Christchurch and Beyond

After our second night in the sketchy parking lot in Dunedin, we decided it was time to move on to bigger and better things. We took off early in the morning, stopped for gas on the way out of town and hit the road for Christchurch. I don't know what the rest of the group's expectations for Christchurch were, but we were all hoping the camping situation would be an improvement and there would be more things to do that didn't cost us money. 

The drive was uneventful, we stopped at a few beaches, one with seashells, and another with big monstrous spherical boulders (one of which attacked Brenna's foot), and Kaylee took the wheel into town. We should have known what was coming when she first took the wheel on the way INTO the city, with no country road practice, and our second clues would have been when she told us she had road rage and asked if the speed limit signs were just suggestions. 

No but seriously, I think she has more city driving practice than the rest of us, so we didn't experience inner city stress like we had in Dunedin. We avoided driving directly into the city center this time, but we still had no idea where we would spend the night, so like the tourists we are, we headed for the city info center. 

On a side note, most New Zealand large towns will direct you to what is called "City Centre", which sounds promising for a group of five looking for something to do, but is actually just the middle of the city. Which, in some cases, can be a park, and in some cases a hospital. 

Anyways, as we were driving in, I was thinking to myself, "why is there construction EVERYWHERE and why is the city so dead?". Turns out we had driven directly to the "Red Zone" which was the place that had been hit hardest by earthquakes about a year ago and was completely blocked off as a result. I guess the shops around that zone had experienced some damage too and were all closed down for the most part. It was reeeaalllyyy eerie. 

So we get to the info center….5 minutes after it closed. 

Thought process: 1) don't panic 2) freedom camping is still frowned upon, but allowed 3) please, let's not stay in the supermarket parking lot 4) need a bathroom, now 5) head toward water.

[Freedom Camping - a self-contained vehicle can basically stay anywhere on public land.] 

TO THE SEA!

Keeping our eyes peeled for anything promising, we took a route that skirted the bay. Our first stop was a small parking lot/boat access by the road that 1) had a bathroom and 2) had some sort of shower-looking thing. It also had a fence, behind which we could hide from the road.

We continued driving into a suburb of the city called Sumner, which ended up being a friendly little beach city, with shops and cafes and such, and we ditched the boat access for a city park with (drum roll please) clean bathrooms, a spigot to wash our dishes in, and a field in which to frolic! It was also secluded from the road, and we were joined by another camper van, which made us feel a bit more legit. 

I'm gonna pause to be serious here for a second. We had some good experiences in Dunedin, but for a lot of us, that was the most stressful part of the trip. While a lot of it was due to driving stress, rain, and fatigue, Joe mentioned that when he drove into Dunedin, he felt like the five us in our large Barney van weren't welcome. And to be honest, we didn't really talk to any locals in the city. However, during our one night in this park in Christchurch, we had multiple locals approach us whilst walking their dogs or watching their children, and make conversation with us, most likely due to the fact that it's hard not to be attracted to something so big and colorful. Regardless of the reason, it not only put us all at ease, it made the city so much more attractive. 

Okay, time to start wrapping this up in short sentence fragments. 

- Spent a large part of the day walking up and down the beach and watching surfers

- Bought a delicious cookie….plus a Hokey-Pokey flavored ice cream cone. All I know is it was delicious. 

- Went to walk the circumference of the Red Zone. Less eerie today because there were tourists everywhere.

- Walked through a part of the town where all the shops were relocated into railroad cars because of the earthquakes. Quite ingenious. 

- OMG ran into our Aussie friends again! Last time we saw them, which was on the road to Milford Sound, Christine said, "I know we're going to see them again, I can just feel it", and we were all like, "Nnaaww" and she was like, "Yeeaahh". They were going the same direction we were going, but it was to Dunedin and Christchurch, which are all rather large cities…anyways, we're walking down the sidewalk in downtown Christchurch and Kaylee goes, "OMG IS THAT JAMES" and then we all started screaming and like "NO WAY" and it was cute. That was definitely the last time though, because they flew back to Oz a few hours after that. It was totally fate…or should I say it was God. It was such a blessing to all of us to meet the four of them and it felt like we kept getting thrown together against all odds. 

- Went to an enormous museum (which was freeeee) and there were like rooms upon rooms upon floors upon wings of exhibits, none of which were the same (one of dresses, one of dinosaurs, one of cavemen, one of birds, and so on). Most memorable exhibit in the World of Wearable Art - the bra exhibit. One made out of cacti and one made out of cockroaches, neither of which I would ever put on my body. However, I might wear the one made out of handcuffs to trap anyone who might try to get frisky with you. 

Lemme think…

- Left Cc early to get a head start back to Queenstown so we could stop and see Mount Cook on the way. Pretty sure Mt Cook is somewhere in LOTR, just not sure where. 

- Stayed a night in Lake Tekapo (TEE-kuh-po…not TAKE-a-poo regardless of what Christine says) which was big and beautiful and blue, and which was the only campsite that we're 100% sure is completely legal. But we paid for the legality.

- Going on 100+ hours without bathing and still looking pretty fine if I do say so myself. We made a video night before last about how we're managing without running water. It included things like beauty wipes, hats, and lots of deodorant. Hopefully it makes it to FB because it's worth seeing if for nothing but to see how we look after 6 days in a camper van.

Peace out! Mount Cook and then back to sweet, sweet Queenstown for a rather large burger and a much-needed shower. See you all on the internet tomorrow in Sydney!