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Published: March 11th 2009
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Since our last publication there have been many developments in our adventure. First of all we had to get up extremely early for our morning flight to Christchurch. Checking in at the airport was extremely easy and at no point did we have to show any form of identification. The plane journey itself consisted of a cult gathering, free wine gums and Julia sleeping and dribbling most of the way. Anyway, we checked into a hostel that I think was run by the Russian maffia, as the bloke in charge had a vocabularry consisting of about 27 words.
While in Christchurch we saw a flyer for what we thought to be a very reasonably priced campervan. It was old(er than us) but the mileage was relatively good and it would only take 7 weeks for it to pay for itself in accomodation. So anyway, we contacted the owners, had a test drive and checked it all out, and then decided to put a deposit down for it as we were still waiting for out cash to come from the UK. Fast forward a few days and "Joey" was ours.
Road Trip
We decided to immediately go for a
road trip and headed off to Akaroa, which is a little town on the harbour about 1 1/2 hours drive from Christchurch. Everything went fine for our first trip and we saw some amazing scenery and loads of sheep. Akaroa itself is kind of quiet so we just stayed one night (In Joey).
Following this we thought we should head over to Arthurs Pass which is right in the middle of a load of mountains. Julia drove most of the way so I got to have a good look out at all of the amazing views. Once we got to Arthurs Pass (Where we were originally going to stay) we decided that actually with just one shop, one bar, and a load of parrots, that this place was not very interesting once you have spent one hour there, so decided to drive further onto Greymouth. we found this to be the ghetto of New Zealand so swiftly continued back to the West Coast (Greymouth is on the East Coast). After about 10 mins drive we pulled up and set up camp for the night in a picnic area.
Second 'Joey' morning and we were eager to get back
on the road to Hamner Springs, so after breakfast we set off once again. However two long trips was pushing it for our Joey, and he started to overheat. After a little wait and a severe attack of sandflies we discovered that he just needed a little drink of water and we were off again in about one and a half hours (after nearly causing a crash when this old lady in a campervan pulled over to help us, and almost tipped her van).
We finally arrived in Hanmer Springs and after our attack we decided a clean bed with running water was a must. So we checked into a B&B called Rosies, lovely place. Next morning we went into the thermal pools and its was awesome, really hot day so sunbathing was also possible. The only draw back is that because of all the sulpher it stunk of rotton eggs in the warmest pools. (41C)
The rest of out time in Hanmer consisted of staying in a Motel car park, eating scotch pancakes with some ducks and a spot of jet boating (Very fast boat travelling 1 ft away from cliff faces). We also had the time
for a race round a maze and some mini-golf. Dan won obviously. Unfortunately as Hanmer is a holiday resort often for kiwis it is also kinda expensive so we soon had to move on after only a couple of days, even though it is actually an awsome place and I would definately reccommend it to anyone in New Zealand.
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Emma
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Joey?! What a name for a campervan!lol now u just need to get some transfer flowers to stick on him (He can be a 'camp' camp-ervan!) :) Enjoyed looking at all your pics and seeing what you've been up to :) lots of love xxxx