Santiago - El Centro (Deutsche Version unten)

Hello together, after 10 hours of compensating my sleep deficiencies, I took a first visit to the center of Santiago. I like the city. The center is very busy, and overall there’s three things that i found out:

1. Theres lot’s of Police and Military around - that might be because of the presidential palace in the city

2. Theres lots of strayning dogs all around the city

3. Unfortunately, ther’s some smog in the air - because of that you can’t the the surrounding mountains clearly

Santiago is located in a valley that is surrounded by mountains from the Andes on one site and mountains to coast on the other site. After climbing Cerro Santa Lucia, i had the chance to take some fantastic shots of the city, which I’ve attached to that post.

More to come,

So Long

Jan

Hallo zusammen, nachdem ich heute nacht erst mal 10 Stunden lang mein Schlafdefizit ausgeglichen habe, bin ich heute ins Stadtzentrum von Santiago aufgebrochen. Da ist mächtig was los und 3 Dinge sind mir besonders aufgefallen:

1. Überall ist Polizei und Militär - das liegt vielleicht daran, dass der Sitz des Präsidenten im Zentrum liegt

2. Überall laufen streunende Hunde rum. Die Viecher sind eine echte Plage in der Stadt

3. Leider liegt immer ein bischen Smog in der Luft, deshalb kann man die umliegenden Berge nicht immer gut sehen.

Santiago liegt in einem Talkessel, der komplett von Bergein eingegrenzt wird. Auf der einen Seite die Anden, auf der anderen Seite eine Bergkette zur Küste. Bin auf den Cerro Santa Lucia geklettert und habe von da aus ein paar tolle Panorama Aufnahmen gemacht, die ihr in diesem Post sehen könnt.

Santiago de Chile

Hey all, after a really long trip from New Zealand to Chile, I finally arrived today in Santiago. And the summer is back again - it’s really warm here.

I directly contacted Dag - my chilean connection whom I’ve met in Wellington - he picked me up in the city. Dag has invited me to stay at his flat, where I’m now having my “base” for the next couple of days. The flat is located in the area called “las condes”, a very nice part of the city. Muchas gracias Dag por me invitar a tu casa! 

After a couple of days in Santiago, I’ll make my way down to Pucon next week, where I’ll stop to explore the region called “los Lagos”. After that I’ll go to Puerto Montt and take a cargo ferry (www.navimag.com) to ride the rough fijords on the south western coast to Puerto Natal - my gate to Patagonia…

More to come,

So Long,

Jan 

Goodbye New Zealand!

hey all, after more than one month of travelling New Zealand it is now time to say Good Bye. I really enoyed my trip through North & South Island and have met so many nice & cool people. Great time, thanks to you all!

Okay, I’ve bought some Icebreaker and MacPac stuff for South America and put all of this in my backpack, but does anybody of you know what the Airline means with “oversize Luggage”? ;)

Best wishes for you all,

Nos vemos en Chile!

More to come,

So Long,

Jan 

Barber & Hairdresser

Hey all, am now in Auckland again. Will spend my last 2 days here and prepare for the further trip. Today I took the chance to go to a Barber and to a hair dresser.

After more than 2 Month of travelling - without shaving or having a hair cut - I felt like a Merino Sheep currently ;) So I really enjoyed getting a hair cut and a professional beart trimming. I’m feeling like a human being again ;)

I think, next time that I’ll see a hair dresser again will be back in Germany…

More to come,

So Long,

Jan

Queenstown (Lake Wakatipu)

Hey all, after lot’s of rain in Wanaka, we rushed trhough till Queenstown today. No activities but a little walk through the city. Weather in Queenstown is the same - some rain, some clouds, some blue sky.

Queenstown is my last stop in New Zealand, before I’ll head over back again to Auckland on Sunday.

Queenstown is called the city of adrenaline - but I think, I will have two relaxing days in this lovely city… :)

More to come,

So Long,

Jan

Franz Josef to Wanaka (Deutsche Version unten)

Hey all, today we had an endless drive (about 5 hours) from Franz Josef Glacier to Wanaka. We passed beautiful lakes, impressive Mountains, amazing rivers and again the coastal line. All in all a very beautiful trip, but since we arrive in Wanaka, the weather got worse - so no more activity today.

The only walk we could do on our way was at Lake Matheson, which is formerly known as the “reflection lake”. When conditions are good, you can see a beautiful reflection of Mount Cook on the lake. As we had some winds, the surface of Lake Matheson was not flat enough for a reflection, but you can guess what it would be like from the picture.

Tomorrow we’ll head over to Queenstown.

