Paradise^x

Another beautiful weekend is over: Our trip to the Nelson Lakes was awesome!

On Friday, after going to the supermarket we drove to St. Arnaud, a big city with almost seven houses ;)
There we settled into our bach, after having searched the key for quite a long time. The little house was really nice, and we already looked forward to cooking and to sitting in front of the open fire in the evening. But before that we went to the lake called 'Rotoiti' and were flabbergasted by the view and the fact that there is just no-one! We had the whole lake for us, something that could never happen in Switzerland...

In the evening we prepared a delicious pasta and we ate Séverine's world famous chocolate cake. Sitting in front of the fire, playing UNO, having fun; what else do we need?

The next day started with good exercise. Our hike called 'Mount Robert Circuit' began with a steep two hours climb, but once at the top every effort was forgotten and our sandwiches and nuts were even more delicious. On top of that, the view was just breathtaking; a blue lake, snowwhite peaks and green hills with sheep in the valley. 

Once back down we decided to take a swim in the lake rather than using the dirty shower in the house. Indeed it was refreshing, but I'm happy that I didn't see the huge eels lingering around until I came out of the water...

What a day, and what a nice dinner that we prepared: tortillas and a lot of chocolate afterwards. But we just couldn't stop exercising and therefore we went on a night adventure: kiwi hunting! 

Well, after ten minutes standing quietly in the forest we couldn't help laughing. It was such a crazy situation! 

But: The next morning I got up quite early and what I saw was a Kiwi! It was running in front of the kitchen window but unfortunately I didn't have time to prove evidence by taking a picture. Well, after breakfast we cleaned the badge a little bit but they said: leave it like you've  found it. So actually we didn't have to clean anything ;)

After that we drove to the other lake called 'Rotoiti'. This one is even more beautiful! We went for another 2-hour walk through the forrest which was really nice. And of course we enjoyed our lunch at the border of the lake. 

A spontaneous decision to visit Rabbit Island made us drive in the direction of Motueka, a stunning drive through the Motueka valley, the beginning of the Kahurangi National Park. 

Once at Rabbit Island I was just overwhelmed. I mean, you're hiking in the high mountains and only some hours later your enjoying the beach! 

We had a lot of fun at the beach just doing nonsense as you can see in the pictures...

In the last few weeks I often asked myself why I can't stay in New Zealand as I absolutely fell in love with this country. My main reason: 

There are friends and a lovely family waiting for me in Switzerland!