A breath of (very) fresh air! 🥶

We landed in Christchurch around midnight so had booked a hostel by the airport so we could get our heads down straight away. This was also a good idea as there's lots of freebies at hostels by airports so we set of to get our car the next day already loaded up with some of the essentials.

We've hired our campercar through spaceships, a company you'll see on the roads regularly throughout Australia and New Zealand. They take their branding very seriously, every email you recieve from them is littered with space jargon and every spaceship has a name. So I would like to introduce our home for about the next 8 weeks, Hades! Yes, Hades as in God of the underworld. 

We set off from Christchurch straight out onto the Banks Peninsula and were spoilt with bright crisp days but very chilly nights. We spent a night at Okains Bay where there was a lovely quite secluded beach then did a short walk up to a view point the next day. We spent night in Duvauchelle, where the campsite had cats, and then headed back to Christchurch as we were in need of more layers, were not as prepared for the cold as we thought. 

After time searching the op shops of the South Islands biggest city, we were on our way again. We travelled inland to Lake Tekapo, walking up to the Mt John Observatory to get the best views of the turquoise blue glacial lake. We planned to stay at a free camp at the side of Lake Pukaki but arrived to find it was for self contained vehicles only, which we are not. This has changed since since we were here in 2017, they seemed to have clamped down a bit on where you can stay. However, there was somewhere to stay not far away so we stayed there to eat tea and watch the sunset whilst looking across the lake to Aoraki/Mount Cook (not knowing this was the only clear view of it we were going to get). 

The next morning was our coldest yet but we woke snug after our recent purchases of blankets and thick PJs. We'd also arrived in the dark so it was nice to see the amazing views in daylight.

We hit the road up to Aoraki/Mount Cook, the drive is incredibly scenic but we could see the clouds and rain we were heading towards. We arrived in the rain and headed to the visitors centre. The walk we wanted to do up to Hooker Lake is annoyingly closed for a year (after finding this out, Matt said we might as well go home), so we needed to look at other options. With a break in the rain we walked up a view point of the Tasman glacier and river and decided to stay the night at the campsite up there to hopefully get clear views of the mountain in the morning. We went and had a cuppa, and then it rained and rained well into the night. I was surprised we hadn't had any rain already to be honest. 

The car actually has lots of space to sit in when the bed isn't set up. To then set the bed up, it's best to be outside doing it through the doors but I think we've mastered how to do it now from inside. The car is all bed when it's out and is super cosy. We took our stoves and had tea in the shelter at the campsite, but there are no lights so it felt like there had been a power cut, with a few people hovering over stoves in head torches. We woke early and set off on a walk up to Kea point. We were still unable to see the summit but it was definitely more pleasant than if we'd done it the afternoon before. 

I'll leave it there for now, we're a few days on but this is getting long and I should have definitely have written it sooner! We're super excited to be back in New Zealand. This whole year away thing started with the idea of just coming and living here for a year and, during the stress of selling Vanny, it felt like we'd never make it. But we did and it's already living up to the high expectations. 

Lots of love, 

Lisa and Matt 💕