Only a three hour plane journey and we touched down into Christchurch. On our descent we flew over the magnificent Southern Alps, which we got some amazing views of from the plane window. The airport was alot smaller than what we imagined it to be for the South Islands main airport. They have extremely tight regulations on what you can bring into the country, but we managed to breeze through without much trouble, although we had to declare our hiking boots, fishing equiptment, sea shells and our tin of pineapple chunks! A short taxi ride from the airport and we were at the Apollo campervan depot. We had booked a 'Cheapa 2 Berth Campa' which had a toilet, shower, sink, hob, microwave, hot running water, a double bed, and a TV/DVD, all neatly packed into a long wheel based Transit van. After paying, and a run down of how to use the camper, the first mission was to find a campsite. Next on the agenda was food so we headed down to a nearby shopping mall. After getting the essentials and booking Mel a hair appointment, we went back to our campsite to settle down for our first night in 'Irene', the campervan. After three hours of Mel getting her hair done, we decided to have a drive around Christchurch and see the recovery from the earthquake. It was very strange driving around the main city of the South Island and hardly seeing anyone. As we drove around we saw holes where buildings used to be and all the roads were patched up from the cracks and holes that the earthquake had left. The actual centre of town was taped off due to it being an unstable building site. Feeling a bit strange about 'looking for the devastation' of the city, as if it was an attraction, we headed to our next destination. We followed Highway 1 south down to Timaru, where we stayed at a 'Top 10' campsite for the night.