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Published: January 17th 2013
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Hi everyone, well we have had a busy start to our time in NZ lets fill you all in.
Christchurch So we arrived into Christchurch at 4.30am and hung around for a few hours waiting to catch a bus into town. We were both exhausted after travelling through the night. We met a lovely bus driver on the way into town who gave us lots of tips on places to visit. We eventually found our YHA hostel (after Laura walked us to the wrong one convinced she had booked the YMCA hostel haha) We were then told we could not check in til 2 so we both headed upstairs to the common area and fell asleep in the tv room for a few hours!! We eventually went in search of food at 1pm and quickly began to realise it would be no easy task. Our Lonely Planet book was published in 2010 and since the earthquakes in 2011 destroyed most of the city we found the book extremely irrelevant. Most of the cafes it mentioned were no where to be found. Streets it told us to walk up were now all closed off. All we could see around us
for miles was building sites with many high vis jackets walking all around us. When you look up you can see cranes, buildings with no roofs etc it was devastating to see. We stumpled upon the shopping centre which is known as the "Restart Mall" the mall is done out a bit like Kildare Outlet only all the shops are in huge containers. It was very strange. We walked the legs off ourselves today and eventually crashed into bed very early on our first evening after we'd had dinner in a place that was built in someones backgarden!! Madness!!
The next morning we took a bus to go pick up our campervan we were both very excited. Once we got all the paper work outta the way we were hitting the road and our NZ roadtrip was really beginning. We headed back into Christchurch and took a guided walking tour of the city. To hear the devastation the earthquake had caused first hand was hearbreaking. It affected so many. We then headed to the aviation museum where Ian was in his element chatting to the volunteers who worked their, taking pictures and reading EVERY thing hahaha!!
Akaroa The following morning we hit the road and headed for Akaroa in the Banks Peninsula, this area used to be the site of 3 volcanoes. This was a beautiful little town, we stayed in a holiday park just outside and we walked around the whole town right up to the lighthouse and back. It was very relaxing and the sun was shining!! Such beautiful scenery here! The following morning we woke to find a huge cruise ship in the bay which was really cool before we headed off back towards Christchurch.
Lake Takepo On our first long day of driving landed in the lovely Lake Tekapo and set up camp for 2 nights. While we were here we relaxed around the lake, went on lovely walks taking in the scenery then we went tubing down some hills and relaxed in the hot pools for the first time!! We really enjoyed our first few days in NZ we have both got used to driving the van and we are loving the freedom! Chef Byrne has been cooking up a storm making the most of our 2 hobs and the microwave haha
Hope your all keeping well!! Chat soon,
Ian & Laura xxx
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