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Published: March 28th 2008
Why four days? Why not four months? Not an especially long story. Just frustrating. Still, having an adventure is what its all about. And this was an adventure, but just a mild one.
First some background as to why we only had four days... We had gone down to Christchurch to buy a van. Not just any van, but another VW kombi. This time a 1980 “wedge” pop-top camper. Not to replace the split, but to complement it. Something we can abuse without feeling so bad! The split needs a bit of time off, some TLC, and we dont want to stop camping. So along came the wedge. Or so we thought. The lady selling it was less than honest, and a good all round van turned into a good body and interior with a stuffed motor. Not that we found this out straight away, oh no, that would have been too easy. We checked out the van before buying it, and had a friend check it out for us before we even flew down to Christchurch. But still we missed it. The engine blew, number three piston, the day after we got it. We'd barely left Christchurch too! So
we got back in touch with the former owner and renegotiated. She didnt want the van back, but at that stage we were unsure what we wanted. Getting our money back would have been the safest deal probably, but we had formed a bit of an attachment to the kombi already. So the renegotiations ended up with us keeping the van for a bit less money and the former owners shipping it to Auckland for us. It was off to Frank at Eurofix to see exactly what was wrong. But the engine blowing left us in Amberley with no wheels. (At least, none that were going anywhere!)
Amberley is a nice enough town, has some lovely clean public toilets and some friendly people. We'd like to thank the guy at the mechanics for the engine compression test and use of internet for free. And the kid who sold us a packet of yummy chocolate mini guide biscuits. But a much bigger thanks goes to old friend Brendan Andrew, who drove out from Rangiora with a friend and towed us back to his workplace. We'd already been to Rangiora that morning, and really didnt want a return trip like this!
Still, the salvage company that was due to ship the wedge up to Auckland was in Rangiora - so pretty convenient really. But that still left us in Rangiora. So more thanks to Brendan for taking us back into Christchurch. This was all Southern Hospitality at its best.
Next problem was trying to get back home. Do we fly? Hire a car and spend a few days in Canterbury first? No. We phoned round the camper hire companies to find who needed a camper relocated to Auckland. Britz did, a six-berth monster, and we could pick it up that evening. It may have only cost us $5 / day (plus diesel), much cheaper than the >$200 / day usually charged. But we only had four days. Hence the four day dash. Well, we actually managed to get four days and an evening, by picking up the camper the night before for no extra charge. And amazingly, it was a VW too. A LT45. So we are still driving up to Auckland in a kombi, its just a monster one, and not ours.
The first evening we drove the inland road up to Kaikoura. Some awesome scenery. The hills
werent too brown, but the rivers were definitely low. They have these long bridges going over them, and there is only a small river to cross. There are vehicle tracks in the gullys, and people camping. It would have been a great place to stop for the night, but we were suddenly in a hurry. We got to see all the inland scenery in daylight, but it was dark by the time we found a campground outside of Kaikoura. For the first night in our new monster van we decided to find a campground with power hook ups, so we could find out what was where and how things worked. A novelty!
The next morning we headed into Kaikoura, stopping at the south end of the peninsular - Limestone Bay. We walked over the headland, going down to the beach at the first obvious opportunity. Its a fantastic walk, lovely views, even if that day was the only one in the entire trip with cloudy skies. We met very few people until we wandered down to the beach. We thought it would have been busier. Once down on the beach we could get closer to the seals. There were
a few there, along the first beach. But as we worked our way round headland after headland we came across more and more. And more and more people too. Till we finally came round the last headland, and found a car park full of campervans, people, and seals. Yup, the seals were there too. Round the corner, lazing around under trees and flax bushes, not bothered by the people walking past them. Those poor people though that didnt get any further that those seals. They missed out on heaps, seals and scenery. We walked back over the peninsular, again meeting very few people. We'd recommend the longer walk.
In Kaikoura, we missed out on the whale and dolphin trips, not enough time (and very expensive). I was gutted, that was the one thing I wanted to do this trip. But it wasnt to be. A good reason to come back again.
