Okains Bay

So today I'm moving into my new apartment for the next few weeks. My apartment has 4 wheels and is 6.10m long. I can sleep, sit, eat, drive, even watch TV in it... I've only driven a car this big once for a short time, and all the "technology" with water, wastewater, etc. is foreign to me.

First we take the bus to the rental company. I am a bit excited. It should be a camper with solar, that's what I ordered. On the way, the thought briefly occurred to me: “Well, hopefully it worked with the solar”. When we arrived at the rental company, the bad news came straight away: the solar didn't work out because there was a misunderstanding. But in a week a camper with solar will be available and they will bring it to me. So first a week without solar. Well, that'll be okay. After I've been explained and shown all the equipment, I'm allowed to help myself to the shelf - it contains all the things that the other campers have left behind. I can take whatever and as much as I want, says the woman at the rental office, “Merry Christmas!” Then I'll just grab a little something so I don't have to buy it.

After I've stowed everything in the camper, it's time to get started. Close all the doors, sit in the driver's seat, buckle up, turn on the car - phew, it's loud. Go into gear, release the handbrake and carefully accelerate - nothing happens! Mhhh, am I in the right gear? Isn't he driving because a door is open? So check everything again. Then carefully accelerate again - nothing happens! Ok, let's give it a little more steam - Ohhh he's moving... Let's go then. Off to the nearest supermarket and do some shopping first.

I've been looking forward to potatoes for weeks. I actually don't like them that much, but the last few weeks we've only had pasta and fries. I can't see any more fries. I want potatoes and they are the first thing that goes into the shopping cart. The shopping will be a little bigger - whatever food you need for a longer period of time...

After everything is stowed away, we get started. An older man comes up to me in the parking lot and asks me where I come from. I tell him and he says: "Well then, welcome to New Zealand. Have fun and a safe trip!"

Now we're off to the mountains to Banks Peninsula. I actually wanted to do freedom camping there, but it's already so late, so I'll leave that for now and maybe it's a good idea to spend the first night at a campsite to get used to it. And I can also cook there and don't have to turn on the gas when I'm returning the camper next week.

The journey takes me up and down mountains, on narrow roads. The car doesn't like it. It makes a lot of noise and I have to accelerate a lot, in low gear, to get it to move at all. The camper is big, heavy and has little power. Driving with him is really hard work. I'm heading towards Lyttelton. The first European settlers arrived here over 100 years ago and made their way across the mountain on foot. Lyttelton is now purely an industrial town and nothing “special”. But the landscape is unique. Mountains, wonderful blue water. Simply incredibly beautiful - that's how I imagined New Zealand!

In the evening at the campsite in Okains Bay, I first have fried potatoes - delicious! 😀