New Zealand - Day 1

1st February 2010 Wednesday

We had to be up at the airport really early.

Our 9am flight to Christchurch meant we had to be in Tullamarine at 7:30 at the latest.
Trev volunteered to take us up, even though it meant an early start for him. We were cutting it fine as usual thinking the traffic would be light, which it was, until we got quite near to the airport. Then it thickened up a bit and the going went from fast to a crawl.
However, we made it. The starting gate to another adventure lay open before us. Oh, and yes the flight was delayed for forty minutes.

Nicola had told me Jetstar, our carriers were a bit like easyjet, on steroids maybe. The people were all very pleasant and it made the 3-hour journey more bearable.

It was a nice morning when we left Melbourne and the captain had told us it would be a pleasant 26° today in Christchurch.

After getting through the rigorous eco security and normal security and customs, it was a nightmare because five flights had landed about the same time. You’d be forgiven for thinking the brains behind air traffic control and all things avian, somebody would come up with the means to spread flights throughout the day rather than bunching them all together. It even happens at Belfast City. I really hate all that bull, we walked into a bright sunny day with a sky as blue as sapphires.

We caught a taxi and you’d never guess, but he was non-kiwi. He was a Japanese chap that had got a speeding ticket the week before and it really upset him. Yes and I really bothered.
So onward to our first meeting with our next home on wheels, we’d be living in it for ten days and it needed to be good.

The taxi got us there in the end, the street number, and this is an area not unlike Dargan in Belfast, said 73 on the email I was clutching, but 73 was a tyre outlet. We needed a body and engine to go with the tyres, or it wouldn’t be fun. The wee taximan jumped out and ran across the premises and discovered we needed 74. Even though I’d seen all the blurb on their website, I couldn’t help thinking I’d given some rogue a lot of money for nothing.

Up the road a bit on the other side we found Adventure Campervans.

The van was similar to the Britz one we had in Oz, although this ones fridge was solar powered; the hot water was heated by the engine and stored in an eleven-litre tank. The e shower room had a sink; the living area had a table, the kind on a retractable post. The table formed part of the not very comfy double bed, lots of storage and an extractor van and aircon front and back and that was about it.

They operate an empty tank policy, meaning there’s enough fuel to get you on your way, the petrol station is nearby, return the vehicle empty or as near as you dare. Ours was a quarter full. I think this is the best way.

Nicola had suggested staying very near to Christchurch for the first night. I’d an idea of the ground we needed to cover so a compromise was found. We filled up with diesel at $1.11 litre, and put shopping centre into the sat nav hired for the purpose of saving frayed nerves. We found a big mall and bought enough supplies to last three days. It was at this point we found a fault in Tom Tom the sat nav man. His battery was flat and the connecting cable was sloppy and didn’t fit to well. We were distraught; I think that’s another word for peed off and cross. Over two thousand kilometres of driving in front of me and no flippin sat nav. M phoned the company, a very expensive phone call. Turned out the person she spoke to couldn’t help because he was in North Island we were on South Island. So very unhelpful, no Christmas card for him! I realized the lead I had bought at Donnington market for £3 would be our saviour, halleluiah baby.

I had spent hours trawling the Internet and couldn’t decide if it would be better to start in a northwestern direction or a southerly one. A road sign for Hanmer Springs made the decision for us. Our first leg would be a mere 137 clicks. About ninety minutes away. Mind you, when you’re new to a country you drive a bit slower in case you miss something. This is especially so here.
The drive up to this Alpine resort was lovely.

Chalk and cheese in comparison to Oz.

Past huge flocks of sheep, enormous herds of cattle, rolling hills, fast and slow flowing rivers, disgorging their creamy blue or brackish brown contents into the many lakes dotting this area.
Possums posthumously posing by the roadside.
Passing over the really oddly but highly practical designed bridges.

Very little traffic.

A drivers dream.

Tom-Tom found our first campsite for us. A very friendly husband and wife team runs it. Very eager to help.

Three sides of the Alpine Village Holiday Resort are forested and the fourth has a wall of mountains. The mountains run north to south and would mean if we were up early enough, and it was a fine morning we’d see the sun climb up over the mountain.

Tired as we were it would have to be ham or beef rolls for dinner washed down with our first glass or two of NZ wine. Can’t remember what the wine was. M enjoyed it so it must have been wet!

That was our first day over. Altogether very pleasant, even better I think, than what I anticipated. We travelled 221 kms.

We made the bed up, an easy task made simpler by opening the back doors and me outside and M in. The task took no time at all, it took a great deal longer to get used to the rather firm mattress. Having said that, sleep came quickly even though it was not even ten thirty!