Christchurch - Ohau Point - Blenheim

The final destination for the next three months is New Zealand. Here, I will rent the self-contained camper van 'Nui' from Rainer and Angelika, and I will first explore the North Island and then the South Island. Angelika kindly picked me up from the airport in the evening, and I even got to spend the first two nights with them. Although I had been in contact with Rainer via WhatsApp for a while, I only met him and Angelika on the day of my arrival. They are the parents of a friend's acquaintance from my sister's circle. Quite complicated, but I learned about Rainer, Angelika, and Nui because my sister's friend had traveled with Nui from April to June this year with her boyfriend - that’s how the connection was made.

I didn’t have any time to sightsee in Christchurch since I had quite a bit to get done before my departure: printing and laminating the brand-new self-contained camper certificate, finalizing car insurance, doing an oil check, buying a SIM card and groceries, as well as some warmer clothes... Angelika took care of all these things with me before Rainer gave me an introduction to the car. The introduction ended with a short test drive, which had made me a bit nervous beforehand. Because even though I have held a driver’s license for ten years this year, my actual driving experience is quite limited. But Nui seems to be made for me! (Or it was due to Rainer's excellent instruction.)

By the way, 'self-contained' in this context means that you can camp anywhere with the camper van where it is explicitly not prohibited. The vans must also have a fresh water tank, a wastewater tank, and a toilet. While the previous blue self-contained camper sticker only required a portable toilet to be present, the toilet for the new green self-contained camper sticker must be permanently installed. It seems you only need to know the right people, as with Nui the portable toilet was simply bolted onto a wooden board and thus counts as permanently installed. Rainer’s tip was to always camp within reach of a public toilet to avoid having to use the portable toilet. A very good tip!

On the last evening, Angelika prepared a real feast: Wiener Schnitzel with potato salad, mixed salad, rice, and broccoli, and for dessert, there were chocolate-covered strawberries. So, I had a Wiener Schnitzel prepared by a Viennese person in New Zealand, as Angelika and Rainer are from Austria.

After the final preparations on the second day, I set off along the coast heading north, as I had booked a ferry ticket to the North Island for November 2nd. My view during the drive consisted of lush green meadows, snow-covered mountains, a bright blue sky, and the sea. I was thrilled!

My plan was to drive to the campsite at Lake Elterwater... But by the time I arrived, it was already occupied (there's only space for three campers). So, I continued on to Blenheim and was able to spend the night in a parking lot designated for camping. It wasn’t the most charming start to camper van life, but at least I found a spot that even had a toilet in close proximity, and now it can only get better!