Our Days Inn Motor Home

MikeWednesday, January 9, 2008

Arriving in Christchurch, NZ early evening on January 3rd sunburned from a week in hot Fiji and very tired, we quickly found a B& B close to the airport for the night. After a quick tour of the city we were anxious to pick up our new home for the next 3 weeks. After completing a shopping spree at the local grocery store and finding a campground just outside of town, we began setting up our new home. Not much furniture to rearrange.

We then began our drive north to the Marlborough Sounds region. Oh, did I mention that New Zealand drives on the LEFT side of the road? Almost all of the bridges seem to be one lane outside of Christchurch, which doesn’t cause a problem since there isn’t much traffic even though this is their summer and high tourist season.

After a couple of days in Picton, the main town in the Marlborough Sounds region, we started getting the hang of our “Days Inn Motor Home”. Since this is the height of the New Zealand summer, the camp grounds are very crowded with families and travelers from all parts of the world. However, all of the “Holiday Parks” are nicely maintained with laundries, kitchens and HOT water. Per night prices seem to average about $25 NZD. Not bad… Gas prices are about $1.75 NZD per liter ($5.60 per US gal.), so stop complaining about US gas prices. It’s a little scary how easily and quickly we have settled into a routine of vagabonding. Our schedule each morning is to ask each other where shall we go and what shall we do today. And that is before coffee! We have yet to use our alarm clock, and we really did bring one!

We’ve now found places to store everything, with every little nook and cranny in the camper being used. Yesterday while driving to West Port and seeing thousands of sheep we realized we hadn’t had any lamb chops yet. While treating ourselves to a dinner out last night, Pat asked some local guys at the bar where we could find good lamb to eat. The owner went in the kitchen and came out with a frozen 5 lb. leg of lamb which he sold us for $14 NZD. Tonight, in some Holiday Park campground, we will feast and for many days afterwards.
Well, breakfast is almost done and it’s time to ‘pull up the stakes’ and begin another day of motoring down the scenic west coast Highway 6, enjoying the views from our living room seats. Oh, that would be the drivers and passenger seats in the camper. We’ll let you know how the lambs tastes.

Where’s Pat and Mike?
1/10/08