Anyway, Denise is brave for stepping into a car with me after my driving experience in the Grampians. Or, maybe, am I the brave one here? And here could be why: Denise flew back to Italy 2 years ago to get a new driving licence after she had lost it. Just to note, she didn’t loose it because of being a very responsible driver on the road. Oh no! And just before she jumped behind the wheel she went: “hey Renzo, do you want to keep an eye open, I’ve never driven on the left side before…”. Just to note, she didn’t just arrive in Australia. Oh no! One second later she didn’t know how to drive an automatic. You read that right, an automatic! We nearly died with Denise driving. Like, 1000 times. At least. And I’m next to her having such a great time making fun of her. Until I was the one to actually hit something 30 seconds after  making fun of her and said “Ok, you can’t drive, let me show you”. Painful, very painful

But, Denise and I are actually a great team. Reason #1: we didn’t miss our flight, and that’s pretty impressive. Reason #2: The car broke down on the highway. The gearbox wasn’t gearing up anymore. We checked everything as far as our knowledge went. We checked under the hood, inside and outside the car. We bought a SIM-card to call for help. We asked the petrol station staff for help in the middle of the night. We ended up not driving that night and slept in one of the suburbs (which is illegal). Until… we finally got called back the next morning. A phone call from someone who was gonna help us out.
“What’s the matter?” He asked.
“Bla, bla, bla” I explained.
“Oh, crap! OK, this it what we’re gonna do … bla, bla … Is that OK?” He went on: “Oh before you hang up, it isn’t just the button on the dashboard, is it?”.
“Urgh, don’t think so…” I said while I checked the button.

Of course it was the fukkin’ button..

But let’s move on. Here’s some recommendation: the alpine cross.
I’ve travelled for a little while and during the trip I’ve seen some really cool things. But this one, my God! It’s a painting of mountains and volcanos from the Gods. It’s a photoshopped photo that isn’t photoshopped. Imagine that picture and imagine you’re going to take a big run up, jump, head first and  you’re inside. Imagine walking around for 9 hours. All you can see is sweet, tasty scenery. That’s the Alpine Crossing. Unreal!

New Zealand is amazing. It’s super green and lush everywhere you go. And sheeps. Mountains everywhere with beaches always close. Volcano’s, a lot of volcano’s! Don’t like the smell of sulphur? Better stay away. We watched a sunrise in a hot water beach pool. A what? Again, volcano’s. There’s some sort of volcanic activity going on under the sand. You simply take your spade and dig a hole in the sand. Et voilà, your private spa. Besides sitting in hot water pools we spent the week eating yoghurt, bananas, noodles, bread with hummus dips, a few beers, pizza and a lot of ice cream. Which was pretty good. Oh, and coffee, a lot of coffee. We had the most beautiful house under a sky full of stars and we slept on free campsites. Our lovely house had an awesome roof screen and was called Toyota Lucida. We took the amazing ferry from the South to North island with the companion of a playful dolphin. We taught each other languages. And not just the bad things! And the most important one: laughter until the muesli found another way out – Denise’s nose. Another important one: great power naps.