Christchurch: we buy a car! – March 2007

Christchurch:
We finally approached the gently rolling golden hills of the Canterbury Plains and arrived in Christchurch, the South Island’s largest city. It’s quite a nice city, really. It was modeled on the English plan when it was built in the 19th century, and it really reminds me very much of an English town (The town square is dominated by a large cathedral, the street names are the same as you’ll find in London, and the small river that runs through the city is even named the Avon, just like its famous English counterpart.). There are a lot of cultural events in the city, such as ethnic and cultural fairs, classical concerts at the Christchurch cathedral, and lunchtime concerts at the local Arts Center. We went to see a harp and flute lunchtime concert at the Arts Center, and when we asked to buy the tickets, the woman told us to go into the concert and pay her afterwards. After the concert, I asked her about it again, and she said, “Oh don’t worry, you don’t have to pay!” Very nice, these kiwis, but wow, I didn’t know we looked that poor! I was wearing my nicest biking T-shirt!

We were excited to be in Christchurch for several reasons. Firstly, we had been biking through tiny, remote towns for a couple of months, and we had a lot more interaction with people in the city, which was really nice. Secondly, now that we were finally in a real-sized city, we could find all sorts of fresh fruit and vegetables and produce that we hadn’t been able to find up until that point now. It was AWESOME! Corn-on-the-cob, moussaka, stuffed zucchini, lamb (it’s dirt cheap over here! Cheaper even than chicken!).

Thirdly, we stayed at a hostel in Christchurch, which is quite a change for us, as we usually camp out in the fields, or in a campground if we’re in a town. This was quite exciting, as it was the first time we’d slept in a real bed in over 4 months, and in addition, it was a double bed! Because we had a real bedroom, I was able to stand up in the room, instead of bending down and breaking my back, as is the case in the tent. Also, we had access to a real kitchen with a fridge and an oven, and I could wash the dishes there without breaking my back bending over some stream, too. Plus, and this beats all, we had 24-hour electricity, running water, and hot showers! It was great.

We only had a few weeks left on our visa by the time we left Christchurch. This would have been okay if we had decided to stay just on the South Island, as we had considered doing. But our friends Jarrad and Jon, whom we met at Oktoberfest 3 years ago, both lived in Auckland, at the top of the North Island, and they weren’t able to make it down to the South. So, if we wanted to see them, we had to make the trip to the North Island.

There wouldn’t be enough time if we did it all by bike, and while we were at the hostel, we had the idea of buying a car. It’s actually quite common in Australia and NZ for backpackers to buy cheap cars or campervans, travel around in them for a while, and then re-sell them before they fly back home. Because we were heading towards Auckland, which is supposed to be the easiest place to sell cars, it seemed like a good idea. Our kiwi friend in Auckland assured us that the price for the car we were buying was a good one and that if we didn’t have time to sell the car before we leave NZ, he would buy it from us and re-sell it for us. Couldn’t go wrong!

And so the decision was made: we bought our first car! We bought an automatic and a bike rack, because I was nervous about having to drive on the left-hand side of the road, all the while trying to manage a stick-shift with the left hand. I was nervous, too, about this whole left-hand side of the road driving, but it turned out to be fine.

Having a car definitely changed how we travel. First of all, we could cover several hundred miles per day if we wanted to! Plus, we could carry more gear. I picked through the “free” bin of clothing and other gear at our hostel and found 2 pairs of blue jeans, two pairs of shorts, and a couple of sweaters and T-shirts that I washed up to wear for our last 3 weeks in New Zealand. What a find! I’ve been wearing the same pair of pants and 2 t-shirts for the past 3 years because anything else would have taken up too much volume and weight in our saddle bags. It was so exciting to be able to wear a pair of blue jeans!