Breathtaking, jaw-dropping, extraordinary. Those are just a few adjectives that describe our feelings of the beautiful landscapes that New Zealand offers. A rather crude way to visualize such a place… if you were  to take the rolling hills and farmland of Ireland and Tuscany, the mountains of the Swiss Alps and Rockies, add-in some amazingly colored high-altitude lakes and top it off with a coastline full of various national parks, beaches, state highways where you may not see another car for 30 minutes at a time and throw in thousands of sheep at every turn, then you may start to get a feel for this wonderful place. It’s truly like no place on Earth we’ve ever visited.  Its a wonderland!

We started our journey in Christchurch, where we picked up our campervan. We spent nearly zero time in the city but we will dedicate some time there at the end of the trip. The city is still reeling somewhat from the aftermath of two earthquakes in the last three years and several city blocks are still closed off and under construction. We arrived at Escape Rentals and selected our campervan. Each van is custom painted by a local artist. We quickly named ours “Baldy” and while she’s not necessarily a Bald Eagle, it will do (NH state bird, gotta love it!). The van is really quite basic: Two seats in the front, followed by a sitting area (table area with benches by day) which converts to a sleeping area with a queen bed in the middle with additional storage, portable gas cooktop and a sink in the rear. We were provided with a standard cooler, 3 sets of dishes, some blankets and pillows. We quickly took to the road and within a few hours nearly ran out of gas and got stuck on a wet slope. In New Zealand you quickly learn that you drive on the left hand side, when you pass a Petrol station … fill up because you may not see another for awhile, there must be more sheep than humans here and when we were cleaning up after dinner tonight it was still light out … and it was 9:15PM.

We’ve spent the last few days heading south from Christchurch and inland to Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki. Hands down some of the most beautifully colored lakes we’ve ever seen. The richness is due to mineral deposits at the bottom of the lake. We’ve stopped at a couple of beaches (still not tanning weather here), saw Penguins on the Oamaru coast, an interesting rock formation in Moeraki, hiked in Te Anau and near Milford Sound at Key Summit and took a short cruise through the Sound. All the while we’ve been “camping” … meaning we’ve found approved sites to park our campervan that generally have a toilet, make a fire or used the cooktop to make dinner and slept in the van. No external heat source, no power, but we do have shelter. Up until last year the term “Freedom Camping” was used to describe the ability to park wherever you pleased. If you were tired and saw a nice park, regardless of where it was located, you could pretty much claim it as yours for the night. Unfortunately, due to rampant misuse by prior campers, a law was recently enacted which prohibits this behavior. Therefore, we’ve planned the duration of our trip around the Department of Conservation approved site list, which are located in various parts of the country for minimal fees.

We head off to Queenstown tomorrow and begin the trek northward. Also, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone stateside. We sorely miss a home cooked turkey dinner.

We’ll leave you with a few of our favorite New Zealand to American English language translations.

To Hire = To Rent

Give Way = Yield

Track = Hiking Trail

Help Requited = Help Wanted

Takeaway = To go (restaurant)