Timaru

After leaving Christchurch at about lunchtime, we packed up the Beast and took it for its first trip on the open road, arriving in the Top 10 Holiday Park in Timaru at about three. We paid $28 for a night's camping. The site is clean and well equipped, with a large communal kitchen and shower block just across the way from us (including a bath!) and a resident flock of ducks.

Timaru is the Bangor of New Zealand. A pretty seaside town with lots of cafe/wine bar type venues overlooking Caroline Bay and the port, it also has a large population of boy racers who seem to just drive up and down competing over who has the loudest exhaust, and the place was absolutely dead on a Saturday afternoon. It seems the town shuts down at two and people don't come out again until half ten. There was a beautiful rose garden, and a completely deserted funfair.

Tomorow we are off to Oamaru. It'll be a lot more driving than today, but we should see a lot along the way too!