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Finding Freedom Again!


My new wheels!!

Once again time seems to be flying by and a lot has happened since my last post - most notably I have found a car! It is a 2 litre 1996 Toyota RAV4 that purrs like a car half its age. How can I afford such an awesome steed for my journey I hear you ask? Well unlike the UK, car insurance is not compulsory out here meaning that the prices are a lot lower and I can get a bigger and better car for my money. In fairness, since buying the car and exploring a bit more, I probably would not want to be driving my little old ford fiesta around some of these roads and mountains anyway. new Zealand roads are not quite as fancy as UK ones with the largest roads in New Zealand being dual carriageways and a significant number of the roads being unsealed gravel; therefore getting something decent that would be able to cope with less than ideal tracks was important. Furthermore, I should be able to sleep in the back of it and it came with some free camping stuff from the last person meaning that I will not have to worry with a tent every night when I am on the road.

My New Wheels!

Having a car in New Zealand is pretty essential and the freedom it has given me since buying it is fantastic. I cannot express enough how weird it is living in such a big country with such a small and spread out population. Land prices are cheap here and so the houses tend to be picturesque single story flats with multi-story buildings apparently being rare. Methven, the town I am currently living in, seems to have less traffic through it than my village at home and when driving around the planes you can go for long stretches without seeing a single other car.

The view over Banks Peninsula

After buying my car I decided to see what it could do and drove it up a steep and winding road up Banks Peninsula (near Christchurch). For my northern friends, it is like driving the Hard Knock Pass in the Lake District and has equally stunning views! Well worth a drive if you ever come to New Zealand. Since then I have also had fun negotiating the gravel tracks on the way to Lake Coleridge and the scenic route into Christchurch center via Rakaia Gorge.

Lake Coleridge in the sun

Rakaia Gorge in the sun

I cannot express enough how stunning this country is to look at as well. The photos I post do not do the landscape justice! The rivers and lakes are the richest shades of blue you will ever see and the mountains rise so suddenly out of the flat Canterbury plains it is like they've just been stuck on top. Then just to top the views off you get some stunning cloud banks as well which in turn lead to some awesome sunsets. On a sunny day it is like your eyes have been upgraded to high definition or you have taken some sense enhancing drug like the ones you get in films like Limitless etc - its incredible.

A recent sunset we had over Methven

Finding Freedom! Once again time seems to be flying by and a lot has happened since my last post - most notably I have found a car! It is a 2 litre 1996 Toyota RAV4 that purrs like a car half its age. How can I afford such an awesome steed for my journey I hear you ask? Well unlike the UK, car insurance is not compulsory out here meaning that the prices are a lot lower and I can get a bigger and better car for my money. In fairness, since buying the car and exploring a bit more, I probably would not want to be driving my little old ford fiesta around some of these roads and mountains anyway. The largest roads in New Zealand are dual carriageways at most and a significant number of the roads are unsealed gravel meaning that getting something decent that would be able to cope with less than ideal tracks was important. Furthermore, I should be able to sleep in the back of it meaning that I will not have to worry with a tent every night when I am on the road. Having a car in New Zealand is pretty essential and the freedom it has given me since buying it is fantastic. I cannot express enough how weird it is living in such a big country with such a small and spread out population. Land prices are cheap here and so the houses tend to be picturesque single story flats with multi-story buildings apparently being rare. Methven, the town I am currently living in, seems to have less traffic through it than my village at home and when driving around you can go for long stretches without seeing a single other car.

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