Sunday. We woke up to rain! Very disappointing! And we needed to think carefully about where to head next and where we wanted to be for new year - as we only have three nights left. With this in mind we drove 300km to the Banks penisula adjacent to Christchurch - and what a good decision this has turned out to be! The sun is out, we are camped for free next to the harbour in Akaroa and it is gorgeous. This town has lots of old colonial buildings and lots of French names, as the French arrived with a ship of migrants in the 1800s, but unfortunately for them, five days previously the British had claimed sovereignty over the area! They stayed though and their influence is clear in the street names here. We are having a beer looking over the harbour at the moment and are about to go back to the van to cook tea. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and we hope to spend it here, though we may have to see if there are any rooms available - as I'm not sure we will get away with free camping for two nights here, it is already pretty full for the holidays. Anyway the plan is to chill out over here until we have to hand the van back. Looking forward to it! Any messages gratefully received . . !