Hitch-hiking in New Zealand

If you'd dig a hole in Switzerland you'd end up (sooner or later) in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, but if you'd go just a little bit further south to Portugal/Spain you'd most probably land in the middle of a sheep herd here in New Zealand. On every one of the 4 Mio people living here (whereupon 1.3 Mio alone live in Auckland) there are 10 sheeps living here as well on an area which is about 6.5 as big as Switzerland. Amazing...

I just arrived on the South Island of New Zealand - supposingly even more beautiful than the North Island even though the north was already rather fascinating...
When I arrived in Auckland it felt quite weird to be in such a big city again (after the calm and relaxing atmosphere of Fiji) so I decided to leave the place for Rotorua a bit further south. I first had to get accustomed to the constant sulphur smell in the air because of the strong geothermal earth activity here, but due to the many hikes, the hot pools and the great landscape around the city (particularly the nearby Whakarewarewa Forest - called The Redwoods), it was a fantastic stay in this city.

I then made the decision to go to the Lake Waikaremoana and try my first Great Walk here in NZ. Buuut that was quite a challenge... I didn't find any way to go down to the lake by any means of transport (except by car on a very bad road) so I decided to try it from the other side and took a bus to Napier (a cute little town at the sea). Because there was also no possibility to reach the Lake from this side either, I walked out of the city and began to hitch-hike. After 6 (!) different hitch-hikes where they sometimes left me in some really remote areas (I once had to wait 4h in one place where there was approximately one car per hour), I still didn't reach the lake - but nearly. I put my tent and walked the rest the next day. Unfortunately the weather was changing and I couldn't go on the Great Walk. But the journey was definitely the reward on this trip because I met some very interesting people...When I hitch-hiked back I found a family who first invited me to their place and then drove me all the way back to my hostel (2.5h) where I started my little hitch-hike-journey. The people are incredibly friendly here!

Tomorrow I can finally go on my first Great Walk in the Abel Tasman Nationalpark here on the South Island. Looking very much forward to that...