2 Geckos Travelling Australia: Tues, 3rd Mar, 2026 (part1) Linfield Park free camp, Christchurch, NZ (New Brighton & Cave Rock)

6 degree min, 15 max for today! 7.30am it is 7.9 degrees outside and still raining and dark.

Back along the Avon River into town for our walking tour at 10am, hoping the rain will ease by then. After scouting out a place to park yesterday we found them all full already so drove around for a bit but no room for our longer vehicle and the ones we might have taken are only 2 hour parks which is no good as the tour is 2 hours. I sent an email to the chap apologising that we can’t join the tour as we can’t find a park. He said no worries, try again tomorrow, which was very kind of him. Will come in earlier tomorrow!! Passed the tram as we did blockies looking for a park.

Drove back to StarRV as the freezer isn’t working - its cool but nothing froze overnight. The lady said grab a coffee and she will get someone to check it out. We are thinking - here we go, all day sitting waiting. But we were happily surprised when a chap came in and said he had found the problem - someone had turned off the anti-freeze thing and it shut down the freezer altogether. He checked if we were happy with the fridge temp as he can adjust that too. He went and put it back together again. When we went out to the camper once he had finished Steve asked about the engine stop thing when we are parked at lights - it shuts off. He showed him a switch to turn that off so all good and we headed off with a smile.

We stopped at a big Warehouse place to buy a mat for the shower as it is very slippery. They provide two towels but no shower mat so we grabbed a hand towel for that. Found two big glass mugs too as they only have little glasses. Should have brought our coffee travel mugs too as they only provide small coffee cups. At least we could get things cheaply here.

Still misty rain so we decided to go for a drive to the East Coast and see the Pacific Ocean. We went to New Brighton as it has a long pier. Not the best day for a beach visit but we can’t organise the weather.

Walked past the heated pools where a sign said about soaking under the stars in the hot water. Bit cold out in the wind at the moment for my photo in the Shell Chapel.

History plaque and selfie - as Shane & Doreen say, if you aren’t in the photo then it could be anybody’s photo. I looked up the history - The first pier was wooden and opened in Jan 1894 and was demolished in Oct 1965. There was a penny arcade full of games and amusements and even a nightclub, Shoreline at the shore end. This concrete one was opened Nov 1997 after a group of residents spent 3 years lobbying and fundraising to collect money towards this new pier. Now it has a library, cafe and restaurant. (After I posted a photo on FB, Kev messaged that he grew up near here and remembers the penny arcade etc).

Grey sand and orange kelp. We braved the cold 8 degrees for a walk along the pier. There are plaques along the way where people have donated money for the pier, chairs, lights etc. A couple of surfers are having a go.

I thought these were Pacific Gulls (larger with bigger bill) but they are native to Australia - these ones are different and called Southern Black-backed Gulls (known as karoro).

Out to the end - the International Date Line is not much further east from here.

Walked back then headed into the town. These are the Tiny Houses mentioned in the Shell Chapel info.

Wandered down the Mall - lots of ‘street art’ done in 2025. NZ birds etc with their Maori names.

Continued wandering till we got back to the church we passed on the way in - St Faiths (1924).

Back to the camper for lunch. The power display for the camper says it is 12 degrees outside - feels colder.

Continued along Marine Parade heading south to Southshore Spit Point. A narrow spit with homes between the ocean and estuary. The Avon and Heathcote River waters going out to sea here. I am using the old version of Wikicamps before it was ‘upgraded’ recently. The company that took it over has made a mess of the Aust one and after all the complaints are now bringing back the original things that made the app so useful.

At least you get good maps with all the ‘dog access maps’. Walked down the path and onto the end of the spit.

Across to Moncks Bay where everyone has a view! View around back towards Christchurch area.

Watched a big ship move along the shipping channel from the port at Lyttelton.

Probably won’t be seeing any penguins as it will be too cold for us to wander around the dark!

Back to the camper then along Estuary Road to head around to Moncks Bay. Spotted some black swans. Across the Heathcote River. Three rivers flow into here - Avon, Heathcote and Styx.

Lots of roadworks about - they put ‘Works End’ and then a ‘Thank You’ on the sign rather then ‘End of Roadworks’ and it is all ‘30kph temporary’. They are serious about slowing people down at crossings, lights and roundabouts with big speedbumps too.

Don’t think I would like that house if I had to walk up those steps each day.

Found a park near Shags Rock then walked along to Sumner Beach. There are lots of light poles along the path as memorials to the various wars. Baby Gull.