Up first thing this morning, to get our shuttle back to the airport area to pick up our campervan from the depot. It was Apollo that were the hire company again, so we were hoping that no silly cows worked there like in Sydney! Fortunatley it was a sound bloke who went through everything with us and even scored us a better deal on the insurance meaning we have no excess whatsoever meaning we can do anything to the van now apart from roll it or drive under a low bridge! Once we were happy and they were happy we set off.

First stop - Pak'n'Save which boasts 'New Zealands lowest food prices' to stock up the cupboard and fridge. We then went back into Christchurch to spend a lot of money on some ski jackets! We're here 3 months it's freezing, we want to try skiing so might as well invest!

From here, after a lot of recommendations, we then started our road trip to Akaroa.

The road took us past huge blue lakes and over snowy mountains down into a bay where Akaroa lies. It was originally a French settlement so all the roads are called 'rue' and all the shops have french names. The village really does have a French 'feel' to it!

We didnt have much time to look round the town so we found the only campsite, and parked up at the top of the hill, overlooking the village with the snow capped mountains in the background.