Day 25 & 26 –

Day 25 – Saturday 5 April
Headed for Christchurch. It’s weird driving into what you think is a big city and you’re driving through farmland only 2klms from the City Centre.
But what an absolutely gorgeous City Centre it is. It virtually has every old building that was ever built.
We did a conducted Tram Tour of the city which pointed out all the places of interest. One interesting point for me was that where the trams leave from is Cathedral Junction

 

This was a project that John Britten was developing just prior to his death. I read about it in his biography and it is sad to see that it was never completed to his specifications which were quite elaborate and eco friendly.
Seeing as we needed to be back in town by tomorrow afternoon to sell the van we headed for Lyttleton where we called in and saw Nicole Dean’s mum. This is Christchurch’s port.

From there it was down to Banks Peninsular and famous Akaroa. This is where the French navy landed around 1840 to claim NZ for France only to find the British navy already anchored. Just think I could be speaking French ::)) This panorama looks down into the valley and bays of Akaraoa with the quaint little seaside village away in the distance.

We camped beside the bay and woke to this view:

Day 26 – Sunday 6 April
Had breakfast by the bay at Akaroa along with all the other tourists. This place has a heap of french names because the French did colonize it even if they didn’t get to own NZ.
Headed back to Christchurch for the appointment with the prosepctive van buyers. On the way we washed and polished and shined and pampered it like its never had before.
It looks like its sold, the people who came through from Queenstown (450klms and 6 hrs driving) will make a final decision early in the morning but it seems promising.
So tonight we’ve packed up all our gear in the obligatory red, blue and white plastic carryall bags and we’ll be camping under a bridge with all the other homeless folk of Christchurch tomorrow night – hopefully.

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