We made good time getting to Christchurch and, after dropping the car off about 3 p.m. or so, the nice folks at the car rental company drove us over to the Backpacker campervan location, which wasn’t too far from them. When we got there, they checked us in and gave us a 10 minute DVD to watch which told us everything (supposedly) we needed to know about operating the campervan. As I watched this, I started thinking it was sounding a little more complicated than I expected - hooking up to electricity when you get to the campervan park, turning on the propane tank, how to operate the water pump, how to flush out (pardon the pun) the waste tank - geez, what did we get ourselves into???? Jim assured me it wouldn’t be that hard and, in fact, it turned out not to be too difficult after all. Who me, overreact????
The campervan size we reserved is called “The Wanderer” and it basically looks like an extra long van with a high roof. You have the two seats in front from where you can walk into the back, but there’s also a side door that slides open as well as the back doors if you want to use them. There’s a REALLY small bathroom that can also be used as a shower, a kitchen area with refrigerator, microwave, stove, grill and sink in the middle and in the back, two bench seats which convert into a comfortably sized bed when you place some boards and the table top between them. So, all in all, quite a comfortable set up.
We selected a holiday park (as they’re called in New Zealand) that was only 33 kilometers north of Christchurch for our first night, since we knew it would be fairly late in the day when we got away. Although we didn’t go through the heart of the city where their recent earthquake was most devastating, we did pass a couple of buildings that were basically piles of rubble which we could only assume had come down in the quake, or were damaged enough that they had to be torn down. Either way, it was really sad to see but from what folks told us, it sounds like the city has really pulled together and is committed to rebuilding and coming out of the experience stronger and better than before. That’s the Kiwi spirit!
The holiday park was on the beach, but unfortunately, we didn’t get the beachfront parking space like I had envisioned. Oh well…..since we didn’t get there until about 5:30 it wasn’t like we were going to see much of the area anyway! The woman who checked us in was a real kick and greeted us with that friendly New Zealand accent we’ve come to love. When we told here we had lived in Dallas, she explained that she was originally from Arkansas and moved here with her husband, who is a Kiwi, 6 or so years ago. I’ll tell you what, during the course of our conversation, it didn’t take long for that Southern accent to come out!!! The place was okay, but we learned from the folks parked next to us that the best parks in the country are called Kiwi Holiday Parks, which they felt had nicer facilities. At this place, all the parking spots were gravel and we were given two tokens which allowed you 6 minutes of a hot shower in the bathroom. At least we didn’t have to use our own water, so I wasn’t going to complain!
We woke up this morning to quite a weather change from yesterday, with clouds and light mist to start the day. We had been warned by our Arkansan park attendant that the weather was expected to change, so we weren’t too shocked. Our plan was to drive up to Picton, which is the town on the northern edge of the South Island where the ferry takes you over to Wellington on the North Island, about a 4.5 hour drive. Since we have to be at the ferry terminal by 1 p.m. tomorrow, we didn’t want to have to drive too far to get there. The holiday park we found was one of the Kiwi Holiday Parks (an added bonus) and it’s right in the center of Picton and about a 10 minute drive to the ferry terminal. From what we understand, the ferry ride over takes about 3 hours and is supposed to be gorgeous, so we’ll let you know how that goes for sure. After getting settled in, we walked through town to the waterfront, and were pleasantly surprised by how lovely the place is. We found out the Aquarium on the waterfront also shows regular movies, so we decided to see “Get Low” which was excellent. You can’t go wrong with Robert Dinero and Sissy Spacek as far as I’m concerned…….
It has been interesting traveling through the country on a big holiday weekend for them, being both Easter and ANZAC Day (more about that in a sec). I’ll tell you one thing, Easter seems to be a much bigger deal here than back home. It seems like there are Easter celebrations going on everywhere, tons of sales from what you hear on the radio and everyone generally partying it up!!! Plus, it’s a national holiday, so everyone has it off from work along with ANZAC Day, so it was basically a four day weekend for the country.
So ANZAC Day…….ANZAC stands for “Australia New Zealand Air Corp” and it is a REALLY big deal here. It’s basically their version of Memorial Day, and it seems to center mostly around the massive loss of troops both countries incurred during World War I. I think every town we passed through has at least one major memorial park with a statue of a WWI soldier in it. Apparently, one of the battles fought in WWI was at Gallipoli, which I need to research some more (with our sporadic and costly internet access, I haven’t had a chance to do as much as I’d like to!) but I believe took place in or near Turkey, where Australian and New Zealand troops where sent to the battlefront like lambs to slaughter. So, like I said, it’s a REALLY big deal here and there were lots of fresh wreaths on the beautifully maintained memorial park on the waterfront here in Picton when we walked into town. The holiday has since evolved to incorporate all veterans, living and dead, but it’s origins are still firmly rooted in WWI.
