A good, but noisy sleep. Showered, packed and down for some breaky. Hash browns, sausages and croissants. Nice and yummy, all part of the price too. Then at 9:30 a taxi pulled up and took us through Christchurch to the Kea depot. Seeing the snow covered mountains in the distance was fuelling our excitement.
On arrival they were pretty busy. The young lady looking after us was very friendly, but knowledgeable? Like I said she was friendly. In the end, we paid up for the extra insurance for a worry free trip. She took us to our van. Ummm, not the one we ordered. We were given a free upgrade to the 2 berth deluxe and were in two minds about it. Probably would have ordered one if we wanted one? The only flip top one they had was actually for sale. So, I guess we’ll take the bigger one. In the end, what a great price for a deluxe van and it might end up being the better option anyway. We were taken through most of the features, it had a gas heater and an aux jack so that already made it a better option. Not to mention the extras of a DVD player, TV, Microwave, Air conditioning, shower and toilet. Now we were off! On to the open road to…………. well, we weren’t quite sure.
We headed for a supermarket that we were shown on the map to find out that it was a farmhouse. Wow that’s fresh food. So decided to head for Akaroa and get to a supermarket as we passed one. It was not long before we found one and in we went. They even sell grog in the supermarkets here like normal advanced countries. It was a hurried shop and then on to the Banks Peninsula. We were both surprised at how well the van drove. It had plenty of toe and handled real well too. The drive was incredibly scenic which is what I suppose you expect from a scenic drive around the peninsula to Akaroa. Wow, Awesome, Beautiful. What more can I say, but check it out for yourselves.
We made it to Akaroa and went for a slow walk.Very similar to Stanely in Tassie or even Portree in the Isle of Skye. Typical of a lovely little coastal hamlet. We settled on some fush and chups for lunch which was lovely and somewhat unique with some of the extras we got. A stunning place to walk along the water and wharfs.> With a fair bit of light left we decided to leave and find a place to stay. Some more incredibly scenic driving, we had. Stopping several times for photos and to see where the smell in the van was coming from (Smelt like a tip in the sun, but we think it was a by-product of the loo chemicals).
We ended up at a rest area next to Lake Forsyth and spent some time getting to know the van and set everything up. What a top little unit. It was a beautiful place, except after dark, going outside was an absolute no-no. I was dive bombed by millions of 1cm long insects as I turned the gas on. It felt like I was being rained on, but without getting wet. We had to spend a fair bit of time ‘culling’ the bugs that had made it inside. Definitely the inside loo for tonight if the need is there. Yet another case of already being grateful for the upgrade. Very happy with the set up. Looking forward to the rest of the holiday. It was a very scenic day and near perfect weather wise.