Adventures of the International Gypsy Family

Moeraki, Clay Cliffs, and the family at Rohan

Our family had nine members from four countries in three cars. On the first day we discovered Oamaru's 
steam punk victorian architecture and some very distant penguins as well as the boulders at Moeraki. The next day brought us inland to the Elephant Rocks (for climbing) and Mount Cook - New Zealand's highest mountain at 3754 m. We visited the bizarre Clay Cliffs on our way, which look like a  Lord of the Rings backdrop but aren't. The mountain was beautiful and looked sunny and inviting but turned out to be a terrifying storm center that damaged our tent, which contained four people that night to conserve warmth. Driving out towards the stunning Lake Tekapo allowed us to escape the rain, but not the cold and wind which we fully experienced the following day on a hike up to the Tekapo observatory.

Our German member left us about four days into the trip at Geraldine, where we had the final family meal of crepes (bloody French) and a rather heated game of football. Marion and I were meant to splinter off with Lukas but instead decided to carry on with the crew to Castle Hill - one of the best bouldering sites in the southern hemisphere. On the way we visited Mt Summer - Rohan in LOTR - and picked up a temporary member of the family, an American named Henry. We explored the Cave Stream near Castle Hill the following morning and learned the meaning of cold, then did some more climbing at Castle Hill. Now we came to our final evening which we spent watching Kea at Arthurs's pass. The family became truly fractured at this point, with the French couple also separating from the main group. After one week together, it was truly sad to leave. Our thumbs were getting restless.

Dunedin and the hitchhiking hiatus

We made it into Dunedin in the morning and found the market which held within it a pearl of gastronomic vegan excellence, that is "The joyful vegan" which makes you second guess any preconceptions you may have had about an animal free diet being healthy. Dunedin, I must say is one of the more historically interesting cities in New Zealand, with much more old-european style architecture than the rest of the country. We met up with another old friend in the form of Sammy the funny french man as well as relatively new friends Came, Estel, Nikolaus and Manuel. Marion and I, along with our four new friends were graciously hosted by Caroline who showed us the world's steepest street! The following morning we toured the Otago peninsula in Caroline's car and saw seals and sealions and beautiful beaches.

Seal; McVegan; Sinclare beach

After filling our bellies with fast food, Marion and I hitchhiked to a campsite that was full of familiar faces. You can only really tour the South Island in one direction or the other I suppose. We spent some time on the beach with the French couple Came and Estelle, had some drinks with the various campers (probably about 20) and went to bed. The morning came, and we decided to start making our way north. The aforementioned Czechs Matej and Ondra (see a previous post) decided to take us that direction in convoy with the French and their German chauffeurs and a further German by the name of Lucas who had given Marion a crepe earlier that morning. Thus was formed the International Gypsey Family and the longest time out from thumbing began.