Christchurch, New Zealand South Island – May 9th – 10th, 2017

After dropping off Freddy, the Eurocamper shuttle took us to the airport where we caught the public bus into Christchurch. Much like the universe, the stuff we carry around with us seems to be continually expanding, leaving us with larger and larger bags to carry. Consequently, we were loaded down with a full backpacking pack and a backpack each, as well as a medium sized box we planned to ship back to the US. Like uncoordinated pack mules, we drew some interesting looks on the 20-minute walk from the bus stop to our hostel. The problem we were facing was that the NZ post office planned to charge us $150 NZD (~$100 USD) to ship the box. After calling around to FedEx, UPS, and DHL, it became apparent that $150 NZD was actually a steal compared to $350, $450, and over $650 quoted by the other companies. No shit, $650 NZD to send a 15 pound box!!! Out of options, we bit the bullet as they say (who says this, I’m not actually sure), and walked from our hostel to the post office just in time to ship the box before they closed.

Dropping off Freddy - our universe-esque bags are piled in front.

Back at our hostel (which was awesome by the way), we microwaved the last of our van-life leftovers, blogged, and watched TV before turning in for the night. We caught an early morning bus back to the airport the next morning, where we discovered that our flight to Auckland was 4-hours delayed due to fog. Rut ro?! Nope, for once being thrifty paid off since we had a scheduled 8-hour layover at the Auckland airport before our flight to Borneo.

Sad to be leaving New Zealand.