Seals and the Haka

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Day 108-109
22nd-23rd December

This was our final day with the van and we needed to get to Christchurch to drop it off the next day. However when we had been driving to Westport we had spotted a sign for a Seal Colony, worth a look we thought, so before we started driving to Christchurch we stopped there for a bit. It was fantastic. It’s pup season at this time of year and down on the rocks was an enormous number of seals and loads of pups. So cute! We were there for ages watching them chilling out or playing in the surf. The rain started to close in though so after about an hour we decided to hit the road.

Now we loved that van, it was freaking awesome, but driving over Lewis Pass in the pouring rain was a totally nerve racking experience, it was seriously scary. There were lots of ascents and descents round twisty roads with total IDIOTS deciding that riding 1 foot off your back bumper when visibility was low is a totally smart idea. It took all my concentration to navigate that and I was exhausted when we finally got to the other side of the pass! Fortunately for my nerves, when we approached Christchurch the sun came out although the wind was very high and kept shoving the van all over the road, but at least I could see! However we were then to see another side of New Zealand, forest fires. Christchurch was in the middle of a heat wave and several fires had broken out, then with the high winds it had gotten pretty nasty. We knew it was happening before we got there as we’d seen it on the news, but we were not expecting to drive right past one! As we neared Christchurch we saw lots of cars, trucks etc parked by the side of the road, the road turning off the highway was closed and surrounded by police, ambulances and fire trucks. Circling overhead was a helicopter carrying water to dump on the fire. We pulled over for a bit to watch. The wind was going the opposite direction so we were safe but we were pretty close to the fire! Mad experience, it’s just something that never happens in England and it’s such a part of life over on this side of the world.

For our final night in the van, we stopped at the ‘Top Ten’ Campsite in Christchurch, and I went to the communal kitchen to cook us up some pasta and pesto. Apart from an incident where I went to drain the pasta and ended up tipping the whole lot in the sink and therefore had to start again, it was a nice meal and we opened our second bottle of Saint Clair to celebrate our awesome campervan experience. We would highly recommend this way of seeing New Zealand, we had a great time!

So we dropped off the van the next day at the Escape depot in Christchurch, we were sad! We’d already dropped off our things in our accommodation for the night, the City Oasis Motel so we didn’t have to worry about hauling our stuff around the city. So we went for a walk to check out Christchurch. It was a lovely day and being 2 days before Christmas we were really weirded out by all the Christmas decorations everywhere. It’s not meant to be hot at Christmas!! We also did a little Christmas shopping to get some silly things for Gillie and Simon. We were really looking forward to seeing them the next day, the last time had been our wedding day nearly 6 months before and as they live in Vietnam it might be a while before we can see them again!

We wandered down to the main square and were very lucky to see a group of Maori demonstrating the Haka! You can’t go to New Zealand and not see this incredibly famous performance and I can now say, yes it is intimidating! It was great to see and just very random! We rounded off our day in the city centre by having a couple of drinks in the main square while the sun was beating down and then headed back to the motel for some dinner.

The 23rd is my Grandpa’s birthday and I was determined to surprise him by phoning and wishing him a happy birthday. We had to wait until about 11pm so that he was awake and used the amazing skype to call England. Think we surprised both my Grandpa and Grandma! It was really lovely to talk to them and it made for a great end to the day. Hope you had a great day Grandpa! xx

Love Liz xxx

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