Day 1: Brisbane to Christchurch, New Zealand to Maui Campervan to Tekapo

Our flight from Brisbane to Christchurch left very early in the morning so we stayed the night at a hotel close to the airport. It was nice to only have 4 small carry on suitcases this time instead of 12! The flight was a breeze of 3 hours compared to the 15+ hours to fly to Australia. We landed in Christchurch and headed straight to pick up the camper van. Side note...New Zealand is VERY strict with their customs policies and I almost got a $400 fine because I had forgotten to throw away an apple. New Zealand doesn't want you to bring in any fruit or other things that can carry diseases because they are an island. Needless to say I was shaking quite a bit when I got pulled over and was relieved when they came back and gave me a warning instead of a fine. Yikes.

The flight attendants on Qantas were amazing. They went out of their way to wish Rylie a happy birthday and then brought her a freshly made chocolate chip cookie for her birthday. I was very impressed with their thoughtfulness. She felt very appreciated!

Here is the view as we flew across New Zealand into Christchurch. Can't wait to explore this country!

After getting all the instructions for the campervan, we were off to pick up some groceries. The kids were in the back all buckled up. It felt like we were driving a giant moving truck.

 On our first drive we went from Christchurch to Tekapo. Here are the kids on the first night. They slept up in the loft bed on top of the cab. They LOVED sleeping up there and had plenty of space. I was glad there was a net to keep them from rolling off.

We planned to stop at Tekapo because we had read so much about viewing the stars. The stars are unbelievable because this area has been declared an International Dark Sky Reserve (1 of 10 in the world) and there is hardly any pollution in the air so the stars are so bright and clear. We pulled into our Holiday Park late at night and sat out under the starts. I was able to see 2 shooting stars. 

I didn't take this picture, but this is the Church of The Good Shepherd, a popular place to go and see the stars at night. The stars looked something like this!