Today we took the Naked Bus from
Blenheim to Christchurch. Our bus driver
talked the entire five hour journey about everything under the sun: New Zealand political history, nature, sea
salt production, earthquakes, fur seals, tree species that grow best by the
beach… We finally reached Christchurch
at dusk and walked to our hostel. The
next day we took a bus out to the airport to pick up our Juicy condo van. It has the capacity to sleep four people, but
Paul has two large suitcases which account for those two other peopleJ They would sleep up at the top of the van
with about one and a half feet of wiggle room.
We sleep down below where the middle seat pulls out into a bed in
conjunction with the two bucket seats.
In the back there is a tiny sink, refrigerator, LPG burner, and a
couple of cabinets. We can actually stand
up in it without hitting out heads on the roof!
That
afternoon we stocked up on groceries and set out for the Banks Peninsula to the
east of town by the South Pacific Ocean. By
nightfall we had just reached the sea and ended up camping by Okains Bay near
Akaroa. This area was formed by two
volcanic eruptions about 8 million years ago; on a map the peninsula has a
characteristic cogwheel shape. We had
the entire beach campground to ourselves that night. We still were trying to figure out how our
campervan worked, and instead took advantage of the kitchen facilities at the
campground to cook our dinner. It was
getting cooler at nights so we turned on all the gas burners in the kitchen as
a source of heat. It was a great first
night, drinking a bottle of Yealands Pinot Noir and eating our first hot meal on
the road.
Our beautiful home for the next 27 days!
A typical New Zealand landscape, hills covered with white dots of sheep...
Okains Bay Beach
My favorite New Zealand bird, the Pied Oystercatcher
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