18.12.2018 Camper repair with a 170km detour, Christchurch and Ashburton

Tuesday 18.12.18

At 4am, I wake up and think again about what I should do. I send an email to the camper agency in Germany, as I can use the campground's WiFi in the camper. Because my SIM card is useless here in the mountains. There is no network here. This means that once I leave here, I won't be able to send any emails, make calls, or send messages. The camper agency does respond, but casually points out that I only rented a budget camper category. That is not true, as I unfortunately couldn't book the budget category anymore and this model is described as a modern camper. This doesn't help at this moment. They recommend contacting the rental company in Christchurch - which I can't do without a phone network. Or that I should visit a contract workshop nearby in the morning. But the nearest workshop is in Greymouth, and that's the west, where the severe weather is even worse than here, and I would have to wait until at least 9am for Wendekreisen to open to find out more. So I decide to drive back to Christchurch right away, because these fruitless discussions with emails that hang forever and don't go out slowly or not at all due to the bad WiFi, are only wasting my time. I need someone on site, not a know-it-all in Germany who first asks me to send him a photo of the control panel (which can't be sent out at all due to the WiFi quality). Clearly, the assumption is first: I pressed the wrong button...

At 6am, I sit in the camp kitchen, which is great, and use the kettle and toaster here to prepare myself for what's to come today. By the time I have packed everything away and tried to send more information to Germany to the agency and rewrite, resend, and cancel about 7 emails - it is 7:30am and I leave the campground. It is pouring rain and the gusts of wind are strong. I have to be careful on the road not to drive into fallen rocks. This drive is really terrible.

At 2.80m height, this camper is extremely susceptible to wind, and with the curves plus the wind coming from the mountains, plus pouring rain - and I still have jet lag. The camper struggles through every incline and the floor under my feet is scorching hot. When I step into the living area at the back, the floor there is also extremely warm. I wonder if I still have to expect the transmission to blow up on this trip, because there will be mountains, curves, hills, upshifting and downshifting daily. And since this thing obviously has a very weak engine, I often have to drive in the 2nd gear at high RPMs on inclines so that I don't roll backwards. I've had enough. After 3.5 hours, I reach Wendekreisen in Christchurch, the camper rental company. They replace the dead box, diagnose that all fuses have blown out, and show me where the fuse box is located. To access it, I have to dismantle half of the bed and open a large wooden hatch, lie in the camper, and then push the fuse levers back up. Wendekreisen itself advertises the camper without air conditioning. So the mistake is the responsibility of the agency in Germany. I forcefully turn the refrigerator control knob to 6, but this does not result in any additional cooling, it just freezes the unused freezer compartment.

The driver's seat cannot be adjusted in the backrest, unless you push the seat forward. Which would be a bit stupid again, because you can then steer with your knees. So either too close to the pedals and the steering wheel, or continue sitting as if in a back exercise class. This camper and I - we won't be friends. I long for my old Toyota camper, which I had in Tasmania in January 2018. Older and much better. With 283,000 km on it, this Mazda camper, which I now have for 18 days, is still comparatively "new". The only advantage at Wendekreisen seems to be that I am allowed to drive on gravel roads now.

In between, I refueled in Springfield, about 60km before Christchurch, for $80. I had driven 300km. So I will have fun with the tank size.

Around 12:00pm, I leave Wendekreisen's yard and I'm still unsure of what to do with this half day. I actually don't really want to go into Christchurch, but since it's also supposed to rain here in the evening, I decide to spend a few hopefully dry hours in the city center and see how the city has developed in the last 4 years. Before that, I want to visit the Antarctic Center, which I never managed to do. However, I turn around when I see that they want $59.90 for admission. As much as I love it - no.

The colorful container shops in downtown Christchurch, known as Re:Start, have disappeared. New shopping passages have emerged, somehow everything seems impersonal and very sober. Of course. There is a lack of established structures here, which were destroyed in the 2011 earthquake. There are still many construction sites, and the construction of the new buildings that are now being built seems to consist almost exclusively of powerful steel beams. There are still enough ruins, mostly supported by inclined beams and shielded with construction fences. The 185 empty chairs memorial is still there, and the many vacant lots of formerly developed properties still provide plenty of parking spaces. I stroll around a bit, have an ice cream, and escape from the oncoming rain and very cold wind into the camper around 4pm, and decide to head south now. The weather forecast for the next few days indicates only bad weather. Only a small spot at the very end of the South Island seems to be drier. Otherwise, temperatures of 11-15°C, rain, and strong winds are expected. How wonderful. Midsummer in New Zealand. You can't control it.

I drive on the highway, which is becoming increasingly exhausting as the wind continues to pick up and the draft from oncoming trucks causes my camper to sway. The storm gusts, which are forecasted to be up to 90km/h here, require me to hold onto the steering wheel with all my strength to keep the car on track. I arrive in Ashburton around 6pm. The weather has cleared up, but the wind is consistently nasty. I park at a powered site for $30. A can of food slowly warms up on the campground stove, and I enjoy the warm meal because you can't sit outside without being blown away by the cold wind. Shortly after, the rain comes and I lie in my camper, somewhat uncertain about how to plan the next few days, as I actually wanted to turn here slowly to drive some passes inland. That's not going to happen. I'm not going to drive gravel roads through the mountains after days of rain.