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We arrived in Christchurch at around 11pm, it was freezing! So it was a quick hop onto a bus and straight to our accommodation to get our heads down for the night. The bus driver dropped us off and pointed to a sign to our Guest House, off the bus and a bit bewildered we realised that our accommodation was up a dark alley, to our left was a fallen house with its windows smashed out (damage from the recent earthquake) hoping that wasn't where we would be staying we walked on a little further until we could see the guest house. As it was so late they had left the keys under a doormat for us so we could let ourselves in. The first sign we came to was 'please take off your shoes', a little unusual but quite homely, we thought. This was to be the case for the rest of the house too, it was, to say the least, a little strange, but also cosy and welcoming. It was like walking into your great-granmas house the décor was dated, the smell was rustic, there were little ornaments everywhere and anything broken was fixed with cellotape! But it was safe, and warm so we were happy!
The next morning we hopped onto a shuttle to pick up our campervan, (what should have been a 10 minute journey took almost 50 mins because of the crazy lady driver who kept leaving people behind!) once we picked up Jucy Lucy our first stop was Christchurch city centre, most of which was closed due to the Earthquakes, it was really sad to see all the buildings, churches and homes ruined and it was evident that it had a huge impact on the city as the majority of it was deserted. That evening we planned our route around the country and highlighted all of our 'must do's'.
It was pretty clear that we weren't going to survive 5 weeks in a campervan without warm clothes, so the next day we went to the nearest mall to stock up, Ash bought some lovely thermals, and myself some warm socks and UGG boots :) That afternoon we took a drive to a nearby viewpoint to have a look over the city and out to the snow topped mountains, the roads were steep and windy, the sort where you darn't look down with sheer drops and carpets of dark forestry.
That night was our first night in the campervan, we managed to have a little hiccup where Ash backed into a tree and dented the van! We have agreed that we were equally to blame, Ash was driving but i was meant to be watching!?!? It was quite funnt though! Feeling both excited and a little apprehensive about the cold we had the heaters on full blast and drank plenty of tea!
The next morning we woke up to a leak from our water waste! Well we didn't realise until a grumpy old lady scowled at us from across the camp grounds and then came and made her point quite abruptly! It turns out the tank was a little full and was leaking due to the pressure. Once the lil mishap was sorted we set off for Hanmer Springs, a nearby hot springs/spa that had lots of different hot pools, waterslides, a smelly (eggy) sulphur pools and huge jacuzzis, it was a lovely afternoon even though it did rain pretty hard towards the end, very refreshing. Oh and did I forget to mention that on the way to the Springs Ash got stopped by the police for speeding? It's that sudden feeling when you hope to god the flashing lights aren't for you. Ooops! That night we tried out our cooker and enjoyed fajitas in the warm.
Day 5 and still in Christchurch. Today we went Punting on the Avon, it was a glorious day, perfect for the occasion so all was good, until my camera decided to throw a hissy fit and broke! Gutted, so the afternoon was spent at camera shops only to be told that it was not worth fixing because of the cost, so a new camera and a very tiered Ash later (mainly due to me being so fussy) and we were back in the camper and enroute to Lake Takepo. When we got there we picked a beautiful spot by the lake and cooked up a chilli con carne complete with nachos and Carona - perfect.
The following morning we opened our campervan door to be amazed that it had snowed overnight! The whole lake was perfectly white and the air was crisp and bitterly cold! So after sorting out our second camper crisis (air blockage due to water running dry - oops!) we heading to the main village where we bought hats and gloves and treated ourselves to a nice hot drink in a cabin-like cafe. All warm and ready to go we headed to Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand, but as the visibility was quite poor we has a walk around the visitor centre before driving to the nearby Tasman Valley. We parked up and hiked to the top where we had lovely views of the lake and beautiful glacier.
That night we drove to our next stop on the map - Moeraki, a very small fishing village which had a small beach a restaurant and a pub, which is where we stopped off for a few games of pool and fish & chips the following day, right after we conquered our 3rd, yes 3rd camper crisis. It appears that we had forgotten to empty our waste water tank and the water had overflowed, come back up the pipes and up the plug hole of the shower which just so happened to have our bags and clothes stored in it, the lot - soaked! It appears we have a lot to learn!
That evening we headed to Dunedin, our next stop, we got to the campsite quite late so left over chilli and a chilled out night suited us fine. The day after we took a short drive to Baldwin Street, 'The Steepest Street in The World' and took a walk to the top (well Ash ran and was nearly sick, ha ha...)
So far we have been really happy with all of the campsites, they are clean, friendly and have good facilities which helps after long days on the road. The scenic drives make everyday extra special and we cant wait to get to our next destination - Te Anau
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Janet sat here with yr dad laughing at your longjohns!