Leaving Thailand, Hello New Zealand.

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Wednesday 4^th January 2012



Bangkok Airport



Thought i would jot a few lines down while waiting for our connecting flight to Singapore. The last few days have been a bit of a daze really down to a lot of travelling and lack of sleep.



We left Koh Samui on Monday midday, being picked up in the shuttle transit van and taken to the ferry port of Nanon. I will add at this point that for the previous 24hrs it had rained heavily and continued to do so as we disembarked at the ferry pier.



The whole procedure of travelling in Thailand is all a bit haphazard to say the least, today was going to be no exception. Now you would think a booking office would be situated close to the pier and everyone would form an ordely line and await their turn to process your ticket. Ha Ha, not here. Tickets are obtained from a shop across the road and after battling with a few hundred other passengers you are finally presented with little coloured stickers each of which denotes your next stage and allegedly your time of travel. From here you make your way back across the road, still pi**ing down and take your place in an open sided large shelter. Here we waited for approx two hours passing the time people watching and chatting to other equally confused back packers.



There was some very wholesome catering available which where unfortunately positioned outside the toilets. This operation seemed to be run by a Thai family who happened to of pitched up and made this area their home not wanting to miss an opportunity to make a Bart or two. I suspected this by the fake leather Sofa and TV that sat in the corner along with grubby looking children watching cartoons. Oh and they even financed this home by charging 10Brt to use the loo.



The catering appeared to be a choice of rice or rice washed down with the usual Chang Beer. As we had our own supplies for the trip neither of us were tempted.



At long last our boat sailed in and we made our way down the pier in the tropical downpour that now raged, soaking us and our bags completely. The ferry was crammed full of people, to many for the seats available. Sue was lucky and was offered a seat by a young traveller who felt she deserved as she was an older person, no such respect for me so i found a seat on the steps up forward under the fore hatch which considering the safety aspect was a good place. Unfortunately, with a high swell and a head sea the water was soon rapidly dripping through the hatch seals and an uncomfortable 1 ½ was spent huddled on the top step reading a soggy book to while away the trip.



We arrived unscathed and disembarked in another torrential downpour and made our way to the bus stop where surprisingly there was more complete chaos. A number of buses came and went with us eventually jumping aboard one going to Surit Thani, about 50 k inland . This was quite a journey with lots of severe flooding along the way. Many houses had water covering the ground floors and the roads where a good 2 feet under. The Thai’s though appeared to take it all in their stride with many smiling faces along the way.



Another long wait and mayhem awaited us at the Surit Thani bus stop before we jumped aboard our final bus to Bangkok at around 21.00hrs only 2 ½ hrs late. Now, although this was supposed to be a VIP bus the promised TV in the head rest and massaging seat appeared to be missing. What a surprise!



Ten hours, two stops, and an aching back and knee later we finally arrived in Bangkok and were conveniently dropped off about 2 mins from the Kohsan Road, our destination.



The day was spent catching up on sleep, souvenir shopping, booking Airport transfers and eating before crashing out for the night.



An early start today, up at seven and aboard the mini bus transfer to the Airport at eight for the 40 minute trip. Farewell Bangkok, we both enjoyed our time with you and will come back someday.



The flight to Singapore was pretty straightforward apart from the rather heavy landing at Changi and the effect it had on my startled Chinese neighbour who grabbed my knee in fright.



Another wait of three hours waiting for our flight to NZ soon passed and we again boarded and enjoyed a good flight to Christchurch being pampered by our Thai hostesses who kept producing meals, snacks and drinks endlessly.



An impressive arrival to NZ saw us fly in over the spectacular Southern Alps before landing at Christchurch International. Now, i had pictured a huge complex similar to Change and was quite taken aback when we walked into arrivals and found ourselves at Norwich Airport! In size not name.



We were greeted by a helpful immigration officer who quickly processed our arrival and we emerged into the warm Christchurch sunshine to wait for the local Shuttle bus to our Hostel in Chester St East. Unfortunately it didn’t arrive so we aborted and took the public transport bus instead which could only take us to within five blocks of our hostel due to large area’s being closed off due to the recent Earthquake damage.



