Day 21-23 Sat 16th to 19th Nov 2024

After we dropped the car off, we caught our flight to Christchurch to start the third phase of our adventure.

Since I last visited Christchurch about thirty-five years ago, the city was devastated by a major earthquake in 2011. The results are still visible, most notably the cathedral, which is still sheathed in scaffolding. Surprisingly, the rugby stadium has still not been completed. I expected that in Canterbury, it would be the very first priority. Surely, even before they cleared the rubble.

We didn’t get any time in Christchurch, we arrived late and only had one night. The hotel we stayed at, The Observatory, was very good, but we didn’t have the time to appreciate it. That said, their breakfast arrangements were not great

After breakfast, we headed back out to the airport to pick up our Campervan. A fairly painless process. We told the guy doing our familiarisation tour that we were Campervan owners. So he skipped a couple of bits that might have been helpful later on.

Formalities completed, we headed off up SH1 towards Kaikoura.

The first part of the trip was a wee bit flat and boring. Yet, as we approached Kaikoura, the road became more interesting. We enjoyed views of the mountains and the sea.

We planned to stay for two nights because we were going whale watching on Monday. On Monday, the wind got up, and just as we were heading to get the boat, history repeated itself. Diane received an e-mail saying that due to the weather, our trip was canceled. So we drove down to the seal colony and went seal watching instead.

The next day, we were planning to head to Marlborough and wine. Diane was not going to be defeated in her quest to see a whale. She had seen something advertising whale watching flights. So she booked one for herself, but not for me. I’m slightly reluctant to get into a 747, let alone something with one engine and half a wing.

She went off. She came back three-quarters of an hour later. There was a big smile on her face because she had seen a Sperm Whale.

After that, it was onward and upwards towards Blenheim.

Diane had read about a place at Blenheim Station where you could sample about 100 different wines. Unfortunately,  it had closed. But,  we discovered a place at the station called Fidelio. It also did wine tasting. I was driving, so couldn’t indulge, Diane tried a few vintages and bought a bottle.

We turned west, not sure whether to head directly to the West Coast or go via Nelson.  We drove on through kilometer after kilometer of vines.

We eventually decided to head for Murchison. We were just coming into town. We saw a sign for Riverside Holiday Park. We decided to stay there for the night. We ignored the cemetery on the way in, in favour of the riverside setting.

As I was checking in, Diane was flicking through brochures for White Water Rafting …….