We'll meet again

It was our last night in the van (small note to self: work hard and buy another van pronto) and we agreed we were going to miss the independent gypsy way that a van gives you.  We had to prize ourselves away from Kaikoura, under much duress. It really is a great spot. A perfect full stop on a great 2 months in NZ. We slowly headed south on the alpine pacific highway whilst discussing our up and coming lists for 'miss and not miss' on New Zealand. The 'not miss' list proving to be pretty tough.

For our final night we opted to camp 33ks just north of Christchurch. Whilst tucking into our supper, around 7:30ish, the van started to shake. A kind of general side to side movement that lasted for a good few seconds. We both looked at each other thinking it must be kids outside mucking us around. It then dawned on us that it was one of the many aftershocks (we later heard it was an earth moving 4.9!). The region had been experiencing daily aftershocks since the quake. Obviously it was a very gentle rocking with Christchurch being 33km away but nonetheless rather disturbing. We had heard that Christchurch had had something like over 5000 aftershocks since their September 2010 quake. We just can't imagine what it must have been like.

Once at the airport it seemed it was almost as difficult to leave NZ as it was for us to enter. The check in desk couldn't find our ticket details on the system! A clear case of computer says no.  Sat in departures overlooking simply stunning landscapes, snow-capped mountain ranges piercing through the low rain threatening clouds. After all that check-in nonsense the body was crying out for a longblack. On asking for the regulation glass of tap water we got a very unfamiliar reply of 'sorry guys not available at the mo as it's thought to be contaminated'. Not your normal reply from your friendly coffee shop staff in a well developed country. Then we sat back and felt the caffeine hit our eyes wondered over the building and it didn't take long to spot the reasonably sized surface cracks that appeared to be present throughout the departure lounge at every change of angle. Although nothing too severe going on a past theory of a wise old surveyor colleague back home ''not a concern Davey unless you can actually fit your fist into the crack'.

Taking into account this is by far the most beautiful country on the road trip so far we've somehow managed to pull together some sort of list that actually does include some 'not misses'.

Miss:

D: The pure uncrowded beauty, unassuming modest characters, Hokey Pokey ice cream, the Whitehouse (aka our north isle camper), Anderson pies, the mountains.
F: Neatly farmed countryside, ansac biscuits, tramping, glaciers, the wildlife (of which non are deadly).

Won't miss:

D: the high costs incurred when jumping from bridges.
F: hungry sandflies.