Breathless

Every other time that I have paid copious amounts of hard earned cash to stuff myself into a pressurized tincan where I relinquish all hopes of sleep and reduce my culinary choices to, " fish or chicken madam",  I have flown directly in to the City of Sails. Don't get me wrong it's not that Mangere doesn't have its charms, but the images that that were flooded upon me yesterday morning are going to be my retinas screen saver of choice for a long time to come.

Yes, yes, I've seen Lord of the Rings.... I mean who hasn't? But even that couldn't prepare me for the stark beauty of the Southern Alps. Living in Switzerland I've seen my share of snow capped mountains, but these guys just took my breath away. The shear size and ruggedness of them was proof again what a force to be reckoned with Mother Nature really is. I watched in silence as the landscape ever so slowly changed from an untamed wilderness into something that the human race has harnessed for it's own use.

The taxi ride from Christchurch International Airport to pick up our camper, was both a comforting and sobering experience. The familiar wide streets and non European cars parked along them, and the lollipop girls stopping traffic so the children from a local primary school could traverse the street safely, brought back a sense of normality that was comforting and reminded me of days gone by. This however, was about to change...

We rounded a corner and passed Hagley park and just as promptly as I had felt comfortable, I felt horrified. I caught a tiny glimpse downtown of Christchurch. I can not even begin to imagine the fear that was felt by these people when the earthquake struck. I was in Italy when it happened and there's nothing like a natural disaster to make you feel far away from home. I got many kind phone calls that day from friends who wanted to check on the safety of my loved ones which, in a way helped to bridge the gap created by oceans and continents. Staring out that taxi window looking at the massive man made structures that had succumb to the angry battle being fought by the tectonic plates that are floating quietly beneath our feet. As I took in the wreckage, I felt a lump rise in my throat, I shuddered to think what I would do if the earth suddenly decided to rebel against Auckland, Zurich or any of the other beautiful places that I have been fortunate enough to visit or even call my home. I guess as melodramatic as it may sound what I felt was a little bit of heartbreak for the city of Christchurch, and my fellow landsmen that call this little slice of heaven home.

We arrived at Escape Rentals and retrieved the keys to what will be our home for the next eleven days. It all went down in typical Kiwi style with lots of smiles and a liberal helping of the word "mate". Dodo jumped up into the driver's seat (I, to be honest had to climb up using the arm rest on the door as a boost) and we drove of with a slight amount of trepidation... ahhhhh, driving on the left hand side of the road... fun will be had by all...
We stopped off at the first supermarket that we found to stock up on supplies for our first night on the road (remember how I told you I had to climb up into the van? Good for you! I forgot, and just about face planted in to the car full of grinning kids parked next to us.)
The supermarket was as cold and large as I remember New Zealand supermarkets to be and for a little bit I think I know how Charlie and those other kids felt the first time they went into the chocolate factory. I resisted the urge to pick up a basket and skip down the aisles, collecting as much as I could carry while humming the tune to the Smurfs.
We got the basics: wine, Vogel's bread, cheddar cheese and garlic mussels, gassed up our home on wheels and headed off to discover New Zealand's South Island in a way that it has never been discovered before.

Dodo is quite handy for the fact that she can spend hours online, reading guide books, researching and compiling information on some of the beautiful places that we are going to see. I however, am fairly useless in this respect... My preparation for the trip was composed of buying the guide book for Dodo, calling Rebecca to let her know, that that we'd be swinging by and throwing some undies and t-shirts in my suitcase. The first place that Dodo's research has led us to is Akaroa, and it has a charm that only rural New  Zealand can. The roads are narrow and winding, the hills are majestic and yessssssss, there are beaches... One of which I'm sitting on right now, in my pajamas, writing this!

The first campground we found was... well, a rip-off and we didn't feel comfortable at all. I've never been to Florida before but on T.V. I have seen all the people, of a certain age, sitting around drinking Mojitos and getting a tan... It was a bit like this but swap the Mojitos for ridiculously large motor homes. Our fatigue got the better of us and we decided to stay there anyway...then we changed our minds... we went out for a bit of a drive and saw the most beautiful little campground, flanked by a little rocky beach. We pulled in and had a chat with the manager, 15 mins later we were unpacking enjoying the sounds of the tiny waves rolling up along the shoreline, and the native birds piping out a concert that Justin Bieber could only dream of.