So that’s the history lesson for today, kids. The ferry should arrive in Wellington on the North Island about 5:20 tomorrow evening, so we’ll be camping close to town and then the next day up to Rotorua where we’ll spend two days - enough time to go Zorbing! More on that later……..
The campervan size we reserved is called “The Wanderer” and it basically looks like an extra long van with a high roof. You have the two seats in front from where you can walk into the back, but there’s also a side door that slides open as well as the back doors if you want to use them. There’s a REALLY small bathroom that can also be used as a shower, a kitchen area with refrigerator, microwave, stove, grill and sink in the middle and in the back, two bench seats which convert into a comfortably sized bed when you place some boards and the table top between them. So, all in all, quite a comfortable set up.
We selected a holiday park (as they’re called in New Zealand) that was only 33 kilometers north of Christchurch for our first night, since we knew it would be fairly late in the day when we got away. Although we didn’t go through the heart of the city where their recent earthquake was most devastating, we did pass a couple of buildings that were basically piles of rubble which we could only assume had come down in the quake, or were damaged enough that they had to be torn down. Either way, it was really sad to see but from what folks told us, it sounds like the city has really pulled together and is committed to rebuilding and coming out of the experience stronger and better than before. That’s the Kiwi spirit!
The holiday park was on the beach, but unfortunately, we didn’t get the beachfront parking space like I had envisioned. Oh well…..since we didn’t get there until about 5:30 it wasn’t like we were going to see much of the area anyway! The woman who checked us in was a real kick and greeted us with that friendly New Zealand accent we’ve come to love. When we told here we had lived in Dallas, she explained that she was originally from Arkansas and moved here with her husband, who is a Kiwi, 6 or so years ago. I’ll tell you what, during the course of our conversation, it didn’t take long for that Southern accent to come out!!! The place was okay, but we learned from the folks parked next to us that the best parks in the country are called Kiwi Holiday Parks, which they felt had nicer facilities. At this place, all the parking spots were gravel and we were given two tokens which allowed you 6 minutes of a hot shower in the bathroom. At least we didn’t have to use our own water, so I wasn’t going to complain!
We woke up this morning to quite a weather change from yesterday, with clouds and light mist to start the day. We had been warned by our Arkansan park attendant that the weather was expected to change, so we weren’t too shocked. Our plan was to drive up to Picton, which is the town on the northern edge of the South Island where the ferry takes you over to Wellington on the North Island, about a 4.5 hour drive. Since we have to be at the ferry terminal by 1 p.m. tomorrow, we didn’t want to have to drive too far to get there. The holiday park we found was one of the Kiwi Holiday Parks (an added bonus) and it’s right in the center of Picton and about a 10 minute drive to the ferry terminal. From what we understand, the ferry ride over takes about 3 hours and is supposed to be gorgeous, so we’ll let you know how that goes for sure. After getting settled in, we walked through town to the waterfront, and were pleasantly surprised by how lovely the place is. We found out the Aquarium on the waterfront also shows regular movies, so we decided to see “Get Low” which was excellent. You can’t go wrong with Robert Dinero and Sissy Spacek as far as I’m concerned…….
It has been interesting traveling through the country on a big holiday weekend for them, being both Easter and ANZAC Day (more about that in a sec). I’ll tell you one thing, Easter seems to be a much bigger deal here than back home. It seems like there are Easter celebrations going on everywhere, tons of sales from what you hear on the radio and everyone generally partying it up!!! Plus, it’s a national holiday, so everyone has it off from work along with ANZAC Day, so it was basically a four day weekend for the country.
So ANZAC Day…….ANZAC stands for “Australia New Zealand Air Corp” and it is a REALLY big deal here. It’s basically their version of Memorial Day, and it seems to center mostly around the massive loss of troops both countries incurred during World War I. I think every town we passed through has at least one major memorial park with a statue of a WWI soldier in it. Apparently, one of the battles fought in WWI was at Gallipoli, which I need to research some more (with our sporadic and costly internet access, I haven’t had a chance to do as much as I’d like to!) but I believe took place in or near Turkey, where Australian and New Zealand troops where sent to the battlefront like lambs to slaughter. So, like I said, it’s a REALLY big deal here and there were lots of fresh wreaths on the beautifully maintained memorial park on the waterfront here in Picton when we walked into town. The holiday has since evolved to incorporate all veterans, living and dead, but it’s origins are still firmly rooted in WWI.
So that’s the history lesson for today, kids. The ferry should arrive in Wellington on the North Island about 5:20 tomorrow evening, so we’ll be camping close to town and then the next day up to Rotorua where we’ll spend two days - enough time to go Zorbing! More on that later……..
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