From Christchurch to Lake Tekapo

Traveling with Noemie on board means customizing our trip to accommodate the 3 of us. The rest of our holiday will be a campervan road trip. We’re not really the campervan type, but this seems a very popular option to visit Kiwiland. Plus this means more flexibility for Noemie and she gets to sleep comfortably in her car seat.

So we start with the South Island and off we go from Christchurch through Geraldine. After 30 min on the road we stop for a photo shoot. The car won’t start again. Guys stopped by and helped us push the campervan downhill and we could start it again. At Geraldine we stop for lunch but we get stuck and waste around 3 hours waiting for the car to be repaired. This involved a detour to Timaru and then back on SH73. We got to Lake Tekapo just in time for sundown. The turquoise waters of the lake, the mountain ranges behind, perfect location. We roam around for a place to park and settle in a quiet location. A nice fire to warm us up and dinner is ready.

The smoke helping, we have the visit of 2 angry ladies from the village who inform us that it’s forbidden to light fires and to camp around the lake. Mmm… We finish our romantic meal in a hurry, turn off the fire and follow park next to another campervan nevertheless in a prime location near the lake.

It’s late already. Inside the vehicle, real adventure starts with figuring out how to make the bed, heat up the place and organize our belongings…

 

Tips:

We rent from United Campervan, nice new van (that can breakdown nevertheless...)

Lunch at Café Verde in Geraldine with good choice of pies and salads.