Our night in the Car in Sydney was uneventful & this time - actually both managed to get a good night's sleep - surprisingly!! We are definitely pro travellers now! Nothing deters us!!

Our Air New Zealand flight from Sydney to Christchurch, was lovely, very comfortable and I got to watch the WHOLE first season of Cougar town.. which I have missed, since travelling.... (bar the last 8 minutes of the last episode!) Luke did the same but with 'Two and a half men.'

We got off the plane, breezed through customs, then got out.. in the cold fresh air! Oh Man! Our lungs must have only been using 1/3'd of its max capacity in Australia because of the humidity or something, but this air is goooooood! We got a taxi to go pick up our campervan!!! Then marked the beginning of our New Zealand Adventure!!! We climbed aboard our home for the next 3 weeks, and hit the road! We found a supermarket and bought some food for the next couple of days. A got grabbed on the Peanut Butter aisle by a local woman... she said she heard that I was international, and gave me her recommendations of peanut butter........ Enough said!

The funny thing I noticed was the prices of food compared to Australia. They're marked at the same price, so for example, a loaf of bread is $1.79 in Australian Dollars, it's the same here in NZ Dollars... The only difference is the currency value - You get allot more Kiwi Dollars to the Aussie Dollar!!! WINNER!!

On route to Campsite #1 we saw heaps of buildings without roofs, windows, walls even! Most were just piles of rubble behind a fence! It's really sad. So we decided to stay around our campsite for day one, and venture around the Papanui part of town... away from the epicentre. The following morning when we woke up - it was too cold to get out of bed! The sun was shining, and the skie was blue, but it was god damn cold!!! Definitely the biggest contrast to tropical Cairns!!!!!! After a cuppa tea and our brekkie, we tried taking a drive to Cathedral Square, or its surroundings, or anywhere in the centre of town to take a good look at what was left behind, but it appeared that the whole city was fenced off. There were army kids forming roadblocks, so my only guess is they're doing a mass demolition of the city & keeping everyone away - as all the central buildings need knocking down to be rebuilt?! But im not sure!! Every so often we would see battered buildings though, but strange how the building next door could be in perfect condition, and the building joined to it had collapsed......

So we kept on driving, and now were at Lake Tekapo. The 3 hour drive from A to B was awesome, our mouths were definitely catching flies!! We pulled over mid way and put on the kettle..... seen as we have everything with us!!So we got out our camping chairs and kicked back.... Ahhhh this is the dream!!! The scenery in New Zealand is extreme too, one minute you're driving through field after field of cows and sheep, and then next it's with great mountains on either side. Towards Lake Tekapo the mountains even had a little bit of snow on their tops.... then we turned a corner, and in front of us was the most amazing colour of water - Lake Tekapo. We pulled over to go and see the lake, its stunning, it really is too beautiful for my eyes to take in!!! We plodded on a little further & reached another Campsite, pulled in and had lunch! Were on a slight hill, and have a direct view of the lake... truly amazing!!

After lunch we went for a leisurely stroll around the Lake, we didn't get too far, is it was becoming thick woodland, and there were scenes which reminded me of the Blair Witch project - even though it was daytime I still got scared!!! (Shhhh!) So we, mooched on back to our home on wheels!!

Let me explain a little about our abode. Its a 3 berth campervan. Its tiny, but yet huge at the same time! Compared to my MR2 its a bloody ocean liner! But compared to the other caravans and campers in the campsite, its the size of my MR2!! Ok its probably about 6 or 7 metres long, and 3 metres high.. I think!! In the drivers part, there is 3 seats, its really quite compact. But in the living space there is a kitchen area, with: 3 cupboards, 1 fridge freezer, 2 gas hobs, a kettle a toaster, and a dining table, with a horseshoe arranged seating area, which doubles up as a double bed! Above our head is the 3rd bed, but is folded back, so used as storage. Above the drivers part there is more storage, so the place is neat and tidy!!

Its really awesome - Were only into Day 2, SO in 19 days time, when we have to give it back, I will tell you how much I love it then!!