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We had a great rest and Sheralee and Jean welcomed us for breakfast of granola and yogurt and more touring advice. We headed out about 10 and headed into Christchurch downtown to try to rent the elusive vehicle. No luck. So we headed to a North Brighton park that supposedly allowed tent camping.
It did not. A quick Google and we found a “Holiday Park” in South Brighton that allowed tent camping. As in the US, a lot of “campgrounds” are RVs only. Here, that includes almost any vehicle, but not tents. We got to the park, got a spot, set up had some lunch and then Dana headed to the beach while I caught up a bit on the blog. The park had a full kitchen with multiple sinks, range tops, microwaves and, with the big event, was almost fully booked.
The beach was beautiful. No development at all except for some stairs and paths to get over the dunes. Once there, it was all beach and being a Friday afternoon, almost devoid of people. I did about a 1/4 of the walk that Dana did, but we did finally find each other and headed back to the camp. We headed into the town and found a nice little bar for some beers. We headed back to camp to make dinner, but it had turned into a mob scene in the kitchen — lots of backpackers and campers all trying to make their dinners at the same time. Too much for us, so we decided to wait until later.
We went back to town to a restaurant that was up two stories at the start of a long pier and had a glass of wine and more views. Back at the camp, things had cleared up a lot so we made our pasta and tuna surprise; a rare cooked meal while camping. Dana chatted with two American girls who were travelling around NZ trying to find jobs with two more friends. They keep travelling, looking for that job that will let them stay.
This was our first real experience with mosquitoes. Just around the tent, though, and more annoying than anything. If you moved a bit away from the vegetation, they didn’t bother. We scrambled into the tent and settled in for a good sleep.
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