Took the short flight from Wellington to Christchurch and were picked up at the airport by the guy from the hire car company who informed us we had just missed another big aftershock from the earthquake that had caused so much damage in Christchurch. It was the same level on the richter scale as the recent quake in Haiti and it's amazing noone was hurt, we didn't pass through the city but having looked at some photos it really was lucky.

We picked up our campervan and peered over the shoulders of two customers who were just terminating their rental period having driven down the wrongside of the road and into an oncoming truck. Luckily for us we shouldn't have as much difficulty remembering the kiwis drive on the left as our European brethren clearly had. After a quick instruction on how turn turn our dining table into a bed and other features and a helpful chat with the rental people about what the weather was likely to do we set off north hoping to do a full circuit of the island in the three weeks before our flight to Sydney.