A lack of internet connections has meant we've been a bit lazy with our blog writing over the last week or so. We've written some short blogs about the places we've seen so far and this is the first.

We picked up the van a little way out of Christchurch and set off for the Banks Peninsular to the east of Chch. It was a bit sad to leave the Jailhouse hostel as it felt pretty homely. Our new van is more of a people carrier, and it has an automatic gearbox which is a bit weird and not nice to drive, but the seats are comfier than our Australian vans so that's nice! It's also purple and bright green! We drove to the little fishing village of Akaroa where the French settlers first made land in NZ. Unfortunately they returned a couple of years late to find the English and Dutch had done a better job of discovering the islands but Akaroa keeps a French feel to it. The streets are all French, there are a couple of nice looking bistros and shops, but sadly the bakery was closed after a fire so... pas de croissants, zut alors! The village sits on the edge of a pretty, calm inlet surrounded by hills making it extremely sheltered and a very relaxing spot to spend the night. We made Mexican beef and watched the evening close in. All of the trees are in beautiful bright autumnal colours so it looked especially stunning in the evening light. Not a bad first night in the van!