Christchurch and Akaroa, New Zealand

We arrived at the airport in Christchurch around two o’clock in the afternoon. We had prearranged pick-up to the company we rented a campervan from. After watching a little video on how to use the facilities of the van, we were off to town.

Being used to the big city of Sydney, I was charmed by how small and historical Christchurch was. The buildings and churches all have their English influence and shops and restaurants were rather small.

We went to a supermarket to do some grocery shopping for the week and couldn’t believe the prices of fruit and vegetables. I expected fresh produce, since NZ is known for some good crop, but the quality and prices in the supermarket didn’t reflect that at all. We did however figure out later on in the trip that fruit and veggies are best bought from the farmers direct. Kiwi fruit was extra delicious and very cheap at only NZ$2 for a 2.5kilo bag. Needless to say, we lived on kiwifruit in the mornings for quite some time.

We then went to the city centre and had a good look around. The famous Christ Church Cathedral was one of the things we looked at, and of course the tram and river, with beautiful bridges. It was getting late and dark, so we had to leave Christchurch to find our first rest area for the night. We decided on the little town of Akaroa.

An hour of winding roads took us to this location; it is direct on the water and made a perfect spot for our first night camp. Unfortunately we didn’t see the ‘No Camping” signs and were scolded the next morning by one of the town residents for not obliging to that regulation, he also warned us that we should expect a fine in the mail, which we have not received as yet, but who knows it might still come… We didn’t think much of it at the time and sure didn’t want to have our first day of holidays ruined by it, so we went on to discover the very small town and its surrounding beaches. The scenery was lovely.

We then head back to the city to buy another quilt, as it was rather cold that night and we knew we were heading off to even colder areas…. Then our road trip took us to the north, more about that tomorrow…