We arrived a little tired and hungry but very happily in New Zealand! Our flight back from Melbourne to Sydney got us in at 9pm and our flight out of Sydney was at 9am! So we collected our luggage, got a little train under the runway, ($5 for 90 seconds!!) and then proceeded to spend the night curled up on a chair in a little lobby in the airport with several other people all doing the same thing!! First chance at using sleeping bag – it was seriously snug and cosy! Shame about the trolley thoroughfare we were next to! We arrived in Christchurch, scanned the lonely planet for hostels, picked our top 5 to ring in order and when the first one was free we grabbed it! Next was the matter of the hire car! Had done tons of research at home, but NZ came upon us quicker than we could have imagined so didn’t get around to pre booking anything. Armed with our list of companies and lists of prices from when we did it in the UK we got a quote off every company, then re checked all the online ones and picked the cheapest!! We got the price down lower than our budgeted amount (going below budget never seems to happen so that was great!) And we drove away very happy – in our little red car!! VERY happy!!!
Navigated to our hostel, (Fowley Towers!) the car was a little strange being automatic but at least I was expecting that, no one warned us that the indicators had swapped sides with windscreen wipers!!! So for the first 5 minutes there was a lot of windscreen wiping going on!! The hostel was great – she said we happened to be really lucky, one of their rooms is a bit more special than the others, even though it was the same price, she wasn’t exaggerating! We had a little sofa room, our OWN bathroom! Then a little room that you went into and up stairs to a bed! We did well! One of the highlights of having our own car for the time here is having a wider range of food! We can keep it in the car and cook far more interesting things wherever we camp and stay! So stocked up on a good selection of sauces and spices to make the most simple dish interesting! and went back for a chilled out evening..…
The next day was a rainy day and we made full use of it by planning what direction we were headed next, and for the next month (ish!) And saw New Moon at the cinema!! An excellent day, soo good to not be checking out and cramming in every sight! Due to this we obviously hadn’t seen much of Christchurch itself haha so after some good old Nutella (another first for Clare – which went down, unsurprisingly, VERY well!) on toast and tea we headed out to see the sights, and as we’ve now got the hang of, seeing everything great in a short period of time, whilst taking lots of pictures! Christchurch was a beautiful city with lots to see, including an impressive church where Clare lit a candle, several great art galleries, and we could have easily just spent a day chilling out in the botanical gardens (with Andy Pandy tree’s!). Closest comparison would be Cambridge… Many, MANY camping shops were visited in our time here and we are now fully geared for camping, rain, mud, lack of kitchen and cold feet! Slightly pricey here but we’re very proud of our tent and thankfully everything had 50% off due to the Christmas Sale!! We chugged away in our little red car which became known as Rudolph, (you’d be amazed how few red cars are around!!) towards Akaroa!
Here are pictures! Clare thinks it’s pretty obvious which ones are hers haha And also lots more Great Ocean Road pictures being uploaded!!
3 Comments