Christchurch

Travelling Virgin Blue, i.e. cheap as chips airline, we have a short four hour flight before arriving in NZ. We didn’t realise that four hours could be quite so tortuous however. As meals and drinks aren’t complimentary on the flight, the attendants started our journey by touting those. This was followed shortly afterwards by duty free and souvenirs of the flight. Up next, as a celebration of an anniversary of Virgin, we were subjected to a toilet roll race down either side of the plane. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the staff then grabbed “volunteers” (under much duress) to stand up and join them in demonstrating some in-flight aerobic exercises which we were all encouraged to join in with. Without respite the staff then went back to touting food/drink/souvenirs etc. I could pity the staff as for the entire flight they probably only shut up for about 30minutes in total (never more than 10minutes in one stretch), in the circumstances however, I pitied the passengers more, us included, some peace and quiet wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Arriving late evening kiwi time we grab a shuttle bus to the hostel (witnessing our first kiwi possum crossing the road in the city centre), check in, dump our bags and head downstairs to the bar for a well earned pint. It’s past midnight in local time but to us feels around 9pm so imagine our disappointment when we find we’ve missed last orders. Fortunately there is a bar down the street that operates a late license so we push on down there. Loud music and dim lighting greets us, but the beer isn’t bad and there is some quality people-watching to be had which suits us just fine and we manage to unwind before heading back to the hostel.

Our room at the hostel was possibly the broom cupboard in a previous life, but the rest of the hostel is well equipped with internet facilities, a lounge full of comfy sofas and permanently running sky movie channel, a big decked patio area and a good kitchen which hosts, much to Rob’s delight, a freebie box where previous lodgers can leave any food they don’t want to take with them. Rob manages to hoist several packs of noodles, some porridge and a jar of vegemite, then upstairs discovers a box of wine that has hardly been touched, dinner is served!

Just a block away from the very centre of the city we head to the information centre to gather information on the cost of hostels, car hire, camping, buses etc.. We then retire to the Irish pub for a pint and some rather scrummy nosh to wade through it all and weigh up the different options. (Did I mention that the weather turned hot and sunny just today, so yet again we are blessed with fantastic weather, which of course in turn gives one a bit of a thirst…) After deciding a camper might again be a good option we return to the hostel to delve deeper into the information. Deciding a further day is required to make the best decision we book another night and relax with the free wine in front of the movies. Early in the morning we head to a local café for breakfast and are faced with the most enormous portions imaginable. My scrambled eggs have the consistency of yoghurt and a none to pleasant flavour so I just about manage the rest of my food but Rob ends up with a doggy box of pretty much half his plate which he whisks back to the hostel for later. (You can’t help but question why they don’t just do normal portions to start off with?)

Another tour of the city, the purchasing of the prerequisite bone art necklaces and some outdoor gear from one of the many outdoor shops about, we return to the hostel to book our “micro-camper” for a month. The micro-camper is actually an estate car with a mattress in the back and an awning that fits over the boot to give a small area you can stand up in. It appears the only affordable option as the other campers that are advertised at bargain prices are only available at such during their winter months of May to September (any other time and they can cost as much as four times the price). With the freedom this allows us we make a booking for the Milford Track, reportedly one of THE walks to do in NZ. It appears so, as we are offered the 30th to commence the track as the only available date until April, (we later discover that we must have got a cancellation as the whole track was booked out until April last September). The track must be walked over 4 days and everyone has to walk in the same direction with only 40 independent walkers allowed on the track a day both to preserve the experience, the track and also because that is all the available accommodation can support, camping isn’t allowed due to the high level of rain that falls in the area (the other name for the second half of the track is the valley of waterfalls). I digress, (just for a change), lets just say we were lucky to get our places anyway.

Next day we’re up to pick up the camper and we’re offered a campervan, not unlike our one in Oz, for an extra $200 for the month. This was supposed to be an extra $1000 so we take 10seconds to decide then grab the chance and get back to the hostel for the bags with just 15minutes to spare before we have to check out.