On the 3rd of October we had a massive drive to Wellington ahead of us, so we got up quite early and arrived there at noon. Having checked in with our hippie camper, we could do at least some sight-seeing and visited the rughby stadium in Wellington. We then hit the ferry and enjoyed a beautiful cruise to Picton which took us about three hours. We got to see NZ from a different point of view and enjoyed the time to read our books. Christian was reading the Da Vinci Code (I could convince him to start to read again and he loves it) and I Nachfolge by Bonnhoeffer. When we arrived we drove to Nelson and totally loved the landscape and a beautiful sunset.

The following morning we cruised to the Abel Tasman National Park to do a 25 km hike along the beach. The marvelous beach. Even though the weather was sometimes cloudy we enjoyed it a lot. We once had to do a tidal crossing which means that we had to take off our shoes and trousers and get wet feet. All in all it was a very nice day during which we saw a beautiful landscape. In the evening we drove on to see another part of the national the following day. This part of the coastal track was a lot more steep but very beautiful as welle. The weather was as it usually is in NZ - changing constantly.

On Saturday we made it to the pancakes. A stone formation at the West Coast of the South Island. Destiny wanted it, that we made it there at the perfect time of the day - high tide. So we could actually see the blow holes in action. Water is being blown through these holes and makes it look likke a big fountain, kind of like the jet d'eau in Geneva. In the evening we stayed at a camp ground. The first in NZ. Showers, laundry, wifi and electricity. For people at home absolutely normal, for us it was like heaven.

On Sunday we unfortunately couldnt make it to church, nevertheless we could share our faith on that very day. We drove to Franz-Josef glacier and on our way we took a hitch-hiker with us. Not the usual hitch-hiker. She was actually a 30 year old french dentist, not liking all the money she earns in her job. So she was travelling. We visited the glacier together and crossed some borders there. In the evening we drove on and cooked a meal altogether in a beautiful landscape at the side of a river. We then talked for ages and she was really interested in our faith. She asked us honest questions about it and I guess it made here think a lot.

On Monday we drove to Wanaka where we due to the rain went to a cafe in the afternoon and continued cutting our video. In the evening we went to the movies where we watched looper. A really good movie which made us all 3 think a lot. Definitely recommandable. We then drove to Queenstown and slept there at the side of the road.

On Tuesday we kept driving to Te Anau where we said good-bye to Julie, our new friend. She said we could come and visit her anytime we liked in France. She lives between Niece and Antipes - nice :) In the afternoon we had a beautiful drive ahead of us through the world heritage area. It was just stunning. Lake Gunn shown above was a perfect reflection of the surrounding. At 2:30 we arrived at Milford Sound and made a boat cruise through the Milford fjord. We enjoyed all the beauty and took lots of pictures. It was one of the highlights of our journey. In the evening we slept in the Fjordland national park and watched the first part of the Lord of the rings Trilogy - in French. The first time for Christian to see it. It was really cool to know and see, that we were actually in the country where the movie was made.

On the 11th - today - we drove to Milford and did a short walk to a glacial lake on the way. We made a short shopping trip through the city being situated in the mountains, ate a tasty burger at Ferg burger, an epic restaurant, hung out and skyped in a bar and just had a good night...