Day 1 - Nov 4 2010

Left Christchurch today around 10am and headed for Akaroa.

1pm- stopped for our first meal. Pulled the van right up to the beach, popped some chairs in the sand, and ate lunch with huge smiles on our face. We laughed when we thought about our friends working. We're a bunch of assholes.

2pm- Had our first key loss panic attack. They were in the door.

2:05pm- almost ran over a cyclist. Driving on the left side of the road is going to take some getting used to.

2:10- took our first wrong turn. Had to go backwards down a one way street on the top of a mountain. No guard rails. 500000 feet drop off to sudden death.


4pm- 20k from where we started our trip, we have our first breakdown. Rear left wheel sounds like its grinding steel. We pull over and call road side assistance. We wait an hour, but waiting in a van with a bed and food sure beats waiting in a broken down car. This life aint so bad.

Road side assistance arrives, jacks up the van, pulls the tire off, and then the brake...a metal rod falls to the ground. Im no mechanic but I figure that aint good. Turns out one of the rods that holds the brake pads in alignment had broken off and was flipping around in the wheel as we drove. Sweet.

Needless to say Purple Lava needs to go back to the shop...in Christchurch...the place we just left from.

We load the van on the flat bed and head back into town.

Escape informs us that they will have a new van for us tomorrow morning. Tonight theyll be paying for our hotel, meals, and beers, and will be further discounting the already amazingly discounted price they intially gave us. They are heroes.
We check into a hotel we otherwise couldnt have afforded and head to sleep excited for the trip to begin...again.