Meet Maggi our not so new but cute camper!

So we are in New Zealand now and have spent the first days wondering around Christchurch car shopping. On Saturday we stumbled across a bright, white, little van sat on its own in the corner of a car yard. 'That's the one'! We asked how much and bartered a while and settled on a price, which we think was a bargain. The van needed a few bits doing to it so we couldn't pick it up till Monday, this gave us two days to see what was left of Christchurch after the earthquakes.

We wondered a few blocks down from our hostel and got to a street lined with storage containers (the kind you find on a cargo ship), as we strolled further down the street we realised this was the new shopping  high street of Christchurch because the old town square is off limits and partly destroyed. We found a great place with loads of sale surf wear and we managed to pick up a couple of wetsuits for a great price. Robin's face lit up like Christmas had come early. We are now equipped to swim in the Pacific ocean without losing the feeling of our extremities.

The council have recently built a path through the main city square so you can see the real damage that the earthquake caused. It was so sad to see such a beautiful city in ruins. Having been here a few years ago with my family it was hard to picture the city how it once was.

On Monday we went for a lovely walk through the botanical gardens which was very peaceful and picturesque, it felt very strange to experience hayfever in late November! We then hired a rowing boat and Robin rowed me down the river Avon whilst I put my feet up and enjoyed the sunshine.

The adventure starts tomorrow when we slowly make our way down to the Southernmost point in New Zealand. We may not have access to internet quite as often as we have done so far but we will be in touch when ever we can.

Maggi the Camper

Cathedral Square

The Avon River