Day 12 - Another fine mess.....
 
By now ones sense of humour was being bypassed due to the van problems and a good nights sleep had not lessened the frustration we were both feeling . We know that the issues we are facing are very minor in comparison but they still irk one somewhat. Seeing as the van was as powerful as the luge cars we had been in a few days previously we went to the garage in the vain hope of them being open a Saturday; Dave our man was in although his face did drop at the sight of my cheery image. We left it with him and returned an hour later with chocolate to find him shaking his head and muttering swear words too indescribable for this website. The van was not well he had taken it out for a test drive and he wasn't overly complimentary about the performance. In the end we agreed to drive to Lake Wanaka to meet a man who was bringing out a new van from the depot - no problem we just had to get there, as the man in the garage said you'll get there just very slowly.

The scenic route to Wanaka is through Arrowtown an old gold mining town from the late 19th Century now a thriving café / bistro setup with building that look as if they could have come straight from the wild west . The drive there was relatively painless abit slow but we got there. Having done the sights it was back on the road and this is where the limitations of the van and the lack of power proved to be a nightmare, the road over the Crown Range is scenic which means that it is very mountainous i.e. not a road you should attempt when the vehicle your in is no more powerful than me in a sack race. It was a bl**dy nightmare Nik was driving and it turns out that both of us were privately having very negative thoughts about what we were doing. The van was not good and it took all of niks feminine wiles to coax the van up to the top of this pass. Downhill not a problem as long as the brakes didn't fail I know that sounds very negative but the mood we were in we thought that would probably happen. Having reached the top we both gave thanks and I promised not to swear again, we worked our way down to the lake through wonderful countryside very remote and stark, road signs reminding us of ice and grit every kilometre or so, and sheep everywhere running as soon as you drive near them .
 
The shores of the lake eventually came into view after we had created 10mile tailbacks with our ascent and descent of the crown range. Although the frustration was getting us down we had revised our schedule and the next day once we had swapped the vans over it was a good long hike for the morning then off to the Franz Josef Glacier for the Helicopter ride! As long as nothing else could go wrong..... Your man Brian did indeed arrive after his 6 hour drive at the time specified and Nik and I were ready having cleaned the van and were all packed; quickly transferred all our stuff over and he set off back to Christchurch (with some trepidation as to if he would make Lindis Pass!) and we went to the campsite. From this point on the details become sketchy and names have being changed to protect the innocent. Whilst setting the van up it became apparent that maybe not all our belongings had been transferred to this new van. The looks of horror that passed between "Pam" & "George" at that moment are ones that will be remembered in the annals of history . The conversation was very fast and reasonably blue as a plan of action went into full swing. We thought perhaps foolishly we could catch a man driving a van that had no power in 2nd or 3rd gear and would have to travel over one of the highest passes in the south island would be easy to catch even with an hours head start. "George" drove not like an idiot but like a man that needed his underwear back but it was hard, by now it was full on darkness and the roads were icy and had been gritted lots. We knew what route Brian would take and so headed that way; in nearly 5 hours and over 400km we saw 4 sets of taillights that we thought might be our man in the van but each time we were wrong. The first even more typical was indeed an identical van to ours but no the logo on the back was wrong, we were gutted! Eventually we were resigned to not finding Brian and were set upon reaching Christchurch staying there picking our kit up and finishing our itinerary in reverse. Arriving on the outskirts we settled into a quiet powered site just next to the main highway . Bliss!
 
Day 13 Dumb and Dumber
 
The following morning I made a slightly embarrassing phone call to Tui to explain that we had left all our clothes in the old van and would be along in 20 minutes to pick them up. The silence on the end of the phone told me all I needed to know. After dissecting our idiocy with the staff at Tui we set off to Kaikoura in the hope of finding some whales. There was only one thing nagging at the back of our minds the fridge didn't seem to be working when we weren't plugged into a power site.........
 
The journey up the coast was quite a contrast to the scenery we had experienced and savoured over the last few days, gone were the snowy mountains replaced by rolling flatter farmland and occasional glimpses of the sea as we headed north. Stopping on route at Woodend Beach and took the breakfast of champions - porridge. A walk on the beach cleared our heads and allowed us to gaze upon our new surroundings; there is something soothing about the ocean especially when you are feeling particularly stupid . The whales at Kaikoura were waiting for us and so with a renewed enthusiasm we got back in the van and moved up the coast taking in the sights and sounds of the east coast. Having lunch at Waikuku Beach looking out over a particularly bleak Pacific Ocean both of us remarked how much the countryside could be that of England.

Arriving at Kaikoura lookout just in time for sunset it was great to sit back and take it all in. However we had no lights and the fridge wasn't working which meant the battery wasn't charging I didn't know whether to laugh or cry here we are on our 2nd van getting ready to fulfil a lifelong dream of seeing the whales and the chicken is defrosting. Bugger! We found a powered site and then a liquor store and kept our spirits up by "Skypeing" home and showing them the interior of our van on the webcam. I think they were very jealous of our compact and bijou living quarters!