New Zealand
North Island
Once landed in Auckland, we immediately acquaint ourselves with a green and enchanting New Zealand. We spend a warm Christmas at home with Shiksha, a young woman of Indian origin, and we are fortunate enough to be able to visit this modern city, surrounded by volcanoes.
After a long dirt road to the side of a prairie, where wild black horses cross the road, we reach the soft and sandy dunes of a seemingly endless deserted beach full of shells. We dive into the mysterious Waipu Caves. Inside these dark caves, a muddy path leads us through a picturesque limestone landscape framed by stalactites and stalagmites and magical bright fireflies that incredibly illuminate our way.
We admire the Coromandel Peninsula, home to ancient rich mines as well as the site of New Zealand’s first gold rush.
But it is with its heavenly seas, virgin white beaches and frozen lakes that this pristine corner of the world continues to make us dream, even to this very day.
Once far away from the pesky New Zealand mosquitoes, similar to small gnats but inflicting a hellish post- bite itch, we head to Queenstown, apparently a placid village perched on the peaks of the mountains and surrounded by the clear lake Wakatipu. This mountain gem is, in fact, the cradle of extreme sport, in short, it is an adrenaline paradise.
The next day, we travel to Fjordland, the land of the fjords, a wild territory with several areas inaccessible to visitors. We enter into purest nature, between Rocky Mountains, dense forests, lakes, glaciers and waterfalls, to discover timeless places suspended between the green of the woods, the blue of the ocean and the white of the mountain peaks. Here, we stop for a while at the bluest Lake Gunn, surrounded by huge slopes. We are in the exact location where heaven and earth come together perfectly, totally immersed in the purity of this lonely place, while being accompanied by sweet birdsong.
South Island
Leaving the city of Wellington, we face the chilling tide by ferry and arrive on New Zealand’s South Island where glaciers, fjords and alpine lakes seem to dance together magically painting the landscape.
We visit the coveted Abel Tasman National Park, where we get lost among the paths that rise and fall in the midst of dense forests of pines and ferns that reach out to the isolated beaches of Golden Bay. We then head to Christchurch.
We are completely amazed and totally intoxicated by the scent of wild flowers with a purple colour that frame a fairy-tale glimpse of the world: we are at Lake Tennyson. Almost by a strange twist of fate we encounter a Kiwi motorcyclist who is riding the same motorbike as us and who owns the same tent.
We immediately run to take a dip while on the other side of the bank four naked children play football by the stream. Behind us is a sprawling mountain range, pale green and rocky. Shortly before sunset, Pisel decides to climb the peak to secure a memory of this fascinating vista with a single shot.
