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Published: April 18th 2009
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We know a lot of people who have been excited about reading about our time in NZ, so we shall endeavour to describe as best we can. Already, only a few days in, we think that that may be quite a challenge as everything is so obscenely, surreally, epically beautiful. Because of this, there may be a few hundred scenery pictures over the coming weeks..... but here's our attempt;
13th April 2009
We woke for the last time in our comfy bed in our Sydney suburb - with Rikki at our feet (we fear we may have given him a few bad habits?!) - and dragged ourselves down to the first ferry of the day, enroute to the the airport. Our flight was at 0950, and we made it across the Tasman Sea in good time. The flight path into Christchurch is amazing, taking you over the southern alps and giving great views of Mt Cook and the surrounding landscape. It was a perfectly clear day, which was great...until we hit some pretty heavy turbulence and we bounced (almost out of our seats at times) our way down to the runway, sweaty palmed. Customs here are pretty strict, but we
Christchurch
DC and Big Fat Neville, "he's a beaut!" passed with flying colours and were aboard a bus to Christchurch in no time. We found ourselves a nice little hostel (based on Fawlty Towers, bizarrely) and were swiftly set upon about hiring transport. We had been pretty tardy in hiring a vehicle, which actually turned into a good thing as we were offered a great deal, and arranged a viewing of our potential home, for the next morning. Christchurch is based around its cathedral and square, so we spent some time in the quiet surrounds before eating and heading back, ready for the real travelling to start.
14th April 2009
We sprang awake, both excited and nervous about going to view our home for the next few weeks. We instantly fell in love with 'Big Fat Neville', our campervan of choice, and were allowed to drive him home with us. Big Fat Neville (its a registration no. thing) is a 2-Berth camper, with built in cooker, fridge etc, and at night he turns into a nearly comfortable double bed! Who'd have thought!? After exploring Christchurch on foot a bit more, we decided to give BFN his first test; we had been told that if we could drive the
Christchurch
Christchurch, from Summit Road on Port Hills Drive. local scenic route of Port Hills Drive, we would be able to handle anything in NZ. The route is a 46km road that takes you high above Christchurch and Lyttleton, along the coast with panoramic views of both towns, and the endless looking ocean. A huge bonus of having your own vehicle is the ability to stop whenever and wherever there is a view. Which is pretty much everywhere! What should have been an hour drive, lasted well over two hours. Back in Christchurch, we made the less scenic drive to Pak'n'Save Supermarket where we filled up with various local delicacies (beans, pasta) for the next few days.
15th April 2009
After enjoying the final sleep in a real bed we dragged ourselves up and out and began the process of loading up Nev. It took longer than we had anticipated and after numerous bumps to the head, we were ready to go. It took us 30 minutes to get out of the city and on to Route 1 heading south down the coast. We started the day debating over who would get to drive Nev first as we were both eager to man the wheel. As the journey
turned inland however, the debate turned to who would be passenger as there is just so much to take in. It's physically impossible to drive (in a safe manner at least) and take in the vastness of what surrounds you; long plains of green and yellow, only interrupted by golden and auburn trees, sat in front of steep, snow-tipped mountains. The sky lines were magnificent. Our aim for today was to reach Lake Tekapo - 3 1/2 hours from Christchurch. We arrived in good time, overtaken at regular intervals - by vehicles such as coaches, lorries and horse trailers. We think that a boat may have passed us too at some point, but we were to busy enjoying the view to be ashamed! We parked up, inserted Nev to the mains and whipped on our jackets for a 'quick' walk to shake off the rustiness, up to Mount John summit. First, after a fair amount of time with no excercies, this walk turned out to be slightly harder than we had anticipated. Second, the views were immense and warranted some time spent in the coffee shop at the top, drinking hot chocolate and taking lots of photos. There is an
Lake Tekapo
On Mt. John summit optional onward walk from here which (feeling guilty about the hot chocolate) we decided to take. This led us down to the shore of Lake Tekapo for first hand views of the incredible jade waters, and took us back to the town. We continued on the the Church of the Good Shepherd (if any church could be described as cute then this is it!) in time for sunset before heading back to make ourselves some dinner.
16th April 2009
A quick review of our first night sleeping in Nev; cosy! Being on a camp site, we woke early to the sound of families packing up, and the gentle waves of Lake Tekapo. We clumsily packed away the bed, transforming our home back into a road worthy vehicle, and set off west toward Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park. The drive here took us past Lake Pukaki which managed to surpass the amazing Lake Tekapo for colour. Just indescribably jade/emerald/blue. We were beginning to become concerned about weather conditions as Big Nev was being blown about a bit driving along the coast, and as we reached Lake Pukaki lookout - which
should offer perfect views of the snow capped Aoraki/Mt Cook -
Lake Tekapo
Church Of The Good Shepherd. we could only see thick dark clouds. Unperturbed we carried on along the one-way road, the 55km to the camp site. By this point we were driving in heavy rain; when New Zealand does weather, it does it properly! On consulting the D.O.C (Department of Conservation), we were informed that both the rainfall, and the low visibility would remain for the next two days! Despite this we parked up, made a brew, and thought things out. Reluctantly, after an hour of pouring rain, we decided that we were here for too short a time to just be sat in our camper. So we headed back along the road we had travelled an hour previous, and watched as the sky turned from black to blue ahead of us, and checking the mirrors seeing that that dark cloud we had left was growing and growing. Its amazing how the weather can be so different in such a small area.
We drove south through Twizel, Omarama and other crazy named places until we reached the small town of Cromwell. Although only an hour from Queenstown, we decided that we had driven enough for one day, and so parked up for the night. Cromwell
has little significant about it, other than the surroundings, but - and we don't know the science behind this, if there is any?! - the sky here is just different! The sunset was incredible.
We've had a great first few days here, we've both said that it feels to us like "England on illegal substances"! Everything is bigger, brighter and bolder. We are very excited about what else this country has in store for us.
Love to all
D and H
xxx
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Carol Coles
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Hi both. Still seems as though you are having a great time. Still all really envious Love Mum,Dad, Martyn and Kelsey xx