Christchurch - Queenstown (Day 69 - 74)

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Day 69

We had a really early start as we had to leave for the airport at around 04.30! We sat in the airport eating some breakfast amused listening to the announcements that another flight seemed to be missing most of it's passangers! Our flight was fine and we got another breakfast as we flew over the snow capped mountains of New Zealand and landed in Christchurch. With New Zealand three hours ahead (so 12 ahead of the UK) it was now the afternoon and we headed to our hostel, The Old Country House. We had a quick explore around the local area and were pleased with our fish and chip dinner which was a bargain and also very yummy!

Day 70

We had a walk into the city centre and tried to find some warm clothes (with no avail!) and saw some of the after effects of the recent earthquake. Although prices here aren't that cheap we grabbed another bargain with our lovely two course lunch at a Scottish restaurant called the Highlander on the main square. We climbed the catherdral tower, which was a very narrow spiral staircase, and were rewarded with a nice view of the city centre. We later had a walk along the River Avon and enjoyed a drink in an English pub (apparently Christchurch is more English than England?!). In the evening we watched a Maori show called Maui, the Art of the Maori Haka, which involved traditional singing and dancing. Back at the hostel we chatted to an English couple who had just finished travelling around New Zealand in a campervan and they gave us some hints and tips!

Day 71

We were excited and nervous as we headed to collect our Britz campervan. After the introductions and paperwork we got going.... very slowly at first as Brett adjusted to a bigger vehicle - we did a huge circle around the city as Brett was a bit nervous about turning into junctions! Once we found our feet we headed to a small town called Lyttelton and had a bite to eat before driving towards Akaroa (an old French settlement). The views were amazing as we drove along empty, winding roads. After a trip to the supermarket for some supplies we found a campsite (staying at the holiday parks has turned out to be more expensive than we were expecting!) and enjoyed our first 'home-cooked' dinner.

Day 72

We had a look around Akaroa in the morning and then headed south towards Lake Tekapo (Brett was now a pro at this driving malarky!). We crossed the longest bridge in New Zealand and stopped for lunch at a park in Ashburton. We arrived at Lake Tekapo later that afternoon and although the weather wasn't great we were amazed at the turquiose colour of the lake and the back drop of the snow-capped mountains - it was a spectacular sight! We decided to head to Lake Pukaki which was nearby and found a secluded spot at the lakeside and behind some trees for the night where we did our first freedom camping, hoping that we wouldn't be woken and told to move on in the middle of the night. We were surprised to find that the sun didn't set until late and once dark the sky was full of the most stars we have ever seen!

Day 73

Despite waking up freezing cold, looking out onto Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook (New Zealand's highest mountain) whilst the sun was rising was incredible! After breakfast we headed further south and went on a scenic drive through the mountains and stoped at Cromwell for a pub lunch before checking out the Old Cromwell Precinct which is basically a replica of the town which is now underwater. Shortly after continuing our journey we stopped off at Roaring Meg, a fast flowing river and a great sight.... even though it is a power station! We arrived in Arrowtown (an old gold mining town) later that afternoon and after finding a campsite we discovered that we had no water supply in the Campervan (despite Brett 'filling' up the water tank) so we had to contact Britz who advised us to go to Queenstown to get it fixed in the morning....

We decided to walk into the town where we had a drink, played some pool and then took a walk down to one of the Lord of the Rings sights nearby - which wasn't the easiest to find and we're still not sure if we found it or not!!

Day 74

.... before leavng the campsite we thought we'd have one more attempt at filling up the water tank.... it worked, we didn't have a problem, we just didn't fill it up properly - we're so glad we didn't get to the garage!! Before leaving Arrowtown we had a look around the old Chinese settlement which was really interesting. We made the short journey to Queenstown, continued our search for warm clothes around the shops and ate lunch at a little French cafe. We decided to book some of our activities for the next couple of days and went into a travel agents in one of the hostels. We quickly booked a tour for the following day and ended up booking Hang Gliding for 6pm that evening! Both excited and nervous we spent the next hour looking for gloves before arriving at our pickup point only to be told that it was too windy to do it so we had to book it for another day! On a bit of downer we headed to Lake View Holiday Park and made some dinner which we ate looking over Lake Wakatipu and the mountains.

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