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Christchurch to Omaru
Entry 24 of 28 | show all | print this entry |
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We are so pleased with our lovely van - the Brown Hebiscus! It is perfect and looks sooo cool with retro flowers on both sides! Can you believe that one lad who's 22 actually spray paints these vans free hand and there are 160 unique vans on the road!
Whilst we were waiting for it to be ready we had a wonder round the pretty town of Christchurch and then got out of the busy city traffic so we could get used to driving again! It is an automatic which is a bit of a shame but the inside is great. We took down the table and set up our bed, we have got 2 duvets so we are going to be nice and cosy!! We have also got a gas hob, a sink, a cool box, cutlary and pots and pans so we were pretty sorted! We did a big shop and got loads of food in as we would be having breakfast, lunch and dinner in the van. We have got a lamp and a gas heater as well but we would be free camping most of the time so wouldnt have any electric!
Our first night of free camping was in a forest just outside Lake Tekapo! It was so cool, we cooked chilli and rice on our hob and chilled in the van. It gets dark at about 6pm so we are usually parked up and settled by then and get up, have breakfast and have early mornings on the road. It is so nice waking up to a new surrounding every day and we have been so lucky with the weather. It was a glorious sunny day at Lake Tekapo so it was shining a bright torquoize colour. Apparently the lakes in NZ are this colour as they are formed by glaciers and the particles in the water make them look torquoize.
We drove up to Mt John to get some great views of the lake and the surrounding mountains. It was a clear enough day to even see Mt Cook which is the highest peak in New Zealand. There is an observatory up there too as this area is one of the darkest skys in the South Island. We made the most of star gazing from our van as they are absolutely amazing and it is so dark that you can see millions upon millions of stars and even other galaxies! Lake Tekapo had a picture perfect church set right on the edge of the lake with a stunning view from the alter.
We drove then to the East Coast through Lake Pukaki to Omaru in search of penguins! On the way we saw the amazing spherical Moeraki Boulders which looked like little planets that had just dropped from the sky!
We found penguins!! They were on the beach at Shag Point (!) so we did a 'David Attenborough' and got quite close to them, watching them for ages hopping from rock to rock. They are yellow eyed penguins which are becoming really rare in New Zealand. There were also a coloney of fur seals, there must have been about 50 of them all sun bathing on the rocks!
Found a perfect place to free camp right next to the beach and we were allowed to have a fire there too so we had dinner and sat round it all night to keep toasty!
Where I stayed:
Our Lovely Van
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