Slips, streakers and packing

With previous fond memories we decided to travel to Rarangi to see how much different it would be staying at the DOC site, rather than the Airbnb we were previously at. We arrived early enough to park up in a good spot, before going for a walk on the beach. When we returned the site was fuller and by just after dusk it was full. That night was windy. with a little rain, but nothing like it had recently been. But in typical NZ weather, we woke to blue skies and rising temperatures.

It was very sad now because most of our remaining journey would be retracing step's of earlier in our trip, as we made our way south to Christchurch, our journey's end. This feeling was compounded further by the fact that SH1 was closed, having been damaged by the Gita Cyclone Storm, making us take the inland highway south as we had to when we had first headed north.

It was not possible to leave the Blenheim region without visiting a couple of the vineyards we previously missed. Consulting the Cellar Doors map of the area we note that there were 38 vineyards where we could have had a tasting. Of these, with the addition of these final two, we visited 18 in total. Only a few were not worth the visit, and we did not stay long. The majority of these were good, a few were exceptional. l have been impressed by the number of vineyards that are experimenting by growing different grapes to the rest of the region, and have had some very enjoyable surprises, such as an Albarino at Stanley's.

The cheese lunch we had was in sunshine and this, plus the slower pace we have achieved delayed us so that we could not complete the detour fully in that day, so we parked up in another DOC site under some tree's, and had a really goodnight's sleep. Which was a blessing after the last few days. Our destination when we woke was Hanmer Springs to visit the thermal bath's, again. lt is a relaxing way to spend a few hours.

The next day, Sunday we decided to go out for a Sunday lunch. Now this is something we said we would do each week, when we first got the van. However I think we have only managed it twice, and we were unlucky again this time. lt turned out that the places serving food in the Waipara Valley were vineyards, and those that were serving were extremely popular. We visited three and were told in all that we needed to book. So that thought was scratched for another week.

We drove backup north to a small campsite by the side of a beach, which we shared with one other van. Had a lovely walk along an almost deserted beach, and tried a hammock with a view. We could have stayed for longer but the rain came in that night and looked set for a cold and damp few day's so we headed south again. Managed to have a 'Monday lunch' in one of the vineyards we didn't get in yesterday. and Bobby bought a cucumber in a local library.!

During the next few days we traveled to Oxford, drove thru Belfast and stayed in New Brighton (they love their English place/ street names). Eventually ending in a campervan site close to Christchurch Central. Now as we have said before, Christchurch has still not recovered from the earthquake seven years ago. However there is a lot of rebuilding and road resurfacing work going on which makes driving an experience (to say the least). Daily the road closures/ one way system changes so that the SatNav has trouble coping. We resorted to the local road map, and each journey had at least one minor amendment to what the map showed. One such occasion led me to going thru a red filter light, or so the police officer told me who subsequently flagged us down. After being very contrite the office warned me of how difficult it was to, currently, drive in Christchurch (think I knew this) and then went on his way. Hopefully we will hear nothing more.

When we previously stayed in Christchurch we were told that the views from the top of the Gondola of the city and surrounding

Canterbury Plains were spectacular, but unfortunately the weather wasn't good enough to check this claim. The next morning, as the sky was blue and there was no haze we decided to find out whether this was true. At the top there is a cafe with a 360° observation walkway around it. The views were everything the brochures said and we were lucky to have such a clear sky to enjoy them in. Unfortunately the cafe was a disappointment and our plan to have lunch was severely downgraded once we saw the fare on offer.

We decided to walk the bridal path down rather than returning on the Gondola. The initial path was across a hilltop strewn with boulders and water channels. The rest was a steep descent on a loose gravel topped path (not what the path description said). This was not comfortable, with high temperature adding to the these problems. When we made it to the bottom, after one or two slips along the way, we were in need of refreshments so headed off to the Beach Cafe at Sumner.

This was our final weekend, so in our normal manner we had crammed our Saturday to the max. After a late brunch in a local cafe we went to watch the matinee production of Titus and Andronicus at

the Court Theatre. Great production, still riddled with the NZ humour for Shakespeare we noticed at the PopUp in Auckland. Very well acted and enjoyable, but I don't think I have seen so much fake blood in a production before.

We followed this with going to the Crusaders v Stormers Super 14 match that evening. Very good game, once we got in, that the Crusaders won 45-28. Oh and on a warm balmy night the stadium saw two streakers. l think Bobby might be getting a liking for rugby!. Our only problem was that the tickets we had bought from Viagogo were not honoured by the arena, as a lot of them were scams. So we had to rebuy tickets and will be sorting out a refund from the original supplier (Viagogo) once we are back in the UK.

The sun was shining the next morning, Sunday (our penultimate day in NZ), so after a review of the previous night's match with the camper van site manager we had to start tidying/packing etc, in preparation for giving to charity all of the items we had purchased for our trip whilst in New Zealand and then returning the van, the next morning. However, as they say all work and no play... and the

mercury was again reaching uncomfortable heights for work, so we easily persuaded ourselves that heading to the Concert in the Botanical Gardens we had heard of was a better alternative.

The Gardens were filled with families soaking up the sunshine whilst enjoying an eclectic selection of music. lt was fun to do the same for a few hours and were reluctant to go back to finish the packing so instead headed to Sumner Beach Cafe where we were lucky to get a table outside on the decking where we soaked up the evening sunshine, the seaview and atmosphere for one last time this trip. Unfortunately all things come to an end so we did end up doing more work in the van before bedtime

Woke to a very busy morning. Before we could return the van at 12.00pm we had to; pack, clean the van, empty the dirty water, fill with fuel, fill the gas cylinder, collect and fit the replacement wing mirror (which we hoped had finally arrived at the agent), drop off all our items at the Red Cross, drop off our luggage at the hotel. It was a rush but we were only a few minutes late.

It was very interesting for us to note that the distance we have covered in the campervan was just over 40,000 kilometers. We knew we had driven a lot of miles, but this was greater than either of us

had anticipated.

Before we traveled Qantas had amended our departure flight and had booked us into a hotel near the airport where we went to repack, not that easy to do well in a campervan, and rest up before our 3.30am alarm call.