Since we had our rental car, we enjoyed and exploited the freedom of being able to go whereever we want whenever we want – it got kind of addictive to try and see all the beautiful and hidden corners of New Zealand’s South Island. We camped at beautiful beaches and deserted alpine lakes, explored the jungle-like forests, watched seals playing in rock pools, heard sea lions roar, hiked on parts of NZ’s Great Walks, enjoyed grand vistas, chased alpine parrots, drank quite a few bottles of New Zealand’s tasty wines, saw the full moon rise behind snow-capped mountains while sitting by our campfire. We sometimes got rained on, but other times the weather was just perfect when we needed it to be. The day at the Fox glacier at the West coast was one of these. After it rained for the whole day before, we camped close the the glacier and woke up in the early morning to blue sky and sunshine. We made a beeline for the glacier, and managed to hike up to the frozen wonderland and have it all to ourselves before the tour busses arrived at 9am.<\/p>\n
We really loved the back-to-nature experience we had in the last few weeks. Yes, sometimes it’s cold at night, and you don’t always get a hot shower in the morning (sometimes not even a cold one), but nothing beats having dinner under the stars and waking up to amazing views once you open the ‚door‘ of your tent.<\/p>\n