area around Hawkes Bay is famous for its wine and we took the opportunity to bike around the vineyards and did some wine tasting. Napier also has a small aquarium which is well worth a visit. This is were we saw our first kiwi.

Napier – wine tasting and Art Deco