I've never been this far away from home

Queenstown, backpacker city of the South Island, it is such a lovely little city. We arrived in Picton after an amazing ferry ride from the North Island to go straight to Abel Tasman National Park. If anyone of you wants to go to NZ, this is an absolute must-do as it is the smallest but most stunning national parks of NZ. We stayed in Old McDonald's farm (never new it was real, but hey, there were more things I didn't know before :-)) had an amazing meal Bundi, our driver, cooked us and made Smoors around the bonfire (in case you don't know what they are, it involves roasted marshmallows, biscuits and chocolate and a shower after!). The day after we walked one of the coastal tracks which had the most amazing scenery ever! As we were kind of tired after 4 hours we took a water taxi back which gave us an amazing scenic ride back to the farm. When we got back it was low tide and a truck with trailer pulled in to pick us up from the water. The moment I thought we had to get out, he drove away with the boat on the trailer! Which meant we were sitting in the boat on the road back to the farm. That was a weird experience..
As always, this wasn't quite exhilarating enough for yours truly, so I decided to go hanggliding in the afternoon!


The recipe includes a kite (just a bit bigger than the one you used to play with on the beach) an insane instructor, 2 sleeping bags which are used to strap you up in on top of each other, one dragonfly (which is a green little airplane used to tow you in the air) and some good lungs to scream your heart out. Being towed in the air is the relaxed part of the trip, you're literally just hangin' around, silence before the storm.. The moment the connection between us and the dragonfly is broken at height the fun begins..
There is silence and the fear of not knowing what will happen before you duck down in a vertical line towards earth with nothing in front of you. I can tell you, that is absolutely terrifying! Hanging under a kite is such a different feeling than a parachute as you need speed to stay in the air. At one point I had to steer which I completely screwed up ofcourse, but nothing major happened, I'm still alive :-) I have a dvd of this journey for when I get back!

After Abel Tasman we went to Franz Josef National Park where we climbed the Fox Glacier! This is the fastest moving glacier in NZ and with that also the steepest, so our muscles were tested once again.. As it is moving so quickly the routes changes every day which means that our guides had to cut steps in the glacier as we went along to make sure we could actually get up there. That looked like an awfully tiring job to me.. I have to say that it was pretty, but not as pretty as the glacier we climbed in Jaspar National Park, Canada. But still, major crevasses to walk through while trying to work your crampons is good fun!

In between we're having a few little parties here and there, the pictures will speak for themselves..

I'm in Queenstown at the moment, the furthest away from home I'll be during my travels. I can't believe I'm actually at the other end of the world right now, living my daily life at the same time you are curled up asleep. The day after tomorrow I'm going back up north to get closer and closer to holland with every bus journey and flight which are waiting for me. I do feel I'm really on my way back and actually, I don't mind. It is absolutely stunning here in NZ and I'm enjoying every moment, but I feel that I'm getting tired now. I've seen so many amazing things and it feels a bit like I'm overflowing. So, as planned, I'm heading back north, stay at that farm for the remaining 1,5 weeks, chill out in a hammock in fiji, see my grandparents in canada and then I'll be back the 22nd of july!
big kiss!