New Zealand– Christchurch, Akaroa, Kaihoura and Wine Country

We landed in New Zealand and set off to pick up our snazzy 24 foot Maui Camper Van and listen to one hour of instructions, which of course I immediately forgot. We headed out down the road and stopped for groceries and I managed to quadruple park the thing and only headed the wrong way down one laneway. It felt a little like a cross between the Griswald’s New Zealand vacation and that Robin Williams RV movie. Even more so a day or two later as I’m careening down hairpin turns, almost on two wheels, with no guard rail, 1000 feet down to the rocks below and Jude screaming “Slow down, can’t you see the speed limit is 15 km/hr” (but that’s getting ahead of myself)! Here’s a picture of Jude next to our little home away from home (the only thing missing was Frodo…oh and the girls too of course).


On our first day it was warm and sunny so we stopped at the Art Fair in Christchurch and had a glance at lots of unique Maori crafts and little booths where local artists displayed their wares. We were impressed by all talents and purchased some local handiwork.

We then drove out to a quaint little town on the coast called Akaroa across a smaller range of mountains, through green pastureland and down to the blue waters below.

Of course no scene in New Zealand is complete without tons of sheep in the foreground and the small coastal village hugging the coastline.

That same day we traveled north along the coast and stopped in the town of Kaikoura which is well known for whale watching and a seal colony. The whales were too far out to sea so we took a stroll along the shoreline where some divers were hunting for butterfish, ocean crayfish and mussels.

Along the same rocky shore we came upon the seal colony, basking in the sun on yet another beautiful morning. They were so lazy you could walk up close to them without disturbing them other than to keep an one eye open in case of danger.

The coastline here was spectacular with limestone cliffs, bright blue water and sparkling bays

The next day we headed further north to Marlborough wine country. As you probably already know (Garth I’m talking about you here) the Kiwis are serious about their wines and so we drove past winery after winery nestled between a few older mountain ranges.

Of course we couldn’t just drive by admiring the view without stopping and doing a little tasting of our own. There were so many to choose from but one of the first ones we stopped in was the Grove Mill winery where besides tasting the wine, which was great, they actually have vines set up so you can taste all the various grapes as well! We tried Merlot, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and even Gewürztraminer grapes and it was amazing how different they all looked and tasted.

A mile or two down the road we stopped at the Cloudy Bay winery, sampled their latest vintages and picked up a bottle or two. We will have to look for a few of the wines we tasted, especially the Te Koko which we both really liked, when we get back home.

So after leaving wine country, it was only another 120 kilometres along winding mountain roads, to our next stop, Nelson. We managed to get there without having to break out the divorce papers (thank god for the Garmin GPS!) and settled down for another night in the Camper Van. What a wonderful couple of days in paradise!