We headed off up the coast, stopping at two places at Ohau Point to see more seals. The first place was some kind of breeding ground / nursery. The stench was horrendous! But more seals than we'd seen before, and loads of pups. It was neat watching
the pups playing in large pools of water in the rocks. The more adventurous ones diving in and out of the surging water. There was also a short walk to a waterfall - tucked away in the bush. The guide book said that seal pups often go up to play there while the adults laze on the beach. There would have needed to have been more water in the stream for that.
We found an awesome DOC campground that evening. Marfells Beach - highly recommended! We parked just up from the beach, giving us the best view from the huge back window in the monster kombi.
The next morning we took of up the road into Blenheim, stopping to check out the salt lakes at Grassmere first. We couldn't get a tour, but we could see enough from the road.
In Blenheim, we toured some vineyards, Prenzels, and took a walk up the Wither Hills. The walk was hot and sweaty, but the wines and everything at Prenzels was yum.
The landscape around here is very dry. The hills are parched brown, the only green being the acres of grape vines. You've got to wonder how
people make a living from the land here. There is nothing for stock to eat. In a strange way, its very impressive, but then so are the rolling green hills of home. And they are more productive. It must be nice to live somewhere where it doesnt rain much though. Northland may be beautiful and green, but we have the rainfall (and constant humidity) to go with it.
We stayed in Seddon that night with a great couple of couch surfers, Angie and Grahame. We parked the monster kombi in their driveway and slept in that. They've got a bit of a house full of kids, and offer their caravan to couch surfers, but we'd might as well use the van.
We left slightly later than planned the next morning. Angies daughter had missed the school bus so we waited for her and dropped her off at school in Blenheim. We drove through to Havelock, a nice drive through green valleys, but mre impressive was the drive along Queen Charlotte Drive from Havelock to Picton. This was my first taste of the sounds, and has me wanting to come back and explore properly. The drive gave us great
views along Mahau Sound (Kaiuma Bay, Mahakipawa Arm) and part of the Queen Charlotte Sound (Grove Arm and Picton Harbour). More greenery too, a nice change from the brown of the Blenheim area.
We had a hour to spend in Picton before lining up for the ferry. Enough time to wander the town, find some supplies for lunch and check out the lovely split camper in the car park. Heading up for the Nationals in Cambridge?
Standing up on the top deck of the Interislander - the Kaitaki, formally the Pride of Cherbourg - looking back at the harbour, we saw our kombi - the wedge, not the monster - being loaded onto the Bluebridge ferry next to us. Looking sad on a low loader. What a surprise, it must have been driven quickly up from Rangiora. We left Sunday evening, and the kombi wasnt picked up till Monday lunch time. I suppose we did take our time slightly, sightsee a little, but still... Shame we werent on the same ferry. Oh well. At least we knew it was part way home!
The weather was stunning, the views awesome coming up the Queen Charlotte Sound and the
Tory Channel. Even crossing the Cook Strait was smooth. We were welcomed into Wellington Harbour by a large group of dolphins. They jumped and dived around the boat, fantastic. Didnt quite make up for missing them in Kaikoura though!
We more or less drove no stop from Wellington to Auckland. We got as far as just south of Bulls the first evening. Found a great free camp at the boat ramp at Tangimoana. Nice and quiet, right on the beach, or at least close to the beach, the tide was out when we got there and when we left, so we didnt see much of the sea! The next day, our last in the monster kombi, we drove through the middle of the north island, past Ruapehu, round Cambridge (where we should have been heading in the wedge) and into Auckland. We picked up the car and drove out to the airport. The Britz depot wasnt easy to find. We eventually found a cabbie heading past it who drove slowly enough for us both to follow him. Handing back the camper was much quicker and easier than picking it up, but we did manage to hit the rush hour
traffic heading back through Auckland. It was a slow slow drive. Finally clear of Auckland, we could head back home, to a pair of very excited puppies.
Not quite the holiday we planned, but still fun. In hindsight at least. At the time it was frustrating, but once the engine is fixed we'll have ourselves a decent solid van.
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