Well here we go again. This year is now going to seem like a holiday hog. We’ve just come back from Vanuatu, and we’ve got the caravan on order for the Oz Trip.
It’s not quite like that, sure we had Vanuatu booked, but given we had such a great time last year, around xmas last year I looked to see what this year would look in July. Given we ended up booking so early we got the motorhome and the flights for a really good price, so it’s not a super expensive holiday. At the time of booking, the Oz trip was not even a vague thought. I wanted to make the most of it, so we’ve booked the van for 18 days!
We’ve flying Emirate both ways. So with the increase baggage allowance we are taking the kitchen sink, well not really but we are taking tables and chairs (much to Justine dismay)!
I’m sure there’s a kitchen sink in there somewhere.
With some experience behind us, I’ve got us flying in and picking the van straight up. We’re getting the exact same model as last year, so we shouldn’t need too much of a handover, I’ve found a campsite not too far north that we should be able to get to easily.
As last time, the kids love the A380 and play computer games the whole way over.
The plane arrived in Sydney late, so we’re late taking off and arrive at Christchurch a little behind schedule. Christchurch airport is having a lot of building work, it looks like a new hotel and parking station are being built so it’s a real mess to get around. We call Wilderness to pick us up and we get some confusing directions of where the pickup will happen. Long story short it takes over an hour waiting outside in the cold before we are finally all in the right place. Neither Justine nor I can work out how their instructions match the actual pickup location. Two sets of “main doors” are very confusing.
Needless to say we’re not out of the Wilderness yard until much later than expected.
Ah, but I planned for such a stuff up, and picked out a supermarket that was really close to the campground so we could be flexible in our shopping. Today to tomorrow.
We’ve decided to do the south island again, we really only did the south of the south island and didn’t really do anything north of Christchurch, so we figure there is still plenty to see.
We’re off again 
….a long day.
So from Christchurch we head about 40km north to a campground just outside the town of Amberley. It’s pretty late by the time we arrive. We do the shopping anyway, the supermarket is quiet so we can pack everything while we’re in the carpark.
Takeaway dinner from the local Fish and Chip Shop, so that’s sorted and at the end of a long day we’re all ready to take on NZ once more.