31 degrees, sunny
We left the North Island looking forward to our next three weeks in the South Island. Our time in the North has been wonderful, we have experienced some things we’ve never seen or done before and seen some wonderful scenery and coastline. Overall we preferred the Coramandel Peninsular to the Bay of Islands, Lake Taupo to Lake Rotorua and Napier was far and away the nicest town.
We flew to Christchurch, about an hour and a half flight, and landed at about 3 pm, worried a little as the Motorhome pickup depot closes at 4pm so we would just about have enough time. Needn’t have worried – the depot was heaving with people collecting and dropping off vehicles – utter chaos it seemed. As usual we were the last to be dealt with having sat patiently for and hour or so waiting our turn. We were whizzed through the collection procedure and van details, to get us out of the door, which was fine by us. Hopefully the number of people taking out vans is not a reflection of how busy the campsites are going to be.
Our motorhome is a four berth with a bed that lowers down over the seating area at the back, but it really wouldn’t suit four adults at all. Our (my!) first thoughts were, where on earth are we going to stow all our stuff, there being so little storage. But in the end we managed to put it all somewhere which will no doubt change as we go along.
The first campsite we had booked was very near to the motorhome depot but that was all it had going for it! We were sited on a gravel pitch on the direct route to the facilities and right next to the trampoline! The campsite has bunkrooms(!) and small cabins with just beds in, no running water or cooking facilities, even more basic than those at Pont de Dognon Mum & Dad kindly booked us into when looking at the house in France! They have communal cooking facilities including fridges and cookers – very sociable – if you like that sort of thing! Obviously a popular way to travel though as they seemed well used.