New Zealand - Christchurch and Lake Tekapo

Yo bro's, (as said so many times in NZ)

Now to start the next country of our travels.

We arrives on Valentine's day and turned out really well actually, even though we were travelling most of the day. We arrived at the airport and noticed straight away the similarities to the UK. People spoke with less thick accents than in OZ, the road marking are so similar, weather (similar ish, nice and hot actually on arrival, supposedly summer time) and the structure of Christchurch the city (surburbia/cars etc). We got the bus from the airport into the centre of the city after a bit of a wait (worth it though - cheaper). We looked for ages for a good hostel as it was after 830pm. But eventually we found a nice one with a good price too, much cheaper than OZ. After settling into the hostel we went out for a chinese (eat in - too) as a treat for Valentines day.

The next day we woke up a little later than usual as we were pretty tired from all the travelling the day before. We went to the massive supermaket to get some cheap goodies and to look fo a car at the local market. Didn't find one though, well not for our price range. So we got back to the hostel and they said that there was this nifty paper that comes out the day after and we would find a cheap car in there, for sure. So we waited for the next day to get this quality advertise mag. We got it but there were loads to ring up. So I continued for most of the day looking for the perfect banger that would get us round the islands and back. Finally after a lot of searching we asked this guy to bring the car round for us to have a look at this lovely car. So around he came and at first look I thought o oh. But after taking it for a quick spin we agreed a price and bought the most ugly ar in the history of time, but, it is a runner, something that we really require in a car. It cost us a mesly 600 bucks around 200quid. Not bad, id say. The car type is an estate Nissan Bluebird 1984 in silver. Ouch - lovely... Aptly named the 'the silver bullet', sorry nick but this is the true silver bullet.

After we bought the car we went back to Pak n' save to fill it up full of stuff you can't normally carry by yourself (case of beer and loads of food mainly). We were now ready for our car adventure around NZ. The 1st adventure didn't go as well as would have hoped for. We were maybe just over half way there and the temp gauge said the engine was getting pretty hot. So we stopped for a quick view of a lookout and some of our infamous peanut butter sandwiches (staple easy sandwiches on long journeys). We set off again with a little cooler engine. But, with a little over 1.5 hours of driving again and it was red hot again (jees-wees). We stopped again under some trees once more and headed off again after 15 mins or so. The steep hill we came to was a disaster. Before reaching the summit steam started pouring out of the left hand side of the bonnet and the temp gauge read almost at H for hot (ouch!!). I stopped the car with total dispair thinking it was all over so quickly. I thought a diesel Nissan Bluebird would last forever. So I opended the bonnet and saw the steam was escaping from the radiator overflow and not the radiator itself (Pheww!). Simone and I left the car to cool down and went for some shade on the other side of the road to chill out. There we met a french couple who didn't speak much English at all. But, they helped us out so much in that they explained the basics about what could be wrong with the car. Sorted us right out!! After a bit of mechanical difficulties we were back on the road driving the car with much more care this time and it did run alot better.

Setting off early that morning allowed us to arrive in Lake Tekapo around mid-day. Our first glimpse of the lake was absolutely stunning. The colour of the lake was just amazing, a colour of water I had never seen before (colour, silvery azure blue - created from glaciation). upon arrival we went straight to the garage and bought some oil and made sure of the levels of water, screenwash and oil were full up. Something I knew I should have done in Christchurch but we were both excited seeing the country we setoff without checking (silly I know, but shit happens). We got a lovely camping spot in the Lake Tekapo YHA right on the side of the lake, beautiful. Hopefully the photo attached show the true beauty if not you'll just have to come and see yourself.

Early in the afternoon we went for a lovely walk around the lake, Firstly with the thought of looking to borrow some water skis but we soon found out that the boats were privately owned. Couldn't go water skiing so we decided to just have a quick swim as the water looked so inviting. Inviting yes, enjoyable maybe not. It was so cold my muscles wouldn't work properly at first and Simone was very apprehensive about going all the way in. But we both took the plunge which I must say it was refreshing, but oh so cold. We were told that the water temp was around 18C, yikes! After swimming in Thai beaches and the great barrier reef (27-29C), it seemed a little too cold for us. So we got out and continued our walk around the lake, lovely. That evening we enjoyed a lovely sunset and just chatted with other travellers while enjoying a beer or two.

The next day we woke up early due to temp in our tent rapidly increasing. Today we both prayed for more luck with our car and both looking forward to some adrenaline rushes in Queenstown (capital of bungee and other adrenaline sports). Until next blog, peace out. :)