Christchurch

As soon as we landed in New Zealand we were impressed, everything just seemed to go smoothly. We had picked up our new campervan and were driving around within the hour. We spent the first evening just getting familiar with our van and the city. We decided to name our new van Elton as he stands out in a crowd; he also looks like a man yet has many girly qualities, such as the campest horn we have ever heard. Elton is not only a lot bigger than Shrek, he also has electric, room to stand, a bigger fridge and heating. All of which we now treat as luxuries as we sent the past 7 weeks getting dressed lying down. When we get home I don’t think we will ever take for granted the ability to put washing in the machine while making a cup of tea and sitting in fount of the TV without freezing our arses off or getting rained on. Anyway we LOVE Elton and had a good feeling we were also going to LOVE New Zealand.

On our first full day in Christchurch we went and saw what was left of the CBD after the earthquake. The devastation that the earthquake caused was far more devastating than we ever imagined. Even a year and a half on, the city is like a ghost town with the majority of streets “no go areas” due to being a safety hazard. Walking along the road it was like being on a film set seeing high rise building with windows blown out, shops left abandoned and a cathedral which had crumbled to rubble. 

During our travels in New Zealand we both knew that we wanted to watch a game of rugby, all be that probably for very different reasons. We wasted no time and on our 3^rd night in the country we got tickets to see The Crusaders Vs The Bulls at Christchurch temporary stadium the AMI. With the Crusaders playing a handful of the New Zealand world cup winning team it was a great game to watch and unsurprisingly the Crusaders won.

A few people had recommended a visit to a small French town called Akora which is about a 90 minute drive from Christchurch. We took them up on their advice and were blown away with the scenery. We drove through mountains to arrive at this quaint harbour town with its beautiful restaurants and rather gorgeous ice cream parlour. For our journey back to Christchruch we took the scenic route which included a drive on Summit Road. As we looked up at the mountains from the harbour we could see a very faint line running through the top of the mountains “That can’t be a road surely” we thought – o but it was. Before we knew it we were heading up a very steep mountain, this was a serious test for poor Elton who definitely struggled but he made it. When we got to the peak of the first mountain we faced a road which lead down to a bay, this peak was so high we were above the clouds. As we looked out we could see the sea then the clouds then the sky above, it was unlike anything either of us had seen before. The drive continue to amaze us with clouds pouring over the top of the peaks and views to the bays which turned Jonny’s tummy inside out.  

It is fair to say our first impressions of New Zealand were that is was incredible. We instantly loved the people and the scenery was just breath-taking. If the rest of our travels are half as beautiful as this we are in for a treat.