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Published: November 17th 2012
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For the rest of the trip around New Zealand we had hired a campervan in order to see as much as we could. Due to some complicated booking and pricing systems we had to pick up our campervan from Christchurch. This meant a 7 hour bus journey from Queenstown starting at 8.30. This did not turn out to be a particularly difficult journey, due mostly to the stunningly beautiful scenery. With the right songs on the I pod it felt like watching a movie with a dramatic soundtrack. By the time we arrived at our little hostel in Christchurch it was late afternoon. So we went to the shop, made some tea and watched some tv before bed, hopefully our last dorm experience for a while (and a fancy one at that, no bunk beds!). The centre of Christchurch is apparently still closed after the two large earthquakes, which would explain the lack of hostels, but we didn't go to the centre this time so we'll have to wait till we come back through in a week or so.
We got a shuttle bus over to the campervan depot the next morning and picked up our new home. If we
are honest we had been looking forward so much to just having our own space, however small. I know it is not a bad problem to have, but we were pretty sick of not being able to cook much for ourselves due to constantly moving and having nowhere to store things. So we set ourselves up the best we could in our new home. We learned the last time that the only way to manage the tight space is to be as organised as possible, so instead of the usual bag explosion we unpacked as fully as possible!Sarah had helpfully given us a 10 day itinerary to guide us in our trip, and thankfully this involved nice short drives of mostly 2-3 hours. The first stop on this trip was Hanmer Springs. The drive there was yet again picturesque, but in a different way. This time gently rolling hills and vineyards as well as farms growing everything from apples to avacados. Hanmer springs itself was a tiny little town with only a handful of cafe's and hotels built around geothermal hot springs. As this was the main attraction, we went to visit. This included several hydrotherapy style pools of varying
temperatures, and a it cold pool (and lazy river technically for the kids but a lot of fun for semi grow ups too!). Unfortunately during our visit, all but one of the geothermal pools was closed, but it was quiet enough for this not to be too much of a problem. We also found a voucher for a free private pool, which was brilliant as we basically got a private hot pool overlooking the garden for 30mins. In the end we could not take the combination of really hot day and really hot pool anymore and headed back to the van. After this we had our first BBQ of the trip and made the most of the weather. As part of the deal on our campervan, we we given a free portable DVD player, which due to our pact to save money and not drink for the first week in the campervan turned out to be invaluable for our evenings entertainment! The next day we were heading to Westport and Punakaki on the west coast. This involved traveling over the Lewis pass, which provided us with stunning mountain views on yet another beautiful sunny day. We stopped in Westport for
some lunch, and parked up on a rocky outcrop to do so. This is when we discovered how windy it was! The outcrop was very narrow and James was turning the van round to park up, having to put his head out the window to check the space at the back, his sunglasses flew off his head and into the sea never to be seen again! We were fairly concerned the van might be blown off the edge of the rocks, so ate up quickly and were back on our way. We had decided to stay the night at Punakaki, as since we are staying in and being sensible, we don't have much need for big towns right now! When we arrived at Punakaki we parked up in a lovely peaceful campsite right near the sea, and went out for a 3 hour walk along the river and through the forest, returning finally to the coast to view the Punakaki pancake rocks. Excitingly named because of their resemblance to layer upon layer of pancakes. It took a bit of imagination to be honest. Soft layers of rock eroded between layers of hard rock leaving the pancakes, the photo is probably
clearer than this quick description. We had a lovely walk in the sun, and have been really enjoying being more active and seeing so much beautiful scenery in New Zealand. By the end of our walk however, he wind had really got up, meaning we couldn't really sit outside any longer, so we went into the camper for a night of cooking and cards! Oh how we've changed, exciting stuff eh?
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