Road to Nowhere

May 13
We left early to get to the Airport, where Ray waved us off.
Got on the flight to Christchurch. There was only one film showing on the plane so had no other option but to watch it (it was a chick flick!) We were served steak pie, which kind of
made up for it. The views from the plane coming into Christchurch were amazing - from left to right all we could see were mountains - Awesome!
After the hassle of getting through the rigerous customs in New Zealand we were greeted by Kea Campers and taken to our new home for the next 4 weeks - the campervan.
We straight away went and picked up $250 worth of grub and found a campsite. We then spent the next hour or 2 organising our new 10x6 room, cleverly laid out, but you can't get away from the fact the 2 of us are now sharing a transit van with no where to escape to - Uh Oh!!
To settle in James decided to put some ice cubes in the freezer, to his surprise when he turned the water on it burst out, hit the ice cube tray and rebound all over him. Hilarious!!

May 14
After waking up and finding our new home very cold, compared to our under floor heated flat at home, and our fridge still warm and those pesky ice cubes still being water. We took the Campervan back to the depot to get it sorted and then onto The Warehouse, to buy us some much needed warm clothes and waterproofs.
We decided to skip Christchurch town and concentrate on its scenery. We caught the Gondola (or Cable car to you and me) up the hillside where it gave us a magnificent view of an ancient volcanic area. During its past there has been 3 very large eruptions, creating this Lake surrounded by huge hills. We set off on foot for a lookout point half an hour away, didn't really find that one but carried on walking and found many of our own.

View from the Gondola

After a good 2 hour hike and plenty of photos later we got back to the cable car, very hot, sweaty and gasping for a drink (note to self - take drink with you in the future!)

Anyone got a drink?

As it fell dark, we did a quick 150km drive to our next destination of Lake Tekapo. We found a free picnic spot to park our van and enjoyed a night playing cards.

Christchurch, New Zealand