We arrived in New Zealand, the south Island at around 10:30pm, this was after a 4 hr flight to Auckland and another 1 & a half hr domestic flight down to Christchurch. When we stepped outside the airport we felt like we were back home……it was dark & the cold crisp air was cold….very cold!! We looked around & everyone was wearing big overcoats, wooly hats, gloves, and scarves, it felt exciting!! A new chapter laid ahead.

We had booked a night in a hotel back in Wales last year because of our late flight, thinking it would be an airport hotel & we could pick our camper van up from there in the morning ….but we were wrong…... the airport transfer bus turned up to tell us it was the wrong hotel & that we would need to get a service bus… but we had no New Zealand dollars…….. so's after pleading poverty to the driver he told us he would take us half way and give us free bus passes into town where our hotel was…..bargin!! after walking about twenty minutes with all our stuff (by this stage in the trip it is seriously getting out of hand…look out sciatica…) when we arrived at our hotel..it felt sooo good, we left our bags with reception and headed out to get something to eat ……even if it was around midnight! But by now we just needed some normality! The streets of Christchurch felt so much like home & also a little magical… there was a huge cathedral in the centre of town that was beautifully lit up with a guy playing the recorder under the arched doorway it echoed for miles and just felt really well kinda Christmassy!! …..strange but true. We Headed back to the our room which was fabulous!! two double beds, Sky TV!! A shower with loads a freebies, tea, coffee, mini bar, dressing gowns and a balcony looking right over the over the central park…..we showered, changed ,pampered ourselves & watched Sky movies till 4 in the morning!! We hadn't seen Sky TV since Bali…sad as it wa…. it was really good to recharge after a long day of travelling. (We later found out it cost around $270 a night…….what!!…… you've got to have some luxury were going to be campers for the next 31 days!!)

Day 1

We headed straight back to the airport to pick up our camper!! Ohhhhh Exciting stuff!! After waiting for half an hour we were called & listed as VIP'S….. god knows why?? Maybe because of John our wonderful itinery guy at trail finders….who knows?? but we were lucky though because some people had been waiting over 3 hrs to pick up their vans…..Thank you Johnny!! we checked our new vehicle out…….ohhh it was big, (biggest thing weve ever drove!!) but really cute and very new!! After going through all the crucial important & boring bits we were away!! It was a VW manual 2 litre petrol van with cooking facilities a table and 2 beds cool enough for us!!….Donna drove firstly while Lucy map read......we headed back into town to sort out the phone, use the internet and do some shopping!! Parking the van was slightly more problematic than we thought, the bays were very short, small and the shopping centre car park very busy!! At first it was scary stuff!! After getting through the town and out of the car park in one piece we headed up the mountain on the advice of the guy at the camper place…we went right to the top!! Once we found a decent stop to park the views were breath taking a huge lake to the left and the city lights to the right of us!! There was also lots of snow and hailing wind!! We were just excited to be there!! We made ourselves some tea and set about planning our trip around the south Island, as each hour passed it got colder & colder 7 the van shook with the wind!! Although we laughed we realized that we had not been prepared for the cold weather (coming from Australia!!) we had every layer of clothing we owned on and still breathed smoke!! The ends of our noses, fingers and toes were numb, around midnight there was a knock at the camper van door, it scared us to death!! It was the police!! OMG we thought!! They were very friendly but warned us of a snow storm brewing and took us back down the mountain….as we drove we laughed so hard!! It was only our first night!!

Day 2

That first night was very cold!! Donna woke up in a puddle of water so first thing we headed straight back out to the airport to take the van back!! Not amused!! We were given another van but that again was full of water so we reported it…. again, the next thing we knew was they we're driving us around a bus!!! It was as wide as a transit and as long as a bus!! 6.6m long!! They'd given us a free upgrade with a shower & toilet!! You'd think we'd have been happy at this stage but we were worried about driving the thing, it was huge….lol …….after another half hours de briefing on the extras and being told it was diesel (which will be cheaper for us) we came around and were actually over the moon!! It made a lot more sense as were travelling for a month but it will also take some getting used to!!