From South to North

Already three months we have been having a great time in NZ. Life is so peaceful when you're on holiday for a year :). Sometimes, to add excitement to our trip, we challenge ourselves. Today's impossible mission is to reach Nelson in two weeks (in the north of the island although we are currently far end south) via the West Coast and get hired as fruit picker. To spice it up, the Catlins (the come back :) ) is a must stop but not quite the shortest way to go north.

The Catlins: the come back

We visit the most southern point in New Zealand. We spot, among other things, a beach with petrified wood, yellow-eyed penguins and Hector's dolphins (from far away). We also visit the cathedral caves (which you can reach only at low tide) at children price thanks to Olivier, freshly shaved, who teased the manager ...

Central Otago: the come back as well

Cromwell again! Same campsite, same city, did we miss it, didn't we? Maybe not, it's just the only way to go North in the region. A short stop at Gary's (our nice boss from the cherry picking) ends up in harvesting honey. No bee sting and two jars of honey, it's a success!

West Coast (this time, it's new stuff ;) )

Change of region but still heaps of reasons to stop : Blue Pools, Fantail Falls and Thunder Creek Falls. We don't know why but more anecdotes too. Early in the morning, we're tailing a very old and very smoky camper van. Suddenly it slows down and stops. So we stop too and there we carry our first stowaways laying at the back of our car (on our bed :) ) to the next petrol station (50km away). Later in the day we had a break at a small shop to try a local dish : an omelette filled with little transparent fish, the whitebaits. The 50-year-old saleswoman offers us fresh tomatoes and apples. It seems that Olivier old-fashioned hair cut hit again.

Departure at dawn to avoid any crowd at the touristy Fox Glacier. Goal reached: we crossed more possums than tourists. You may want to know that on the road, possums at night are alive instead of possums during the day which are dead flat.

A little tip: always ensure you have enough cash and change to pay the campsites. Due to some organisation failure, Hokarito Lagoon campsite (wonderful nature reserve with kiwis and white herons) received a 5€ banknote instead of NZ$5.

Compulsory stop at Ross village: nothing special except its name. Quick look at Hokitika city: visit of a glass blowing workshop and the "museum of sock knitting machinery".

Camping around Kaniere lake when, unexpectedly, a large brown bird with a slightly curved beak gets close to our Chariot

Rossana : Olivier, regarde !! Un kiwi !!

(Oliver, look!! A kiwi!)

Olivier : C'est pas possib' ! Les kiwis, c'est super rare et ça vit que la nuit...

(It's impossible! Kiwis are really uncommon and they live at night...)

Our camping neighbour told us later that the bird is a weka...

We keep on going North via Greymouth and Westport : Glow worms (another little tip, glowing is much appreciate when it's dark so at night not during the day), les pancake rocks (better at breakfast ;) ... before the buses full of Asian).

Nelson and Golden Bay

We leave the West Coast the same way we entered it : with a stowaway. This time it is a young Swiss who was walking faster than his shadow not to pay the huts on his way. He was hitchhiking to get to his car at the beginning of the Heaphy Track, 80kms he finished in two days.

Finally we reach sunny Nelson where we hope to find a job as apple picker in one of the many orchards. Mission accomplished.

Watch next episode on Rokiwi... :)

Spoiler alerts.

• We don't get hired
• Olivier gets a haircut