We arrived in Christchurch after (yet another!) delayed flight. It was wet, late and cold and we were not happy as we headed straight to our motel. The hostel manager Steve was a really good guy and ended up helping us out loads with free lifts and advise on NZ. The weather began to pick up and we spent our first day in Christchurch looking for campers to rent or buy. Unfortunately due to the recent earthquakes in Christchurch, a number of the shops were shut down so we had a very limited choice of where we could go. We ended up finding a really good deal on a 2-3 berth camper with bathroom and toilet and although it was more than we wanted to pay, the quality of the camper made it very much worthwhile. Although we did want to buy, the ones that were about we not really value for money so we went with our renting option. Whilst we were in Christchurch they had a 10 day busker's festival were street artists from all over the world come and perform every year. We spent a large part of the first few days in the various spots around the city watching the acts perform. Christchurch was also holding a Ron Mueck (the sculptor) exhibition in the art gallery that we visited. The sculptures were so life like and were very weird and spooky but interesting none the less. We were also shaken on a number of occasions with mini earthquakes, as after a big one like they had in September, they have smaller ones for around a year. One was pretty big and even the locals got a little excited however none were more than 4 or 5 seconds long and were not dangerous.

After a few days we picked up our camper and Steve was kind enough to let us park overnight at the motel and even use facilities to save the water in our camper. The next day we headed north along the coast to Kaikora, stopping off in Cheviot to visit Gore Bay. The weather was unfortunately terrible so we only really stayed long enough to take a few snaps and have lunch before continuing to Kaikora. Once arriving here (due to the fact it was miserable weather and a Sunday!) there was not much to do so we drove to a freedom camp site about 20 minutes out of town. Here we met a nice Swiss couple and Antonio played a little football whilst Angie sat chatting. They had been in NZ travelling for 4 months so gave us loads of advice about both islands. On our second night here the water started playing up and we couldn't shower or wash our dishes so the next morning we drove back to town to ring the hire company top complain. We had to go to a garage locally to get it checked and found out there was a hole in the pies and it was a big job so we had to head back to Christchurch to change campers!!!!

Once we got our new camper we headed back to the motel we used in Christchurch and we ended up parking there for a few days. We were allowed to use facilities and in exchange Antonio hovered some of the motel rooms with a hoover you put on your back and look like a Ghostbuster! Whilst back in Christchurch we watched more acts at the festival and chilled out for a few days and went to a shopping mall where Angie got her ears pierced. Angie who was nervous about getting it done was not helped as the woman put the hole in the wrong spot and had to re-do it! As we had had to come back we altered our travel plans a bit and ended up going in a different direction, heading to Lake Tekapo.