After a disappointing phone-call with the lost-luggage counter of Jetstar airways, it became clear to me that my bag, although it had most likely arrived in New Zealand still wasn't cleared by the customs. This was very disappointing, especially since the first couple of days of the round-trip will be pretty intense and we will be covering big distances everyday. But, nothing could be done, so I headed out for our tour bus at 8:00 am.

After meeting our tour leaders (Kate and Wes) and explaining the situation to them they were really cool and Wes took charge of getting my bag at the desired location: very cool!

The tour-group consists of a relatively big group of 23 persons. After the introduction later in the evening I found out that not everybody is doing the same tour; a large part of the group stays only for 7 days, while only 5 of us are going for the full 15 days.

Driving through the country it becomes clear that the scenery is really very beautiful and we take a lot of photo-stops. It is nice that the tour leaders and our bus-driver (Paul) explain us a lot of stuff during the drive, so that it is not too boring to pass hours in the bus.

The South Island is very tranquil with not much people living there, the roads are very quiet and time passes by swiftly. Our lunch-break is at lake Tekapo, which has the beautiful turquoise colour that is typical for glacier-lakes.

In the evening we stay in Omarama, where we have a nice dinner and do some activities to get to know the group.