The Beginning of NZ

For the first week of the new year, I was lucky enough to have my first solo adventure through the south island of New Zealand. I kept a journal each day (which I typically do while traveling) so the rest are my thoughts, adventures and intakes of New Zealand.



Day One (1 Jan 2011)
Well it is 9:00 pm on a Saturday and the sun is still out. I had read that the sun stays out much later down here, but I really can't believe the effect. I've now been traveling for another 30 plus hours and drove from Chirstchurch to Queenstown (about a 6 hour drive), but somehow I don't feel as tired as I should.

I amazingly didn't have any flight problems during this entire trip. ON the way to Christchurch I was out like a light , which has probably saved me on the drive. All of my luggage safely arrived, there were no issues through customs and getting the shuttle into town was too easy. It seemed like the perfect beginning to a horror movie.

There was a white haired man, with glasses and a golfing cap who helped me with my van. (If you are heading to NZ and want a van I highly recommend them - http://www.rentalcarvillage.com/economy.html). They are a smaller company and take pride in what they deliver. The guy gave me the run down on the van, where the bed was, how the stove worked, how to plug in the electricity if at a caravan park, how to fold down the table and even how to put the car in Drive from Park. A very comprehensive induction to becoming a vanner.



Then I was off. Drove straight to Queenstown with only one stop for petrol and one for lunch. It was a very picturesque drive, full of many different scenery. There was your typical farmlands with lots of sheep (some cows and some deer) and then into the rolling hills. Next came the snow peaked mountains coming through against the bright blue lakes. Up some more hills and down the valleys until we hit a foresty Queenstown.



In Queenstown since there aren't many campsites and I wanted to make sure I had a place to stay, I had a booking at one of the local caravan parks. Me and my little van parked among the huge, gigantic family camper vans...needless to say I looked a bit out of place. Plus this meant that I got the pure enjoyment of being able to take a shower (which is huge after traveling for so long). After being refreshed I walked into town.

Its a pretty typical tourist town. Lots of pubs and restaurants, gift shops and tour/information shops. I picked up a flier for a horse trout to the place where a majority of Lord of the Rings was filmed. I don't like horses (I have an allergy thing against them) and I don't like Lord of the Rings (I think I've seen a part of the second one) - so I'm not particularly sure why I picked up the flier. But it would be another adventure, so I thought I would check it out in the morning.

Tomorrow is a canyoning trip. Should be fun. It will be interesting to see who will be joining me. Now that I've laid down I realise how tired I am...probably best to get some good sleep tonight.