February 9, 2016. On to New Zealand's South Island

CAMPGROUND:  Akaroa Top 10 Holiday Park. Commercial park. Great facilities....community kitchen, BBQ, picnic tables, showers, nice toilets, dump station, and laundry. $35/night.  4 stars

LOCATION:  Akaroa, New Zealand on the South Island. On a peninsula outside of Christchurch

WEATHER:  Very nice.  Cooler and less humid than the North Island

Our friend Ken zipped us to the Auckland airport in his jazzy convertible.  Our flight from Auckland to Christchurch was about an hour at about noon.

We picked up our rental camper-van in Christchurch. .  The company is German and everyone is German.  Our campervan is very compact.  The back part is a bed that can turn into a dinette.  The tiny loo is tucked under the bed.

The kitchen is in the back.....one gas burner, a drawer for storage and a sink.  It came with linens, cookery and plates.

I thought my refrigerator in the Airstream was small, but this is minuscule!  An electric cooler that plugs into the cigarette lighter.

We drove about an hour outside of Christchurch.  We have to get accustomed to driving on the left.  It is pretty scary.  The newspaper is full of stories about tourists in car crashes as they forget about driving on the left.  Also, many Chinese tourists have never even driven before.  

The drive to Akaroa was beautiful, mostly through farm country with cows and sheep grazing in the fields.  Then, over a mountain, and the Akaroa Harbour was below.  A cruise ship was anchored in the bay.  I can't imagine what it is like when a few thousand tourists disembark into this village of about 500 people.

We found the village's grocery store and bought provisions for dinner and tomorrow's breakfast.  Then, we found a local pub with some older folks  having a pint.....actually each one had an entire pitcher!

We got set up at the holiday park (RV park) and walked to the communal kitchen to cook and eat our dinner.

DINNER:  Braised lamb loin chops.  Onion/buttered spaghetti on the side, with a salad.