Kiwiland

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Originally uploaded by theslaad.

We caught our flight from Melbourne and arrived in Christchurch on Thursday (11th). It was quite a short flight but we had to wait ages to get through customs. Because we had walking boots we had to go to a special area so they could see if we were bringing in any dirt with us. Some people were having to unpack their tents and stuff, quite annoying but if it helps keep New Zealand beautiful...
We checked ourselves into our cheap backpackers and then set about finding ourselves a campervan. Our Wicked van was good but quite cramped so we've upgraded a bit to an Ezy Cruisa. We can stand up in it and it has a fridge and indoor cooking area which is quite handy considering it's not quite sitting outside weather like we had in Oz. It's definite jeans weather!
Christchurch was quite pretty and fairly English. We had a bit of a look at the cathedral and the market and walked along the river before starting our road trip.

The first bit of our trip on Friday evening was to Ashburton and we didn't really see much. Yesterday we drove to Lake Tekapo and the scenery started! Beautiful hills and rivers, the colours are amazing with the hills being coloured by the hundreds of lupins growing around, and the rivers and lakes are an icy blue. We should have been able to see Mount Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand, but it was far too cloudy. The clouds did look cool hanging low over the hills though. We carried on past another huge lake to Twisel where we stayed the night.

This morning we drove to Oamaru (where Hannah lived for a bit?). It's quite a pretty little town with nice white stone buildings. We walked along a jetty to see if we could spot any seals, but no luck. Tonight we're going to go penguin spotting. Should see some nice yellow eyes a bit further along the coast and then we're coming back to see the blue penguins nest at a special site in the harbour. Should be cute!