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Up bright and early, a transfer bus took us back towards Christchurch Airport to collect our campervan from Apollo Motorhomes - another Hippie Camper - this morning. We'd got a decent deal, having hired one in Australia a few weeks back, and we were happy to see this one was called George. After John in Australia, it looks like we'll need to hire two more in order to complete the band. We'll spare you the Beetles song references in this post though (well, apart from in the tenuous title. Sorry!).
It turns out poor ol' John had been a dated model, as George was smarter, cleaner, newer - and even had a TV in the back. It was utterly useless unless we were parked and connected to a power outlet, though, so the chances of using it were slim. But that's no bad thing.
After a slight drama when Apollo wouldn't accept our foreign Visa (eh?!) and then forgot to load the van with our picnic chairs and snow chains (God help us if we have to use the chains as we have no clue how!) we were finally on the road.
Bret had taken the lead in planning this road trip, deciding we should first head South along the coast towards a town called Dunedin - where sea lions and penguins can be spotted on the beach, and the student town offers lots of drinking and old Scot-inspired architecture. It was only a few hours from Christchurch, so seemed to be a great place for night one. That was until he browsed a photography book in the tourist i-site in Christchurch and saw a picture of a road between Lake Tekapo - in the centre of the South Island - and Dunedin. "We have to drive that road," he insisted.
Passing through a huge gorge, it did look beautiful. So we made the last-minute decision to head to Tekapo village, beside the lake, today - we would drive back to the coast, along the not-to-be-missed-road tomorrow. After the frustrations of Apollo, and then stocking up in a Woolworths supermarket, we were a good few hours behind schedule, so it was a little bit of a race to get there. But boy are we glad we were late.
Just as the sun began to set, we parked up beside the prettiest little church called Church of Good Shepherd and enjoyed views across the lake, and snow-capped Mount Cook behind it. We cannot begin to describe just how stunning the entire scene is, and no doubt tour buses come through here every day to enjoy the landscape. But at this time of year, in the early evening, there were no crowds at all allowing us to sit back and enjoy the moment all to ourselves.
After that, we headed around the corner to the main street in the village along the lakeside for a hotpot dinner at the local pub. With huge windows offering unobstructed views of the turquoise water and a backdrop of rolling hills and mountains outside, it was breath-taking. The word epic springs to mind.
Then for the matter of where to sleep.
We asked bar staff, who said we shouldn't park in the main town, but to head a mile or two out where there was a DOC campsite - a government site where campers can pull in and pop a few dollars in an honesty box. Great.
So after dinner we ventured out to find it, but after driving up and down the road we gave up. It had become so late; we had no choice to pull in to a large layby off a country lane and nervously bedded down there. But at lights out, we had a bit of a surprise… No, there was no tap on the door. But the sky lit up above us like nothing we'd seen before. . It turns out Tekapo is known as one of the finest spots on the planet to view stars. We had no idea at the time, but on this dark road in the middle of nowhere, we had a perfect view. So the day may have got off to a helter skelter start, but it did all come together in the end. But we think that's just another day in the life of a happy camper…. (sorry!!!)
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