A twenty minute walk through the suburbs and we found our hostel and where shown to our room, this turned out to be a little house down the street which we were sharing with a very nice young couple from Denmark. After settling in, Sue spent the afternoon tipping the contents of our bags into the washing machine while i negotiated and test drove a camper van around the block. The idea behind this was that we buy our own second hand van which would keep our overnight stay costs to a minimum. The van was ok but a little basic and at $4.500 a little expensive for its age, mid 90s. Sue took a long look and politely declined this mode of transport so the hunt was on for a hire car instead. Half hour on the hostel PC and i had found a local car hire company that would supply an NZ Ford Focus plus inter island ferry crossings for a third of the van price so the deal was done with us due to take possesion later that day.



We also bought a complete camping set from our Danish friends who were due to fly home the following day and were now set up for our Island adventure.



While waiting to collect the car we took a stroll around the area and down to the local Dairy, or as we know the corner shop. From the moment we landed in C/church the city had a feeling of desolation and had lost its soul as a result of the Earthquake, all very sad. At times walking through the deserted streets with its timber clad buildings, some of which are in ruins with the rest standing empty due to structural dangers it resembled something from the Wild West. All that it needed was some tumble weed blowing about.







The complete city centre which is approx the size of Ipswich Town centre was cordoned off with fencing and is a no go zone unless you’re a member of one of the many demolition teams working.



The time came to collect the car and we were collected and taken to the depot on the edge of the city where we completed the paper work. Just as i signed the final document the building begun to shake. We were experiencing our first earthquake after shock. Nothing very serious according to the locals, only a 2+ on the scale.



First port of call with the car was the local supermarket to stock up with supplies then out for a drive to the coast to practice Sue’s map reading. Help!!



Arrived back about seven and met our new house mates, a couple from Holland this time who were very nice. A good chat over a cup of T before they went to the pics and Sue and I had supper, after which i caught up with blog writing and Sue packed bags and baked cakes.



Another tremor felt mid evening and again woken up at 1.30am by quite a powerful tremor which made the room shake and bathroom tiles fall off the wall. Told next day it was 4.5 on the scale which i understand is fairly high.



Anyway the time had come to leave Christchurch and we said our goodbyes and drove out of the city calling in on the way to a discount camping warehouse to buy sleeping bag, cooker and bits.



We headed off on Route 75, our destination Akaroa which sits on the Banks Peninsula. After driving through some flat country side for about 20k we found a tourist route which took us up and through some spectacular mountains visiting the likes of Birdlings Flat, Little River, Pigeon Bay along the way.



After the depression of Christchurch this was a taste of the NZ i had been told about, bring it on.



About 17.00 we found a camp site overlooking the little French orientated town of Akaroa, French because this is where French settlers first landed in 1840, not that long ago!



Managed to get the tent up and inflate the mattress in approx 15 mins then enjoyed a cold swim in the very shallow pool. Spent the evening wandering the town which was delightful before having supper later at camp.



This morning dawned and we were up and ready to leave for 09.30. Completed the scenic route and found ourselves heading South on route 1 towards the coastal town of Timaru.



Driving is extremely easy here as roads are dead straight, not a corner for miles and the traffic is very light, even on the major routes.



To keep my driving to a minimum we tend to stop every hour or so to look around, drink coffee ect. Our first stop today was at Rakaia to top the tank up then the little town of Ashburton for coffee and the biggest slice of carrot cake i have seen, let alone eaten. Check out the picture. A little later we took advantage of a free cup of coffee for drivers stop before arriving at Timaru.



I had intended to stay around here but after an hour or two looking around we decided to push on and find a camp out of town. Timaru was ok and had down at the water front a lovely leisure area with lots of green space, board walks across the dunes, fun fair, rose garden, large walk through aviary and fitness trail. The town also had in its midst a large dock area with the majority of vessels being large trawlers.



After a couple of aborted attempts we found an ideal camp site called Waitaki Waters Holiday Park and where greeted by a young guy running the place. It’s a little site set about 800 yards from the shore line and is very popular with fisherman, rod and line, who come to catch the large Salmon that are plentiful here.



The tent was up in record time, 10 mins and after a chill out we were off to the village for Fish n Chips NZ style, Blue Cod to be precise, very nice too.



Probably going to spend an extra day here for some hiking or tramping as its known here then push on further south on Tuesday.



That’s it for now, all the best,



J

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