Down to Christchurch
Trip Start
Nov 23, 2005
1
8
31
Trip End
Jul 12, 2006
Where I stayed
Christchurch, New Zealand
Saturday, January 21, 2006
One thing about driving around here is you get a lot of flies & moths committing suicide on the front of the van, you get a fair amount at home but here they're on a much bigger scale.
On the way to Christchurch we stopped at the Cookie Time factory shop in Hornby, Cookie Time cookies are huge in diameter and thickness as well as delicious, so I couldn't stop myself from buying a 1 kg bag of broken cookies for $6! They're usually $1.70 each!
Having arrived in Christchurch mid afternoon, we drove to the Backpacker Car Market to check out the competition. There were plenty of other vans & cars for sale but no buyers anywhere in sight. After chatting to a few of the sellers, they confirmed our fears that the buying market in Christchurch was very limited & was going to be hard work, so we decided there & then that we weren't going to spend our last few weeks sitting around a miserable depressing garage waiting to sell the van. So we went to the local swimming pool for a relaxing swim & sauna, then to an Internet café to check our email. We had a nice surprise, our friend Dave from Kaikoura was also in town, so we arranged to meet up for a beer and then drove down to Sumner by the beach to park for the night.
Sun 22nd Jan
After checking out the Canterbury Car Fair, (where most of the same faces & vans from the Backpacker Car Market where trying to sell as well) we decided to make the most of the week & try & sell on the next Sunday as well as posters in Hostels & ads on the internet. We spent most of the rest of the day cleaning the van to get it ready for potential buyers to view it, you just never know when someone will come do you! Later on that afternoon we drove into town to do some touristy stuff like ride on the Christchurch Tram, as we were late in the day we got the whole of the next day to ride on it too. Bargain! It was a nice ride, which took about ˝ an hour to do the circuit of the main square & gave us a little history of the area & a few points of interest to view. After a Subway meal, we then spent another pleasant evening in Sumner with our friend Dave & a few beers.
Monday 23rd Jan
Fortunately, we arrived into Christchurch in time for the Buskers Festival, so after putting some for sale posters up in hostels & internet cafes, we spent most of the day in town watching the buskers, then checking our email & having another ride on the Tram. Whilst our new mate Dave started his first day at work!
Tues 24th Jan
Another day in town watching the Buskers. This was becoming a habit. Later that evening we went to Hoyts cinema to King Kong, which was actually filmed in New Zealand. An old story, but new special effects.
Weds 25th Jan
Trying to break the habit, we spend another relaxing day watching the buskers, checking email, etc. Still no bites for the van though.
Thurs 26th Jan
Went to the Centennial pools for a relaxing sauna & swim, followed by a quick shop around for a mess kit, $35 from Snowgum, bargain. We spent the evening at one of the comedy nights at the Arts Centre, part of the Buskers Festival. Really funny!
Fri 27th Jan
After breakfast we drove to New Brighton to check out the Pier, a little disappointed in that too as it was made of concrete! But hey, we are in another country.
We then drove to the Antarctic centre where we had a ride on a Hagglund (tracked vehicle that steered in the middle) that went off road over some muddy hills and through quite a deep amount of water. Cat was sat up front next to the driver who asked her to help by applying the brakes on her side! I don't think she was actually doing anything but it made you feel part of it.
Sat 28th Jan
Another beautiful day where we spent some time in the Botanical Gardens, followed by a few more buskers shows & a comedy evening at The Loaded Hog. This was an adult evening, and was hilarious.
Sun 29th Jan
Drove the van to Canterbury Car Fair to sell it, had lots of nibbles but no bites.
Another visit to the Centennial pools for a relaxing sauna & swim to unwind from the car fair. Caught the last couple of shows on the last day of the Buskers Festival.
Mon 30th Jan
Spent some time in town, had a photo cd made, & went to the local laundry to get ready for our flight on Thursday.
Tues 31st Jan
Went into town late, checked email etc, wasn't the same without the buskers so we went to see The Worlds Fastest Indian at the Regent on Worcester. During the performance we had a call from a chap that had seen our van in the Pak & Save carpark, and finally we got and offer! $2000 for our van, good enough for us so we set up a meet with him for Wednesday.
Weds 1st Feb
As it was our last full day in Christchurch, we thought we'd make the most of it and had a tour of the Arts Centre and visited the Canterbury Museum which were both fascinating.
At 1.30pm we made our way to Kuru's house so that we could exchange van for cash, then he kindly gave us a lift to Charlie B's Hostel.
We then met Dave in town to celebrate selling our van and our last night in Christchurch.