More to come,

So Long,

Jan

Hallo zusammen,

heute war wieder einmal Reisetag. Von Franz Josef nach Wanaka sassen wir fast 5 Stunden im Auto. Die Fahrt ging vorbei an wunderschönen Seeen, Tollen Flüssen, atemberaubenden Bergen und folgte immer der Küstenlinie zwischen Bergen und Meer.

Kaum hier angekommen, ist das Wetter leider auch schlechter geworden, so dass wir heute nichts mehr machen können. Die einzige Aktivität heute bestand in einem Rundgang um den Lake Matheson - der auch als Spiegelsee bekannt ist. Bei guten Verhältnissen spiegelt sich der Mount Cook auf der Oberfläche und produziert ein Postkartenreifes Motiv. Da wir leider etwas Wind hatten, hat das mit der Spiegelung leider nicht so gut funtioniert, aber man kann auf dem Bild doch erahnen, wie die Spiegelung aussehen würde

Franz Josef Glacier - Helihiking (Deutsche Version weiter unten)

hey all, today I was Helihiking the amazing Franz Josef Glacier. That was definitely one of the best Experiences on my trip till now. In the early morning, we entered a Helicopter and had a scenic flight across the Franz Josef Glacier.

After Landing on the Glacier, we put on our Ice-Shoes and did a beautiful hike through the amazing glacier. We squeezed ourselfes through tiny ice-cages, climbed bizarre icy formations and learned lot about the glacier.

A fantastic trip with amazing views - and again we had bright sky and sunshine (the weather’s god is with me at the moment ;)

Tomorrow we’ll had over to Whanaka on our way to Queenstown.

All the Best,

Jan

Hallo zusammen,

auf besonderen Wunsch sollte ich die Posts auch wieder auf Deutsch verfassen - dem tue ich hiermit genüge. Heute haben wir Helihiking auf dem Franz Josef Gletscher gemacht. Zunächst ging es im Helikopter auf einen Rundflug über den Gletscher und seine bizarren Eisformationen. Im Anschluss sind wir auf dem Gletscher gelandet und haben dort unsere Eisschuhe übergezogen. Danach sind wir 2 Stunden durch den Gletscher gewandert - durch Eishöhlen, bizarre Eisformationen und über schmelzendes Eis.

Alles in allem einer der besten Trips, die ich bisher hier gemacht habe. Morgen geht es weiter in nach Wanaka - auf dem Weg nach Queenstown.

Arthurs Pass - Avalanche Peak

Hey all, weather was quite good today, so we could do another alpine track up to the summit of Avalanche Peak. We started at 700 m and climbed up to the 1838 m. Well, up there I recognized that summer is ending here - it has snow up there, so I took the chance to make my first snowball on the southern hemisphere in my life ;)

The track was really steepy and exhausting - it’s more climbing than hiking, but all in all we had a great trip with fantastic views up on the summit.

For all of you, that have to work, a good start into the week. To ther rest of you, that are engaged in Carnival: Ein dreifach donnerndes “Mörlau”!

More to come,

So Long,

Jan 

Nelson to Arthurs Pass, via Punakaiki

Hey all, today I arrived at Arthurs Pass in the southern Alps. I have rented a car now and plan to go down the west coast to Queenstown. I met a german girl in Abel Tasman, we are now sharing the car till Queenstown. 

Our first ride took us yesterday from Nelson to Punakaiki. After heavy rain on the way down there (the clouds that come from the sea can’t pass the Alps, so it has lots of rain here), we had good weather conditions today.

We took the chance to visit Punakaiki and the “Pancake Rocks”. The name is, because of millions of years in the sea have formed rocks that look like stapled pancakes. The sea also created huge blowwholes, through that massive waves are squeezed to the air (see picture).

From Punakaiki, we went today to Arthurs Pass Village. Beautifil roads in amazing Landscape. Arrived there in the afternoon today, we took a steep trail to the temple bassin (which is a skiing area in wintertimes). Tomorrow we want to do another alpine hike up to Avalanche Peak, which will bring us up to 1800 meters. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather conditions - they had new snow today…

More to come,

So Long,

Jan 

Abel Tasman - Costal Track

Hey all, just came back from the abel tasman costal track that I did the last two days. We hiked nearby 40 kilometers within the last 2 days along the beautiful coast of the Abel Tasman National Park. 

After the first day, we camped at Bark Bay Camp Site (where I’m just trying to prepare dinner…). Well, what I prepared was so good, that it was partly stolen by Opossums ;)

Unfortunately, it heavily rained during the night, so that we couldn’t start early enough this morning to complete the second part. So we had to take a water taxi, after the weather got better. Which was not that bad - including all the camping gear, I had to carry about 15 kg in my backpack…

More to come,

So Long,

Jan