NEW ZEALAND CAMPING 2013: DAY #1

Friday April 19, 2013

OMG!! Another set of hairpin bends loomed up out of the darkness, spotted through the thrashing of the windscreen wipers as they battled to keep the glass clear. We should be in Akaroa by now, but seem to be climbing yet another pass? Are we on the right road? New Zealand roads do not carry a deal of information on them.

Not a very auspicious start to our latest adventure - a tour of New Zealand South Island in a camper van, a first for us. I had wanted to try a van for more years than I can remember - probably since I read Steinbeck's Travels With Charlie when I was in my teens. Rab never shared my enthusiasm on the grounds that when she took a holiday it was to get away from the day to day chores - not to make them more difficult.   Why leave all the conveniences of home for the inconveniences of a van? Friends sang the praises of travelling this way with enthusiasm. We even went to have a look at vans at a trade exhibition, but still no dice. 'Maybe some day ....' was the best I could get.

But.....it turned out that our son Matt had the same desire as I had but a more compliant wife. So he booked a van for a fortnight to see New Zealand South Island with the family.

"But won't you come too, Gran," begged Caroline, his daughter, "You could camp next to us and we could visit and I could even have a sleepover. Please..." Next thing I knew I was looking up costs of combining a seven day van tour with a long discussed visit to niece Nola on North Island. (We call her our niece although she is really a second cousin – we prefer to think of her as a niece. Seems nicer and closer somehow.)

And so it came to pass. On April 19 2013, we took off from Melbourne on Air New Zealand, heading for Christchurch. It was an early start to the day, leaving home at 06.00 for the 09.15 flight. Our neighbours came along with us - at least to the airport. They were heading across to Perth about the same time as we were leaving for NZ so it made sense to give them a lift. We left our car in long term undercover parking for the first time, since the cost will be a little under 50% of the return taxi fare.

No problems in checking in or with security. We had thought that security may have been tightened after the awful bomb blasts in Boston on Monday, but, if anything they seemed a little more casual - didn't even make me take off my shoes and belt, actions which were surely the most ridiculous impositions on travellers over the past few years. Rab and I shared a bagel and a cup of coffee and headed for the departure gate when our flight came up as Boarding. And then we waited, and waited...and the extreme patience I had shown so far started evaporating. I know things can go wrong, I know flights can be delayed for perfectly sound reasons, but why oh why can't the passengers be told what is going on? It's plain rude. We eventually started boarding, the seats I had booked (and paid an additional fare for) on the Emergency Aisle for the extra leg room didn't have any and our push back was delayed as was our take off. But off we went on a flight that was not too uncomfortable for me despite travelling Economy for the first time for years – thought I could handle three hours in a sardine tin.

All of the small delays got us to Christchurch about half an hour later than we had anticipated when making our bookings at Akaroa. But no worries, we were told, it is only about an hour's drive and sunset is sixish (someone suggested seven forgetting that Summer Time was a thing of the past), so you should be there before it gets dark.  Well, yes, provided you don't land late, get delayed by having to tell a Customs Officer about your medication - all medicines must be declared! - have to try to contact the Van folk to pick us up, wait around seemingly endlessly for your van and briefing, stop to pick up basic groceries. All of which led us to leave Christchurch at 16.55, not 15.45 as planned. And although the sun does set at about 18.00, it does not take 'about an hour' to get to Akaroa, not even in daylight with a low slung sports car, let alone in a vehicle that seems to be the size of a pantechnicon and feels rather unstable as darkness falls, as so called showers of rain pour down from the skies. The reason that even an expert driver could not meet that time limit is because there are multiple road works as well as the sinuous roads that snake their way up hill and down dale with many a 'Slippery When Wet' sign. We did it in a little over an hour and a half with poor Rab braking  furiously against her floorboard in an effort to avoid yet another accident on a blind corner.

Naturally we missed the unsigned turn off to the campsite because there wasn't one, so we found ourselves at 18.35 outside the restaurant where we had booked a table for 18.00, in anticipation of an early arrival at the campsite and a gentle stroll down the hill to stretch our legs. We apologised for our late arrival, explained our problem and asked directions to the site promising to return as soon as we could, if only because we were pretty hungry, having had nothing to eat since that shared bagel in Melbourne airport. Back we went, turning right up a steep road that seemed to climb forever and then at last we spotted the campsite light.

Our pantechnicon awaits us at the pub!

They were very pleasant and gave us a site near the ablution block where the light would make it easier for us to park and set up. We found the site and then headed back down the hill having realized that trying to scramble down a steep hill on foot in the dark was unlikely to end well.

The meal was delicious and helped us recover our equilibrium, or so we thought, but...that was before we tried to actually get set up on the site. Reversing a vehicle that is 7 meters long, 2 meters wide and 2.7 meters high takes a little getting used to and although Rab did her best to guide me, in the freezing drizzle, she didn't realize how often she and her hand gestures disappeared from view. But we managed in the end and I went to hook up the power. Unfortunately I did not have a six year old child with me because the height of the electricity terminal would have suited someone that size. So bending down with the rain trickling down my neck and lifting the protective lid with one hand I tried to plug my lead in. Not possible in the dark, I found. Fortunately I had the foresight to not only bring a small torch but I could also remember where I had packed it. So, with the torch in my mouth, lifting the lid, I managed to get the plug in. Hallelujah! Now all I had to do was plug the other end into the van....if only I could twist off the protective cover. Done at last! We have power and warmth and hot water. All that is left to do is make up the bed and collapse into it, tired out after a long day.

It turns out that making a bed for the first time in a van is not quite the same as at home. There is only room for one operator and everything has to be moved out of the immediate area initially. As I battled to slot the bits of wood and table which would form the base of the bed, two meters wide and about two meters long, Rab suggested that it might not be such a great idea, pondering how either of us would get in and out of the bed for any nocturnal activities. She suggested that we should sleep on the seats as they were, after removing the backrests.

Rab beds down

A little narrow, perhaps but about the same width as the bunks on Leo Lacus, the company boat on Lake Kariba where we had slept through many a night with no mishaps. So that was settled. The narrow beds were made up and precariously balanced on them we were soon fast asleep. 

What a start to the trip! But we were not downhearted -  we both felt that it could only get better.