Kaigas Camper van Tour 2009-South Island, New Zealand

9.3.2009 (Monday)

Today we wrangled a camper van and started our mini holiday along the western shore of the South Island. It turns out this is peak season on camper vans, but we got lucky and found one in Nelson. A short and pretty bus ride led us to a great camper compliments of Ron and Rowena. It is a Mazda van with a high top that can be used as the third berth. It is just tall enough for Kathe, but Mark cannot quite stand up inside. Nelson is a very cute little town, and we are definitely planning on going up there again.

A short note on driving a manual transmission in NZ: This gives you one more distraction while you are trying to drive on the left side of the road. What are they thinking?!? This has not been that hard, but Mark keeps driving on the right in parking lots. The “Give Way” rule is truly crazy, and not looking forward to those intersections. Also, Mark is a little too big to be driving the van, as fifth gear comes pretty close to the steering column. Good times—but he handles it well.

The camper van is awesome. Drives pretty well, and it has a nice gas stove. Our first meal, you ask? We cooked up a nice dinner of pear salad with lamb in mint and bbq sauce. Lamb is quite delicious and affordable here. Mark has begun to grow wool.

The camper has everything that two people could want, except for the toilet. We drove to a camper park in Kaiteriteri from Nelson, and it is really nice. There is an absolutely beautiful beach right across the way, and they have nice amenities.

The photos above are of the beaches at sundown in Kaiteriteri. Tomorrow we will head out to explore Abel Tasman National Park, which is going to be quite an adventure.