After returning to Queenstown, by hitching with 3 local girls who just came to the hut for an overnight hike, I managed to get a hostel room for the night. It was very busy there, so 3rd try lucky!
I decided to do another rental car relocation to Christchurch. I took it over 3 days.
My first afternoon was a drive through to Timaru. I wanted to stop on the way at an gold mining site from the 1860s but the weather was pretty poor and entry fee expensive.
From here I headed to the Banks Peninsula, east of Christchurch. I drove to Akaroa township through the windy, uphill road. The settlement is French and has lots of tourists. The view is normally pretty good but it was hazy…still due to the Australian bushfires!
I spent two nights in Okuti Valley in a converted truck. It was located in a huge farm garden, really different!
I got up early on Saturday to do a road trip around the peninsula, to Little Akaloa then Okains Bay. The roads that I travelled on were super narrow, so I was glad that I didn’t meet any oncoming cars- just cows 🙂
Before dropping the car off on Monday I went via Lyttelton to see how it was recovering after the earthquake. It is slowly getting there, the port is larger but the little town still has many damaged buildings.
I then made my way to Lydia and Andre’s place to figure out my next step after deciding to quit the trail.
