After a shower and two hours sleep, we were up and heading back to Auckland airport to catch our flight down to Christchurch. Let the holiday begin! On board, we received a pleasant surprise when we had hot food delivered to our seat. It turns out then when I had booked the additional baggage for the flight down, I had also ordered hot food. Which meant that I got to enjoy a hot pie and Laura had a bacon and cheese panini.
Once in Christchurch, it was a 20 minute taxi ride to collect our home for the next 18 days; our Escape campervan! Each van has a unique design, and after pouring over the photos on the Escape website we had come up with a shortlist of ten that we liked. Having sent these in but received no reply, we were keeping our fingers crossed. As it was, we were in luck. They were able to provide us with a van we had requested; Green Lava. The vans themselves are rather basic, 3 seats upfront, sofa/bed in the back and storage and worktop at the very back. Bag stowage and bedding was under the sofa.
Eager to hit the road, we loaded our bags (we’d unpack later) and after a visit to the supermarket and a pop back to the depot to check we didn’t need to be worried by the check engine light being on, we were on the road, heading south to Mt Cook. The campervan handled fairly well, made all the easier by it being an automatic and combined with New Zealand’s empty roads, driving south was easy. The road south from Christchurch passes through miles and miles of farmland stretching as far as we could see. Stopping at Subway for lunch (which we ate at the table in the back of our van) provided a nice break. Then it was Laura’s turn to drive!
Eventually we could stop heading south and turn west towards Lake Tekapo and Aoraki Mt Cook. It wasn’t long before we were driving amongst mountains with the road twisting and turning as it wound its way up and down their sides. We were enjoying a lovely sunny day which made everything look even nicer than it already was.
Pressing on to Lake Tekapo, we decided that what with jet lag and general tiredness, we would change driver every hour (I may be guilty of a couple of lapses in concentration). However, tiredness was soon forgotten as the brilliant blue of Lake Tekapo appeared through our windscreen. It was gorgeous, particularly with the mountain backdrop. Parking up, we hopped out of the van and went down to the waters edge to enjoy (and take multiple photos).
Once back in the van, we were off, heading up to Mt Cook village. By this point, it was becoming apparent that we were rapidly losing the sun as it began to set behind the mountains. However, this didn’t stop Lake Pukaki taking our breath away. Even longer than Lake Tekapo, Lake Pukaki stretches (it appears) all the way to the foot of the mountains.
Driving the length of Lake Pukaki really provided a perspective for just how long it was, given that it took us in excess of an hour to drive the length of it. But wow, it is so worth the drive. The shimmering blue of the lake eventually gives way to the imposing grey of the mountains surrounding Aoraki Mt Cook, New Zealand’s highest peak at 3,754m.
Eventually, just as night was settling in, we made it to Mt Cook village. Unfortunately the star gazing tour was fully booked so we headed to White Horse Hill campsite, a DOC campsite located within the mountains. Its worth noting at this point that whilst the campervan had a heater if the engine was running, heating the van the rest of the time required us to be plugged in. And this was an unpowered campsite. Which made things rather chilly!
However, our adventurous spirit rallied and we struggled to make dinner whilst shivering in a kitchen that was rather open to the outside temperature. It was here that we resolved to buy a camping kettle and more effective stove. The one provided didn’t really seem up to the job! But the night sky and the fact we were sleeping up in the mountains made it all worthwhile (at least looking back; at the time it was freezing!). Fortunately the campervan came with two duvets so we could snuggle down, and combined with the two blankets we had brought from home and multiple layers of pyjamas meant it wasn’t the coldest night of our lives. Snuggly snuggly!