The journey begins

We did it. It was quiet an effort to clear our flat, survive our

goodbye-party, get our luggage packed and the trip organized. In the end it was way to much luggage, as usual ...

Finally we decided to leave some big things at home. We removed our matresses (since we wanted to buy a campervan anyways) and our tent, and! we removed our ropeclimbing gear. At the Frankfurt airport we  checked in without any problems, as the luggage showed 68,9kg of 70kg allowed in total, even tough the airport scale must have been wrong, since we twisted our bags against the boundaries. Precisely it should have shown about 80kgs. With a smile in the face of our little daughter Finja, we used the chance to check in our ropeclimbing gear (9kg) as well, which meant a total 90kg of luggage.

Finja helps carrying our luggage

After a long flight we arrived in Christchurch, were a friend was waiting for us in front of the airport. He gave us his car and went back to work, while we had a quick look for campervans, before heading home to our friends place to take a shower.

View of Lytteltown from our friend Greg & Jeans Living room

The next morning, after visiting a local Farmers Market, we went back to the Backpackers Car Market, which we had visited the day before. We had success and bought a 1991 Mazda E2000 Extra Long Camper Van with 376.000km's.

Extra Long Mazda E2000 (1991 - 376.000km)

Lets start the roadtrip!

more to read soon!
www.chalkonrock.com

Adventure Description

They have planned this trip for quite some time, since Katinka hasn’t been to the Australian Continent yet. They want to see a (new) country, reunion with friends met on past trips and combine this with their sport: rock climbing.

They love to be on the road, since every day is a new experience and you never know what’s going to happen next. New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania and Bali will soon be visited. For a couple of months they will be reunited with Axels Brother Jochen, sister-in-law Miriam and their daughter Paula. Finja and her cousin Paula were born on the same day, only 4 hours apart.

Axel and Katinka have been travelling a lot in the past, mostly for sport climbing on various kinds of rock. Both of them started climbing in their childhood and have kept the psyche for this sport since then. They have been in Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, South-Africa, Scandinavia, Macedonia, and other European countries before. Since last July they can call themselves parents of little Finja Lotta and they try to do justice to her demands and our psyche to be on the road at the same time. In normal life, Axel just finished his Bachelor Degree in Computer Science and Media. He’s taking a gap semester before continuing with his Master Degree. Besides his interest for sport he is an experienced photographer with several print publications in climbing magazines, guide books and calendars. Katinka is doing Metal Design and furthermore in parental leave in the moment. They are Athletes of DAV Team Baden-Württemberg Sportklettern (www.felskader-bw.de), sponsored by Chillaz (www.chillaz.info) and Evolv (www.evolvsports.com).