Reunion in Auckland and Christchurch

After enjoying the Auckland scenery and the vulcanos, doing loads of nice walks, meeting nice people in my tiny hostel I went to pick up my friend from Belgium, Eefje. Eefje and I got to know each other at the climbing club in Dublin. Although we are living in a small world, this was less of a coincidence because Eefje planned to get out here to do some nice hiking with me for a month!! Our reunion was full of good hugs, a lot of laughter and a nice bottle of wine to end the day!


On Saturday we flew straight to Christchurch because people were telling us that the South Island is way more beautiful for hiking. And there we had another quite enjoyable reunion with a friend from Ireland, Patrick. We got to know Patrick at the climbing club as well. Patrick moved over to New Zealand 4 years ago and never left the place. Again, we exchanged big hugs, we smiled and talked and since Patrick had 2 parties to go to, we just went along as well!

Halloween parties to be exact so this is what we looked liked after trashing Patricks wardrobe:

Eefje, the perfect housewife and Maaike, sleepy in her pyjama's...Patrick was Polypro-Superman. No questions asked, but let's say the reunion was just splendid!

The next day Eefje and I did some serious hiking planning, figuring out where to go and what to do. We have three four day tracks ahead of us, some kayakking, a lot of stunning views and excellent company. And now here it comes, just as we wanted to get a rental car for these four weeks,

Patrick chipped in the offer again (which I had forgotten) that we could use his mini van for the next four weeks! So, great great great, we have a car!!! We have a tent also, but there is a matrass in the back, so we can sleep in there too. Nice and cosy... So big, massive thank you for Mister Patrick himself: he is the best!

And of course, the car needs to smell nice during our travels, so I put Guusjes present in: a vanilla scented thingy with a very nice message! (just in case: not all who wander are lost...) So not many blogs for the next weeks or so, but loads of stories and pictures afterwards...WAUW!