At 3am we were woken by driving rain and a beast of a gale ripping through the campsite. This was scary stuff; it felt like we were in a cabin on some horrendous ocean crossing, the van was pitching so violently we honestly thought the thing was going to topple over.
As for the poor Germans who's pitched their tent along side us, well they couldn't have lasted more than 5 minutes. They made a wretched sight in the morning huddled inside the campsite's communal kitchen, sharing tall tales of how they'd survived the big one.
Once we'd cleared the debris from around the van we decided to drive up to Arthurs Pass, the highest settlement on the South Island at 920 metres. About an hour inland from Christchurch we came to Springfield. Kiwi Kevin, who we'd met at Vara's told us the best pies in NZ were to be found here, but he warned us to be wary of the lady who sold them.
He was right on both counts. She was a cross between a female Basil Fawlty and the log woman in Twin Peaks, and as unbelievably rude as she was odd. Made great pies though - Steak for Wend, mince and onion for me.
Another hour and we were in the mountains. We came across a curious place called Kura Tawhiti which comprises about 300 monolithic limestone boulders. Eroded and sculpted into mind-bending shapes they seemed completely at odds with their alpine surroundings. We weren't surprised to learn later that they'd been used as a location on both the Lord of the Rings and Narnia movies.
Parked up for the night at a Hiker's shelter near Arthurs Pass where it was absolutely f-f-f-f-f-f really cold. Slept in hats, jumpers, trousers and under 2 duvets though, so were as snug as a couple of bugs.
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