Heading off to Christchurch after lunch

Pack up and think about leaving the campervan day. Vera tried horseriding on the Norfolk pony "Buttons".

To save our van from being “wrecked”, Wouter had been so kind and removed a lot of branches from the road. Clean and empty we returned the camper to KEA.

Vera removing branches from the roof!

Because of our problems with the leaking tap they offered us to stay an extra night in the camper. Great, thank you KEA for really good customer service. Back with all the stuff in the van, dinner stock up and a quiet last pizza dinner in our friend KEA the campervan.

Meandarin Farmstay

I dag är dagen höjdpunkten på dagen att jag ska borsta på en häst! Jippie! har inte hänt på år och dagar. Det är nämligen så att alla horse treks är hästarna redan klara och det är bara att rida iväg. Jag borstar på en grå ponny som heter Fella och mamma borstar på en häst som heter Shrek. 

Jag borstade och borstade och sedan kom jag på att jag kan ju ta och rida! Mamma har bara sagt att vi inte ska kolla på någon ridning i NZ, men nu har vi ju hästar rakt framför oss!

Det gick och ungefär en timme senare sitter vi på varsin häst. Mamma har fått byta häst för Wouter sa att Shrek kunde vara lite seg så nu sitter mamma på Benji. Vi har fått en karta på hur vi ska rida och nu sätter vi fart. Det går rätt långsamt att rida från gården för hästarna var inte ridna på ungefär tre månader. Men när vi svänger och kommer på en väg där dem inte har gått så mycket så blir det bättre och vi kan galoppera och trava utan att hästarna blir nervösa. Det var riktigt härligt men vips var vi hemma igen.

/Vera

Feeding the birds

Cold morning and then off to Meanderine Farmstay

When we get out of the van in the morgning the mountains are all covered with snow, magnificent!! 

Snow!

Meanderine Farmstay

När vi kör in på den långa infartsvägen blir bilen nog lite repig när den slår emot alla grenar som hänger över vägen. Vi kör förbi en liten flock med kor, i nästa hage står det en grå åsna och skriar. Efter åsnan ligger det ett grönsaksland. Bilen stannar och jag flyger ut för att sen en flock med hästar!

Ut ur huset kommer en grå hårig man som presenterar sig som Wouter. Två små lurvbollar och en stor ullboll kommer ut. Efter dem kommer en svarthund med lurviga öron. Vi blir visade var vi skulle stå, jag och Klara går in och tittar på spelen. Sen äter alla människor lunch och efter vi har ätit lunch ska djuren få mat. Bara för någon månad sedan hade dem köpt fem kalvar. Dem får mat, sedan kaninerna och sedan var det dags för dem pytte, pytte små kaninungarna!

Deras mamma har precis dött och dem har blivit flaskmatade. De är lika stora som ens handflata!

De kissar rätt oförberett och Oskar är den första som blir blöt.

Jag klarar mig!

/Vera

Tramping and stargazing

You notice this is higher up in the mountains,  nights are really cold. Wearing flip flop in the morning feels a bit odd when its 3 degrees celcius. If you follow the road from the caravan park and take left at the hot springs you are on the track up to Mt John and the Observatory and Astro café. The Pathway zig-zag up the mountain, we did some climbing short cuts and 45 min later we where up at the windy top looking out at the magnificent landscape of Lake Tekapo.

Mountains and flat land all around. You have the same view from the Astro café but then together with a  nice cappuccino and cake in close reach. Full of cake energy Kalle, Vera and Oskar took the long walk down to the lake and then home. 

Pernilla and Klara chose to walk the same, quicker, zig-zag track home. It goes a lot quicker down hill, especially if you have a timer and race…

Nice to get back to the camper for a cup of hot tea and wait for 7:15 pick up by Earth and Sky for some stargazing. Before we left we put on all possible warm clothes, and we don’t have many. Luckily Earth and Sky provide you with thick warm jackets.

This night it was a bit unstable weather and snow was expected so clouds may come in and cover all the stars. 25% discount later we were in the bus and heading for the Mt John top once again. Nice to be back in a big warm jacket, and we came just in time to look at the sun through special sun binochulars.

Mt Cook

As it grew darker we watched different stars and galaxys through the telescope. Really fascinating to see stars up close, they can be so different from how you see them with your eyes only. 

An astro photographer also showed his special equipment. You need to have the camera moving, otherwise the stars becomes a bright track in the picture. 

Southern Cross

Trip report no 3 by Oskar

Hello!

The Philippines

After Kiwi dive resort we travelled to a city called Dumaguete where we stayed for lunch. Really chaotic town/city or whatever you want to call it (it lives half a million there). After lunch we went down to a little village, and from there we went to Apo Island. If I would define the way we travelled I would call it “Filipino travelling”. 

Squeezed?

A tricycle!

On the bus

First we went on a tricycle to the bus station (witch is a motorbike with a wagon), at the bus station we came in the last second for a bus and of course we also had to take a small boat out to Apo island. When we arrived at the resort (Apo island dive resort, Apo island is an island with focus on diving) we met the dive master (guide) who was very nice. He was called Keken.

That’s right it’s me! This is the view from the hut.

All five couldn’t live inside the bungalow so mum and dad slept outside. But otherwise I think we had the best bungalow at the resort. Already at the first dive, Apo Island showed us the best side. We (mum, Keken & I) saw an eagle ray, plenty of turtles and a potato grouper. 

