It’s great to have the freedom of running your own business from everywhere in the world, but it’s also challenging. Where in America there is a Starbucks everywhere, providing a good workplace wherever you go, here in New Zealand is much harder to find a good internet connection and workplace. The towns are smaller, this country more designed for travel and adventure than for work and comfort. Last year around this time I was in America with my family and found it quite doable to combine work and vacation, probably also because I stayed at one place. Here I find it challenging to combine the both and it sometimes makes me tired of traveling. At moments I just long for a normal workday or relaxing at a couch in a living room. I think it’s good to keep this blog real and also write occasionally about the less fun parts of the adventure.

Having that said, I start this day with updating my blog and doing some little things for work and then having breakfast. I was planning on going skydiving here in Wanaka, but it’s very clouded this weekend and I’m running a bit out of money, so I decide to travel further. Before I leave I take some time to lit on the fireplace in the living room. Everyone is gone already and it’s nice to relax by the fire for a while. Just before noon I get in my car again. It’s a pretty drive next to the lake, though the weather is grey and cloudy. I’m glad I didn’t book the skydive, because I would probably not have seen much of the landscape. Another traveler told me this morning that I should stop at the blue pools. When I arrive there I see that it’s half hour hike. I don’t feel so much like hiking, but since I need to take a lunch break anyway, I might as well do it here. The hike is actually pretty and the pools are impressive. The water is so clear, you can look really deep into the water. I’m glad I stopped here, it’s definitely worth a stop and it’s nice to walk in nature for a while. Gas is really expensive in this area (2.24 dollar per liter, for my American friends that is about 8 dollar per gallon), but since the warning light was already burning and the next town is over 60km away, I decide to fill up the car a bit anyway and get more guess in the next town. It’s nice to live a bit in the edge sometimes, but I don’t want to get stuck here in the mountains. I continue my road trip to the west coast.

When I arrive in the next town there is no gas station and also not in the next town. Actually there is almost nothing in this area, just nature. The alarm light of the gas is turning on again and I’m starting to worry. I ask some motor rider in a small town where the next gas station is and he tells me it’s about 50km from where I am. I turn off the radio and the lights and continue driving not too fast. I’m counting the kilometers as I go and the next hour is the most stressful one of the vacation. I realize that though I might be saving five or ten dollars, this is not worth it and I’m not gonna do it again. I keep driving and just before I enter the town with the gas station my car is about to turn off. I give extra gas two more times and I thank God when I see a gas station at the edge of the town. The engine turns off and I roll into the gas station, I made it! A big relieve and a big smile on my face. This was enough adventure for today.

I fill up my car, put some Spanish music on and drive happily further. I keep driving until it almost gets dark and when I drive through a small town I see a old building with a lot of colorful lights outside. I stop my car and see that it’s a local bar with camping place. I don’t have to think long about it, this will be the place where I stay tonight. I park my camper and walk inside the bar. For a moment it’s like I traveled back in time. There are old guys with hats and long beards, a huge fireplace and a pool table. There are antiques hanging on the ceiling and walls and the bar looks like it’s at least a hundred years old. I’m glad I stopped here. I order a beer and a burger with fries for dinner and sit down to look around and read a few pages in my book. There is a jukebox in the corner and old music is playing. I’m happily surprised when my food is delivered, it’s one of the largest burgers I’ve ever had. Even the other men in the bar are jealously looking at it. I quickly start eating and am enjoying my time here. After dinner I talk with one of the men for a while, almost everyone here is a local and they know each other since their child years. When I’ve finished my last beer I walk back to my car which I parked at the camping area in front of the bar. It’s still raining outside which makes camping in your car sometimes even more cozy. I hope the weather will be better again tomorrow, but it seems that this is the standard weather here at the west coast. One of the older men told me jokingly that they had one day with sunshine last week and that it’s always raining here. Fortunately I’m heading east again tomorrow.