i landed in christchurch some time after 11pm and straight away was greeted with the cold that was to come. found a cash machine and got ripped off my the shuttle bus into the centre where the girls im in the camper with had already sorted me a place in the hostel. got into the room and there was a note on one of the beds saying 'joe, we have saved you a bed, charlotte and chloe.' perfect, i hate sleeping on top bunks so it was just what i wanted.

foudn them on teh rooftop starting for a night out so a whole bunch of made off into the town and a pretty good night was had, start as we mean to go on... three of us ended up in one single bed which was just a taste of whats to come for the next three weeks i guess.

got up fairly early the next day and went and picked up the camper. her name is corvette and our slogan on the back is a bit rubbish 'we chose the roads less travelled, now where the hell are we!' a bit boring we thought but as it turns out...very true.

didnt get off to a flying start, the stereo didnt work so we had to go back and get that fixed and then we repeatedly got lost around christchurch, couldnt find a petrol station that took cash and the petrol light was on, we had no idea where we were going when we left christchurch and none of us had warm clothes so we eneded up spending the odd hour or three faffing in the shopping centres deciding on what we needed. ive got a pair of long johns ive not yet taken off, a good coat and a winnie and heffalump hunt for honey sleeping bag which is keeping me nice and toasty on the evenings!

just as dark fell we managed to set off and made our way for lake tekapo!