Day 1 - Sydney to Christchurch

Thursday 14th June 2012

It was a cold start that greeted us on the Thursday morning in Sydney, as we battled to get ready and out the door to the airport. Little were we to know that the cold morning was about the warmest we were going to be for 11 days!

Battling peak hour train commuters to get to the airport on time, we arrived in our required 90 minutes before take off only to have to join a 1 hour queue to check in. Lining up with Virgin flights to Bali and Fiji, it was clear who was going where. Thongs and t shirts for some, surfboards for others, and massive bags of winter gear for us and the other foolhardy NZ bound folk.

It was at check in that we also realised our 23 kg each of luggage no longer allows us to take more than one bag each, so before running through security and departures straight to board the flight (no down time to shop or have a coffee) we had to pay an additional $80 for the privilege of taking a 3rd bag. Mind you, all three were absolutely chockers with the kind of clothing options that the inexperienced winter travellers take when not sure where they'll be able to launder clothes. Think 30 pairs of socks between us, 6 jackets and 3 sets of thermals.

We did score some very quick duty free booze on the way through as apparently NZ allows you to bring in 3L each. Score! What better drink to accompany us on a driving trip around the island.

With an uneventful flight over, we were greeted 2.5 hours later by a scene out of Lord of the rings (the first of many many such scenes) - crossing a range of snow peaked mountains wreathed in cloud. We had our faces pressed to the glass until we landed in Christchurch!

Arriving in Christchurch it was grey and dreary. When you freeze a little walking the short gangway off the airplane into the terminal, you know it's going to be a nippy trip. 6 degrees at 4 pm and it only got colder from there in!

We shuttled off to pick up our campervan. And I hesitate to use the word. When we actually saw the beast (now nicknamed Big Bertha) it was apparent we would be tooling around the south island in a converted semi trailer. We were expecting a smallish 4 berth number, and that was taking the luxury option in our books. Our plan was to lower our expectations and halve our estimate of the size. The reality was something else - a good doubling. Somehow we got upgraded to a 6 berth hotel on wheels - must have been something lost in translation - which we shuddered to think about now we would manoeuvre.

After a quick run through of the 16 essential things that would stop us from catching fire, tipping or being chased by orcs, it was off to take Bertha around Christhurch for our first night accommodation.

We rocked up to a camp site - there are dozens around the island catering for small vans up to the bus that we were driving. Being low season it was straight forward to get in. $44 for the night gets you a powered site, with easy access to bathrooms, a laundry, kitchen area, and other veritable luxuries like heated bathroom floors and even a hire-able 2 person spa. (Writing this now 2 nights later this was a paradise by comparison...) 

We chose a site that was close to a major shopping centre a walk away. The nice thing about Bertha is the fact she actually feels like a roving self contained hotel room. She however handles like a truck. There was no chance of picking up stumps just to drive and get supplies!

So we walked, rugged up to the eyeballs on our first night with almost all our clothes on at once, to the local shops. Christchurch is a lovely looking city, very similar to Australian towns so we didn't feel any culture shock. More bemusement as we found the shopping centre complete with a 'Countdown' (owned by Woolworths and looking exactly like a woollies), Pak N Save (a grocery store that looked like a JB Hi Fi, much to Ed's disgust), and of course a whole bunch of Kiwis! The accent was on show everywhere and we found ourselves talking to shop assistants just so we could inwardly giggle at their speech. Oh, and it became apparent that NZ too, has it's fair share of bogans...

After a daunting shopping 'trup', to get some basics (and have Ed refused a purchase of wine for looking under 18) it was time for the NZ classic - fush and chups, bro! We tried placing our order for two serves (more than enough as it turned out) only to be told it was about $10. Being Sydney siders, we were sure this was some mistake, or the portions were going to be minuscule, so actually doubled our order to make it more cost sensible by Sydney standards. What we got was two hulking parcels of paper slowly going see through with grease, that neither of us could finish. It was a wake up call that you don't have to mortgage a house to afford food outside of Surry Hills!