That was a cold night, the van is reporting -7° in the morning and there is an icicle forming on the van where the gas vent is. We watch the other campers, whose kitchens are in the tailgate, so they need to outside at the open back door of their vans to boil the kettle while we’re nice and warm. It does feel a bit unfair, but I can live with that!
Back into town and a visit to the Church of the Good Shepard, it’s one of those places that probably every coach load of tourists stop at, and then wonders why? Sure it’s nice enough for a quick stop and photo. For us is more for the view of the lake.
We need to start heading back towards Christchurch as we need to return the motorhome tomorrow.
Over Burkes Pass and a lunch stop at a great playground in Fairlie, then back onto the Canterbury plains and we find a campsite on the Rakaia River, at a place called Rakaia Gorge.
We take the spectacular Rakaia Gorge Walkway and while they have the walks as “easy”, I’m not sure anyone in our group finds it such. That and I’m sure it was more than 1.7km each way to the lookout.
The water is the amazing blue of the glacial water around here. There’s a jet boat operator here, but I don’t think there are too many customers this time of year.
We have our final night in the van. I’ve loved it and have been amazed that it hasn’t felt more claustrophobic. Parking hasn’t been as much of an issue as I thought. About the only pain is this is your transport so if you want to drive somewhere you need to pack up.
Given what it would cost to hire a car, then add on the cost and hassle of booking of accommodation and the fact that you’d need to buy a lot more take away meals, This has been a lot more economical than that alternative. Add onto that some of the places we got to camp overnight and I’m loving it.
