Grand Escapades
Travel Photography & Travel Experiences of Africa, South America, the Middle-East & Asia
Yellow-Eyed Penguin Conversation Reserve, South Island, New Zealand
The Otago Peninsula is on every tour’s and tourist’s itinerary, because it offers accessible wildlife watching and scenic view behind every turn of its windy road. So here we go… Continue Reading →
Hopewell, probably the best Hostel I ever experienced, Malborough Sounds, South Island, New Zealand
In Dunedin, we finally decided to buy the BBH card, a very efficient and to us unique system for budget travelers. Many hostels in New Zealand are members of an association, but BBH is the biggest with over 370 hostels. You can join at any BBH, with the card for 45 NZ Dollars comes a little booklet that lists all the member hostels, with a short description, directions and a rating done by BBH members and a phone card worth 20 NZ Dollars. Anybody can stay at these hostels, but with a BBH card you get a discount of at least 3 NZ Dollars per night, which represents actually more than 10 percents. Continue Reading →
St Patrick´s day in Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand
At this point we needed a boast in morale and St. Patrick’s Day was just the perfect occasion. Down the hill from our hostel in Dunedin was Murphy’s Pub. And this is where it all happened, on March 17th 2008: green beer, Irish music, dancing and … well, lots of drinking, of course! It was our real first night out in months and we truly enjoyed it, especially since it was so easy chatting up people in the pub. After this social event, we ventured out to explore Dunedin’s historic and cultural assets. Continue Reading →
New kind of road signs – Penguins Crossing, South Island, New Zealand
Near Oamaru, we stopped at some clay cliffs, since they were mentioned in the Lonely Planet. Those were some impressive rocks formations, even though they surely would have gone unnoticed in southern Bolivia! The heydays of Oamaru were in the late 19th century, when gold was found in Otago. No money was spared to express that wealth. Today, some majestic buildings in the centre made of limestone bear witness of those golden times. Some buildings rather resemble Greek temples, which actually are now ordinary banks. Continue Reading →
View of a part of the lagoon from the plane, Aitutaki Atoll, Cook Islands
We spent three weeks on the Cook Islands in February 2008 during our Round The World Trip: altogether 9 days on Rarotonga, 7 on Aitutaki and 5 on Atiu. The Cook Islands were definitely a highlight in our trip and finally we discovered some of those Pacific Islands that matched our ideas of the “South Seas”.
Mount Cook, at 3.754 meters the highest mountain in Australasia, South Island, New Zealand
Inland, up on the plateau of the Mackenzie Country, we suddenly came face to face with the incredible colour of Lake Tekapo, which together with barren hillside around create a strange landscape. This greenish colour remembered us so well of the lakes in the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares in South Patagonia. Because of the ongoing drought in the south of New Zealand, the landscape shows large patches that look parched. Continue Reading →
Akaroa, Bank Peninsula, near Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand
In Christchurch, a wild mixture of what seems Anglo-Saxon suburbia and modern ugly concrete, we spent most of our two days there getting used to New Zealand, looking for a rental car and getting Heidi new glasses (for those who do not follow our stories too closely, they were in a bag that was stolen at Mendoza bus terminal). Continue Reading →
Queenstown is only about “Adrenalone”, South Island, New Zealand
Riding the bus from the airport into the centre of Christchurch, we had a sensation similar to the one we experienced entering Argentina coming from Bolivia. Then, it was as if someone had beamed us back to Europe or at least close to there. This time, we felt a similar irritation: we felt utterly displaced after arriving from the Pacific Islands. Continue Reading →
Hard Life …, Aitutaki Atoll, Cook Islands
Yes, we all know that the Pacific islands are extremely expensive, not talking about cost for getting there. But the Cook Islands are an interesting option for traveling in this region, not only because of their beauty but also for the fact that you can travel on a reasonable budget and still enjoy yourself! Continue Reading →
View of Rarotonga, the main Island of the Cook Islands
Since we needed to bridge the time between our arrival from Atiu and the departure for Auckland / New Zealand at 03:40 am, we stayed these 15 hours at the “Aquarius”, a brand new accommodation right across from the airport. Continue Reading →