Dive stuff

The dive boat

Later Keken told us that the grouper is delicious. After five terrific nights we had to move on because we had only one night left in the Philippines. On the boat back to Negros (the closest bigger island) it started to shower (a heavy rain, not a shower floating in mid-air) I suppose Zeus was crying or something. Back in Dumaguete we found a hotel and stayed there for the night. The next morning we went to the bus station and we took the bus to a pier. From the pier we took a boat to the neighbouring island called Cebu, and of course we had to take the bus again to Cebu City  (man I get tired of buses). From Cebu city we flew directly to Singapore.

Singapore

When we had landed at the airport we had to show our passport and all the usual stuff, but you know what? We got sweets! Talk about get a god first impression. Mum had booked a hostel in Chinatown so we were pretty much in the centre. At the first day we were just walking around in Chinatown and little India. We went past a place called Kim Chee Guan (the chefs name I think) the queue was about 150 meters! We asked a man in the queue what they were buying, and he told us it was sliced pork. The man had been waiting since 5am and the clock was then about 10am! Later the staff at the hostel told us that it’s a tradition to eat the pork around Chinese New Year. Also he had calculated how much they earned in the month before New Year, it was around three million Singaporean dollars (around 25 million kr). But the main event of the day was we found a great food court! 

Happy eater at the foodcourt

Sugarcane juice!

The gyoza’s was amazing (fried dumplings) also I tasted something called sugarcane juice witch was also terrific. The next day we went to the zoo. It was really good but I think Kolmården is better. For lunch I took something called “Laksa” it was great but it was almost flaming hot (spicy not warm)! That night we ate at a dim sum place wich was amazing.  The remaining days we mostly ate at the food court.

Guess what’s the most popular thing in warmer countries? No not sweat. The right answer is air-con

During the days we were looking at famous buildings, the concert house looked like a durian fruit sliced in two (It’s quiet smelly, the fruit not the house) 

The giant smelly Durain

another building looked like a spaceship. 

The spaceship has landet at the scrapers!

Another day we just took it easy and didn’t do much (except school). And then just bits longer than a golf competition goes on (4 days) we were on the flight to Auckland (via Sydney).

Magnificent seafood at Fleurs place and Lake Tekapo

Waking up in a holiday park can sometimes be rough, especially if you are next door to the garbage bins. Anyway its not a stay for late morning sleepers, 10 sharp you normally need to be unhooking your power and hit the road. Sometimes create a hectic environment for family Janlert. This morning we where tired from last nights animal encounters so it was  a bit passed 10:00 this morning… Before we leaft Dunedin we made a sand-stop, Oskar is collecting sand from all the countries he visits.

Sand collectors

Vera’s turn was to sit in the front seat. In the back of a campervan its more like traveling by train. You sit around a table and look out the window on one side. It’s a little bumpier but great for playing cards and read. Lonely planet pointed out a restaurant you MUST visit if you are in the area, Fleurs place in Moeraki. a small fishing village with a caravan park and a restaurant. Bookings are essential but we managed to get a table. 

Kids meal for Klara

Glad we did, the meal was delicious! 3 ours later we arrived in Lake Tekapo, famous for its turquoise coloured lake, mountains and stars! Being so far away from big cities Lake Tekapo offers great stargazing and we made a booking for the next evening.

Links golf and town visit and albatrosses and penguins

Aim today was to spot the magnificent albatrosses but first Kalle and Oskar tried the challenging St Clair links golf course and we girls headed downtown Dunedin.

Happy golfer, 76 not bad!

When you are backpacking like us there is no use shopping because we cant carry any more things, so that takes a bit off the edge of a city visit… We visited the Otago museum and saw stuffed native NZ animals, so now we have at least seen what an albatross should look like if we spot the, and many other things. On display was also a face exhibit.

Really interesting to see what you would look like if you make one face of your right or left half of your face.
We picked up the happy golfers and hit the by the sea road, which is literally by the sea, and drove to the Otago peninsula in the hope of seeing albatrosses. Directly when we parked our camper we jumped out screaming “Albatrosses” but after a while we noticed they probably where seagulls…Hm…I had cancelled the tour with the Royal albatross centre since we weren’t sure of being there on time and also the cost for the tour is 112 NZD (650 SEK). Instead we hoped for “free spotting” from the outside area.  You can go and watch the interesting exhibition of albatrosses, sealions, seals and penguins, its for free. They closed the centre and we decided to stay and cook dinner, now the big impressive birds started to fly out hunting for food.

They are amazingly impressive, when you have seen them you know they are not a seagull because they are sooo big. Difficult to catch them with the camera but we got some good pictures! With new after dinner energy next target was spotting the blue eyed penguins at Pilot beach. Seals where lazily lying on the rocks and e got really close to them! Penguins go hunting for fish in the morning and return at dusk. Wind was blowing but we resisted the cold and stayed for the penguins. It grew darker and darker. Just behind the fence where we were standing we saw a rabbit, at least I thought it was a rabbit. But no, it’s a baby penguin, so cute when he crawled out of his hole!
 

Not a rabbit...

A penguin worker arrived and gave us instructions, not to use yellow flash on cameras, that hurts their eyes and also to keep our voices down. Penguins are not afraid of humans but they may be distressed. Almost at dark the first gang of penguins arrived.

Amazing how clumsy they are on land, and they crawl sometimes 100 m to their nest. Darkness and cold winds made Janlert family return to their camper and head for civilization and a new city holiday park.