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Published: October 7th 2007
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Nat and Ryan
On his local beach! very nice. Flight to Christchurch We left our Formule 1 airport hotel at 5am for a morning flight to Christchurch. There was hardly anyone around the airport so early in the morning and it was a good job as we were ages at check-in as they were training new staff. Emirates proved to be a fantastic airline, with a roomy 2-4-2 layout and only 90 odd passengers, so we didn't have to draw straws about who sat next to a smelly stranger. We had brunch mid-flight and being a relatively short flight, we soon landed. It definitely felt a bit cooler in Christchurch than Australia!
Picking up the Campervanp We were a bit dubious about how smoothly picking up the van would progress, considering the farce we had trying to get a final quote with all the insurance details from the inappropriately named Ezy Rentals. We called them when we arrived and they arranged to pick us up in a few minutes. We hung around the designated pick-up point for ages and we eventually approached an unmarked bright green minibus to see if they were our Ezy pickup. The cheeky cow said to Jase "What? Have you just been stood there
looking at me?". Charming! Turns out Ezy is going through a re-branding exercise as Jucy rentals (I wonder why??) hence no signage on the van. A dopey guy went through the necessary paperwork and showed us how to use snowchains and then we got to meet the van. Our Cruisa campa was a great little Toyata Hiace with extra head height and it had all the essentials for happy camping. We drove around the corner to Christchurch's Top 10 Holiday Park and went shopping. Ryan had received our email announcing our arrival so he called us up and said we could stay around his for the next few days. Great stuff!
The Antartic Experience We had a fantastic morning exploring the Antartic Centre, finding out about the expeditions to the South Pole which depart from Christchurch. We loved the Hegglund ride round an off-road track, bumping over the steep terrain, weird cambers and fake crevaces! Mike, our driver from North Wales, surprised us at the end with a float through a muddy pool to finish - a great amphibious little vehicle! We enjoyed meeting the Little Blue Penguins who had all been rescued due to injury and we
had lots of fun in the Antartic Storm Simulator!
Meeting up with Nat & Ryan Our mates from the Africa Overland trip met us just outside the Antartic Centre and we almost couldn't recognise Ryan minus his huge beard! He looked years younger! Ho ho! We drove to his parents' place at Wood End Beach on Stalkers Road (great name!) and met Milo the cute cat. Then we wrapped up to walk through a pine forest down to the deserted beach.
As Nat was working the next day, she kindly volunteered to drive us into the city for a meal and a few drinks. We went to Lone Star where Rach had New Zealand lamb (it would be rude not to) and Ryan had the biggest pile of bbq ribs ever! Then we had some real ale from a microbrewery pub that actually served pickled eggs and pork scratchings (but don't worry we didn't scoff any).
Out for a ride Nat was working on Sunday so Ryan took out for the day. We drove through Rangiora and stopped off at the Waimakariri Gorge to watch the impressive jetboats do their practice runs blasting up the
river. Ryan saved us the Christchurch gondola fee and drove us up the winding hairpin bends, following suicidal cyclists flying down the hills, to see the sheep and walk a bit along the Crater Rim walkway at the top, with stunning views of Lyttleton Harbour and Christchurch city below us. We refreshed ourselves with shandies and raspberry cokes at the rather bizarre Wunderbar which was decorated with the most curious objects, including a scary multiple dolls head lampshade!
Tennis Tournament We headed home and picked up Nat and some tennis rackets to commence the much anticipated tennis match between Ryan and Jase. Nat and Rach watched from the sidelines with stubbies of Speights and joined in after the serious stuff was over. The final score was 6-4 to Ryan! Poor Jase. We went back to Ryan's and Nat cooked us a delicious dinner of schnitzel followed by the most scrummy apple crumble topped with macademia chocolate chunks.
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