Day Thirty First Day of Campervan Christchurch (Wednesday here)

Howie up bright and breezy to collect van. Left me at hotel with luggage, no money, no way of contacting him.  (Thought he might have done a Reginald Perry on me, for those old enough to remember that programme!). After two and a half hours he appeared all triumphant with the biggest white van in the village! 

Beautiful from all angles, I'm sure you'll agree and home for the next 13 days for us. 

For the next 2 hours we sat in the car park of the nearest supermarket trying to get our heads round how to drive it. It comes with shower, toilet, cooker, sink, fridge, bed (choice of upstairs or downstairs), awning, sat nav etc. Now the big decision, where to go?

Decided to go north west and head for Hanmer Springs. Sorry, no photos, too busy supervising the sat nav and also had tied my rucksack into a seatbelt and couldn't get to my camera. However the scenery out of Christchurch was very green and flat. Lots of vineyards and lush countryside. Hills always in the distance. About 60 km in we were in valley between the mountains. Amazing scenery, not unlike Scotland. Weather warm, 26 degrees, but started to rain! Found Hanmer Springs which has hot thermal pools, jet boating, bungee jumping etc etc. Decided to chill, found a campsite close by to park 'the beast' and plan our route for the next few days.  

Campsite owner told us 50/50 chance of experiencing an earthquake while we're here - reassuring, not!

Going to stop counting steps temporarily. Instead going to count the number of times we bump our heads on 'the beast' getting out or in. 

Tomorrow hopefully will have some amazing scenery photos  (don't worry, will spare you the hot springs shots!).  Kia ora, from both of us. X