New Zealand boun d - Christchurch

March 22/23 2010


Well no dramas with this leg of the adventure, despite a very exciting (rollercoaster) landing as we came in over the mountains we arrived in Christchurch. This is the main town/city right in the center of the South Island which only has a population of about a million people all tolled. Here we picked up our home for the next 3 weeks – a Britz camper van. This seems to be a very popular way to travel in N. Z. as you see them all over the roads and camper parks are more common than motels. And while a camper van sounds like sheer bloody luxury compared to what we carry on our average canoe trip, let me tell you that it is compact. The boys sleep in the upper bunk, a double bed/platform with about half a meter clearance (I’m not sure I could get my bottom up there). The main compartment (where the boys sit while we are driving) has our mini kitchen and also turns into our bed at night. At the foot of the bed is the ladder for the loft and the rest of the space is the driving compartment. Our tent has much more space than does the cmper. Everything is compact and well thought out except for one small problem – there is no trunk, like a car so what do you do with your luggage???? When you drive stuff slides all over so everything has to be secure – Mikey one of the first purchases we made was a bag of bungie- cords, invaluable! Driving is a challenge simply as signage, roundabouts and yielding to the right takes some getting used to.

We spent our evening and the next day at the Top 10 Holiday Park. A chain of these exists across the country and they cater to all manner of travellers. The boys loved the water slid, trampoline and the jumpy pillow – a huge inflated pillow in a sand pit that you can jump on until you throw up. We travelled into Christchurch for the afternoon to stroll the streets - everything here shuts up tight at 5:00 during the week. We stopped at a beautiful pub along the Avon River and had our best meal of the trip, local seafood and beef cooked on a hot stone at our table – fabulous. Duncan is in heaven as the fresh seafood here is wonderful. Poor Connor has picked up a dilly of a cold and can barely breathe. The weather here is much like ours in September, warm during the day and crisp at night, the leaves are just starting to turn but there are loads of flowers still in bloom. Tomorrow it is off to Mount Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand for some real camping!