In Paradise

Saturday, Nov 7

Wow! New Zealand is knock your socks off breathtakingly beautiful. We’ve just spent the night in a holiday park (campground) in our little tiny (but very efficient and we’re going to figure out soon how to fit everything into the storage spaces so we can find it when we need it) camper-van. We spent the early part of the afternoon in Christchurch getting provisioned for the trip. I had done my research beforehand, so knew exactly where to find the Salvation Army store. We went there looking for lawn chairs and other assorted items we might want, but only found a t-shirt for Jeff. The woman working there, though, told us where to find the SuperShed – a home of last opportunity for things that were destined for the dump (or may have even found their way there). We rolled into the SuperShed yard about 3 minutes before they closed. Jeff spotted lawn chairs at the back of the yard (picture Menards lumber yard for a feel of the size), and dropped me at the door. I raced to the back and grabbed the only two chairs that looked like they could be used without extensive duct tape repair and we ran them up to the counter to pay. Normally $3 apiece, but we got them half price. Not bad.

After a stop at the grocery store, our day had stretched out into the late afternoon, so we didn’t leave Christchurch until after 5pm. Not much in the way of rush hour traffic, which was good because Jeff needed the time to learn how to operate the finicky transmission on this camper-van (it apparently doesn’t like to go into first or second gear) and to get used to the length and height of the thing. I had to get my bearings and try to sort out the navigating, and we both had to constantly be on alert to be sure we stayed on the left side of the road. Easy enough to do when traffic is coming at you, but it’s easy to forget on the open road.

We headed for a place called Akaroa, a little town on the Akaroa Harbour, just south and east of Christchurch. We got a good look around the Banks Pennisula as we went siteseeing (some might say got lost) north, south and west of where we wanted to be, but eventually we did find our way on to the correct road. On the NZ map, what is displayed as a motorway is what we would call a two lane road. Add to that a noticeable absence of road markings and the game is on. Thank God the sun was out so we could orient ourselves. In the end, we didn’t make it as far as Akaroa. The driving was really scenic and absolutely stunning, but it was all twisting and winding and switchbacks with straight drops down to the water. Anyone who has been to Maui and driving the road to Hana will understand. Jeff says that know he’s done this, the road to Hana seems like a piece of cake. Needless to say, he was exhausted after several hours of driving. We have an excellent book that lists the campgrounds and prices and locations, etc. We decided to stay in a little town called Duvauchelle which is on the North end of the Harbour. The campground is right next to the water and surrounded on all sides by mountains, except for the opening to the harbour which runs out the south end. Words cannot describe how lovely it is. We’ve had our coffee and a little walk along the shore and are getting ready to pack up and move along. I fear we will find ourselves torn between staying in these lovely places and wanting to move on to see something else. How do you decide? It would be very easy to plunk down here for a few days and just unwind. But we’ll never see a fraction of what we want to see if we don’t keep moving, so off we go.

And I see Jeff has just pulled up to the building I’m in, so that’s my clue to finish up and sign off.

Much love from the both of us. We’ll post again soon.

Love,
Rita & Jeff