On the road

On the 1st December we picked up the camper van from Wicked in ChCh. Our van is a Nissan and named 'Star Trek' although it is just generally graffiti'd up. It's got three seats across the front with sleeping area/table/compartments in the back. Ian took the wheel first and we headed to a town that caught my attention; Ashley. We popped north of ChCh about 30km to find this sleepy town and went to a very English pub for lunch, we had lunch in Ashley! From here we went through a small town called Oxford and eventually came across the first epic landscape that is Mt. Hutt. Google it, truly a beautiful site. We drove some more through Ashburton where Ian skated a nice concrete skatepark and later camped in a desolate area near a stream where we set up a campfire with a few beers- a rad first night in the camper.

We awoke the next morning on the 2nd to heavy rainfall which wasn't the greatest. Driving through Geraldine we had to stop as I saw a road named 'Cox St'! My names are popular over here! From here we went through Temuka and Timaru. Went in a skateshop where some girl came up to us and chatted for a while about where is nice to go, what the weather is usually like, where is best for weather, places to generally be and the single place in New Zealand with a differing accent to the rest of the country; Gore. We then went to a laundromat for the first time, nice to chill with a book while our clothes were washing/drying. Driving parallel along a river we ended up in a town in the mountains called Kurow which seemed very American. A hidden strip of road with motels, old style banks and pubs, we paid to park the camper here but got hot showers, a kitchen and tv.

3rd December at 9am and the sun was shining! After relaxing by our camper we drove off through some of the most beautiful landscapes ever past the Waitaki river/dam. The lakes here are clear aqua coloured and magnificent. We later drove through the Lindis pass where you can find the Omarama rock piles alongside a long stretch of road. All across the road people make piles of stones alot like you'd make a sandcastle. We pulled over and made our own rock pile to leave our mark on New Zealand. Quite an odd thing, but we fully loved it. Further on we drove through mountains and saw the first snowclad topped mountains! Heading for Wanaka we crossed a quaint little bridge across a river, stopping to take photos a car pulled alongside us. He told us if we pulled down a gravel path ahead we could be riverside which we did. Now rivers in NZ, are somewhat different to in England! Here we were viewing clear aqua water, sandy banks, tropical trees and sunshine. One thing crossed our mind and we did, we got a swim shorts on and jumped in! It was amazing, slightly fresh but worth it.

Driving into Wanaka is strange, it feels a lot like North America, especially the Rockies. Pulling in facing Lake Wanaka, the view was immense. With the beautiful weather the view looked like something straight from a postcard. The mountains, lake, sun, yachts and contemporary houses was truly something. From here we pulled onto a beach part of a lake, having dinner of noodles on beach with a few beers. By the end of today it became apparent I was somewhat sunburnt! In December! That's a first.

So now, we're just in Wanaka taking in the sights and will probably head Queenstown way sometime. Apologies for the bad writing, hard trying to cram a few days into short time at internet cafe.