The unexpected end of Froggy – our campervan

Before we drove into Queenstown we decided to have a relaxed evening at a campground with powered site so we can charge our camera battery and our laptop. We also wanted to update our homepage since we had some reports in the pipeline.

In Wanaka at a beautiful lake we found the perfect campground. It is a little ski resort village and was quite busy. We also did tons of laundry and where ready for Queenstown and the Milford Sounds.

Close to Queenstown we found a great spot for freedom camping and we enjoyed the stunning view over the Lake Wakatipu. Crystal clear sky with millions of stars, uh it was really cold this night.

The next day we got ready for our little trip towards “Lord of the Ring” areas. So we drove to Glenorchy which was already a great vista. The snowy mountain caps reflected in the lake and with the clear blue water you could see straight to the ground.

After Glenorchy the street became a gravel road towards Paradise and suddenly it got very icy. Micha slowed down but three little dips in the straight road made the back part of our car jump and we lost traction.

Suddenly we were sideways to the road and Micha just thought, what will be the best way to park the car on the side of the street. Since it was quite a dip we dropped in a 60 degree angle and got stuck. Luckily nothing happened to us.

We were very lucky and after we found some help from 12 Malay people driving just behind us. I jumped in their car and after driving 5 minutes a big 4 wheel drive bus just passed us. We stopped it because I thought he might have a radio. And he surely had.

So I changed the car and funny wise his colleague already found Micha and Froggy, our campervan. He was there with a big tractor but we decided not to pull it out otherwise it might flip over.

They brought us to their company in Glenorchy and we could arrange everything. A towing truck came out 1 ½ hours later and with Micha it took another 1 ½ hours to get Froggy out. He brought us back to Jucy in Queenstown and what a luck that we had the stress free insurance.

So we got another campervan and we thought we have to treat ourselves after no one got hurt. Only a small side window and one plate crashed and there was a little dent in the frontbumper. Let’s have a steak and a beer. Well as it is, we met nice people and live music in the pub and Micha had some more drinks.