Ab in den Campervan!!

I'm now on the South Island in Christchurch, a city that still looks very destroyed due to the past earthquake. But that doesn't matter because the charm of the city is not the reason why I came here.

Here in Christchurch, car prices are very low because many backpackers end their trip here and need to quickly get rid of their car.

I bought a so-called campervan here. That means no back seats, but storage space under a raised mattress & a shelf in the trunk. I haven't taken any photos of the interior of the car yet, but they will follow ;)

In the car, I have a gas stove, cutlery, water container (all bought from previous backpackers), and soon also fairy lights 😏 you have to feel comfortable when you want to sleep in your car.

By the way, today I'm spending the first night in my car at the campground! I'm very excited to see how it goes :D

This way, I also save hostel costs!! That's $25-30 per night.

I'm meeting 3 people from the hostel at the campground.

However, not everything went as smoothly as one might think.

When I bought the car 2 days ago, I found out that no workshop had a free appointment to check the van ('pre-purchase check'). I bought the car at my own risk and I'm currently sitting in a workshop and waiting for the results 😌

And when I took over the keys 2 days ago, I saw that the tank was completely empty. Really completely empty. The pointer was already behind the E. So I quickly went to the nearest gas station and didn't know what fuel to fill. Unfortunately, the fuel cap of my Toyota was in Japanese or Chinese. It didn't help. The guys who sold me the car also didn't look at their phone, there was a typo in their number or something, and then I waited at the gas station while watching my phone battery go down to 0.

Being stranded at a gas station in a strange city without fuel and a phone is definitely not a pleasant situation, that was by far the most stressful day here 😂

Miraculously, half an hour later, a man in a Toyota shirt showed up at the gas station. Yes!! He had to know what my Toyota needed!

I asked him and he was very sure that it was gasoline. He confirmed it with a smell test at the tank... Some people really have extraordinary talents!! But thank God 😂

The third 'disaster' was a parking ticket for $200 that I found on my windshield in the evening. Oh no, $400, there were two of them! One for 11:28, one for 11:31. Subject: No evidence of current vehicle inspection. What had I bought??! It didn't make sense and was very strange because the car actually had a valid inspection. I wouldn't have had to pay it anyway because I bought the car after 12, but after taking a closer look at the ticket, I discovered that it didn't even belong to my car. It was issued for a different license plate, which I obviously didn't have in mind after 12 hours. I called the city and had them confirm that they belong to someone else. Some jerk just wanted me to pay for his tickets. Pretty audacious. Now they'll be getting a nice call back from the city 🤗

Whether I have a job in the next few weeks is still uncertain, but for now, the weather is good, and that's better for traveling...

Photos will follow!!

Christchurch, February 16th

Franzi