Friday 09 October: Arrive NZ, Arthur's Pass to Mt Somers
We touched down in Christchurch just after midnight but then spent a long time getting through the immigration procedures. They are very strict about biological contamination and wanted to inspect all our shoes and boots to make sure they were clean enough!
Finally through immigration we took a taxi to pick up our "Spaceship" car which will be our home for the next 24 days. It is called Mr Spock! We headed off in the dark for about an hour and a half towards Arthur's pass to find our campsite for the night.
When it got light we got up and started our New Zealand adventure by driving up to Arthur's Pass and doing a couple of short walks to find some waterfalls.
After that we started back down the hill to look for Castle Hill which was used as ther film location for the battle scene in the Narnia film The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Quite spectacular geography (pictures to come soon!)
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We then continued on our way to explore Rakaia gorge before finding our campsite for the night, Mt Somers Tourist park.
Golden Nugget: Want a cheap but practical camper to explore NZ?