On our way to Kaikoura we drove into Christchurch and started putting the wheels in motion for the sale of our wonderful van ‘Po’. Dave had designed some really cool posters ad we decided to print them onto yellow paper so that they would stand out…sneaky!

Most of the hostels are located around the CBD which is now completely closed off from the public since the February 2011 earthquake. It’s a disaster zone and as it was over New Year it was eerily quiet. Still we managed to find the hostels and could see many backpackers were still staying in Christchurch, although we weren’t met with much enthusiasm from the staff members who wished us good luck in the sale of the van. Posters went up in around 8 hostels including The Old Countryhouse, The Jailhouse, Kiwi Backpackers, Vagabonds and a few more we can’t remember. Along with the posters we had an advert on Gumtree and on the Backpackersboard.co.nz.

After a long day we stopped over at Brighton South Holiday Park on the coast, and during the night we had our first taste of the Christchurch aftershocks that have been taking place all year. Helen thought someone was shaking the van! Before we went to bed though we had a few calls from people interested in viewing the van and we booked them in for the next day.

The following morning we washed and cleaned Po as much as we could with a bucket and sponge and a dustpan and brush. We worked hard. At midday we met our prospective buyers, the first couple didn’t seem too over-thrown by Po and her magic, we think they were after something more modern. Their honest offer at $3400 though was way below our ideal and so we moved onto our next appointment. It was only down the road at The Old Countryhouse and we were met by 3 Swiss travellers looking for a van that would fit all 3 of them. We could tell straight away that they were keen on the van and it was perfect for them as it still has the first row of passenger seats in the back. After a test-drive and a little bit of bargaining we agreed on a sale price of $4050. Result! Having bought the van for $3800 we were making some profit.

We were holding onto the van until after the weekend so that we could get our trip up to Kaikoura in and decided that the following week we would take advantage of the cheap accommodation on offer at the holiday park and booked into a cabin for the final week of our stay in New Zealand. The owners offered us 10% discount from $48 a night, if we stayed for a week, this worked out to be far cheaper than staying in any hostels in town and the transport links are good from that area.

To see what we did for New Year visit the Kaikoura post.