Having had multiple gins and gone to bed at about 10.30pm (does such a time actually exist?) and having set the alarm for 5.15am, we were both wide awake at 4am. A cup of tea, a bit of a read and then we were away, right on time, i.e. 15 minutes later than we said we would be departing at 5.45... That is pretty good going for us!
We didn't toot at Alan and Greg - way too early for them and the many other sleeping campers, and we are not that inconsiderate.
The drive into Christchurch was peaceful - no rush as we had given ourselves plenty of time, even though we left 15 minutes later than scheduled. I am always confused by Christchurch - in fact I think Canterbury itself confuses me - I was constantly thinking that Hanmer Springs was north of Kaikoura (doh!) and felt disoriented the whole time we were there. Of course that could have been as a result of my compacted spine cutting off the necessary blood flow to the part of my brain that has the compass in it. Who knows? However I think it is more likely that I mis-remembered the map and I thought that getting to Hanmer from Kaikoura involved heading north-west, whereas in fact it involves heading south-west.
So I was already confused before we got to Christchurch and it is not a city I am am very familiar with - I have been here lots for work over the years, but generally that means taxi rides from and to the airport, and as long as the drivers know where they are going I haven't needed to worry.
So it is a good thing we have the TomTom app on the ipad. The RV Super Centre was where we were heading for - to get a new wind down, wind up bike rack fitted. We have been finding that lifting the bikes on to the already fitted rack is a struggle, and as we are aging (and that won't be reversed physically, even if it will mentally) being able to get the bikes on and off more easily would mean we would use them more. Instead of having them merely as a decoration on the back of the motorhome - although they do look rather grand, of course.
We arrived in good time at the RVSC and, in more of a rush than we were quite ready for, Paul whisked the motorhome around to the workshop - fortunately I had put my kindle into David's backpack, but there was no time to pack anything else that wasn't already in there.
And we had to stay away for the day. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!
We had both had not a big amount of sleep, we were both not used to alcohol anymore so were feeling tired from that too, and now we were faced with 8 hours of having to be upright! Quelle domage (or is it quel domage - is sorrow male or female in French?)
We headed in an Uber for a cafe for breakfast to work out how to fill the time. Movies that we could close our eyes through, wandering around, ... But my idea won: I phoned the holiday park and asked if they had a double room that we could use for the day. Yes they did. Yay! So we decamped there after going to the supermarket nearby, and slept and blobbed and slept our way through the day. Bliss! And probably for about the same cost as taxis and movies and the inevitable junk food that would have been required to stop us from becoming comatose.
But my question is when did we get so that an evening of gins and a night of little sleep meant a day of sleep was required?
The new bike rack is cool - it will take some time to get used to as it is a bit more complicated than just undoing the wheel straps and the gripping bars. We have to undo the four straps that hold the moving parts of the rack firm against the brackets attached to the motorhome, and then we have to wind the rack out and down to about 30cm off the ground. Then we can unload the bikes, wind the rack back up, secure the straps, fold the rack up so it sits tighter. So it takes a bit more time, but is much easier on our bodies!
I was going to post a photo of the bikes on it but cannot organise to get the photo from my phone to the computer in a place I can find the damn thing. So I'm sorry, no photo!
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