Canterbury Capers

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Monday - Christchurch
We slept in. Around midday we crawled out of bed and turned ourselves into something that resembled human beings. Having done that Mel dragged Alan & Dave onto a bus and we headed into Christchurch to do a little bit of sight seeing and souvenir shopping.

Christchurch is a beautiful city with a lot of old style European architecture. There are a lot of open parklands and there is an open, airy feel to the streets. We wandered around Cathedral square for some time before heading down Worcester St. Here fortune smiled on us - our favourite NZ store (Global Culture) was having a 50%!o(MISSING)ff sale. We went a little crazy buying clothing. Even Dave bought himself a couple of shirts!

Happy with our bargains, we crossed the river Avon which runs through the city centre using the Bridge of Rememberance. We got side tracked by the parklands that bordered the river and spent the rest of the afternoon here. We watched people punting on the amazingly clear water and just enjoyed some time sitting on the grass under mature elm and chestnut trees.

We caught up with Michelle when she had finished work and then persuaded Mark to pick us all up. A bit more shopping then back to their place for home made DIY pizza's - yum!

Tuesday - Christchurch/Kaikoura
Another sleep in before jumping on a bus into Christchurch. We've decided to hire a car for the trip out to Kaikoura. We picked the car (Nissan Sunny, NZ$55 / day, fully insured) up from Omega rentals and then drove back down to Gloucester St. We parked there and laughed at Dave while he figured out how to operate the parking ticket machine. Down to the Arts Centre where we wandered around looking for more souvenirs. There were a lot of really beautiful things but we were very conscious of our bank accounts, baggage weight limits and bio-security restrictions by this stage. We settled for buying large quantities of fudge. Alan sneaked off and bought Mel's Christmas present while she browsed through some of the wonderful arts and crafts.

We then decided to head out to the Christchurch Gondola. Thinking that stopping for directions would be a good thing to do, we pullled in at a petrol station, intending to fill up, buy a map and get some directions.

Of course we managed to pick the one petrol station that was undergoing major repairs. Their pumps didn't work. Their tills didn't work. We did manage to get directions but these too seemed a bit dodgy. Using the little tourist map we had, we headed in what we thought was the right direction. Between this and, as it turned out, the excellent directions we had been given we found ourselves at the bottom of the Christchurch gondola.

Alan & Mel convinced Dave that if he could do the Queenstown gondola, then he could, despite his fear of heights, ride this one as well. The argument was helped by the fact that we were all hungry by this stage and the nearest food was at the top of the hill.

Dave was very brave. While he did keep a firm grip on the edge of his seat his knuckles weren't white and he did manage a smile for the camera. The views were fantastic and the food was great. While Alan & Mel took turns taking photographs from the viewing platforms, Dave decided to enjoy the views from the inside.

Having seen all there was to see, and coming to the conclusion that we had now well & truly exceeded our baggage weight limits, we headed back to Christchurch to buy the biggest post packs we could lay our hands on. This plan seemed simple enough but failed to take into account our lack of familiarity with Christchurch's maze of one-way streets. Alan dropped Mel and Dave off near the Post Office and then spent the next 45 minutes getting lost, getting even more lost and then finally managing to find his way back to the post office. We all had a laugh about it, and with Mel navigating, headed back to Mark & Michelle's place.

Once Mark & Michelle got home it was time to load up the cars and head for Kaikoura. We stopped off at Denny's for dinner, notable only for Mel's Hawaian burger having the smallest ring of pineapple we had ever seen. After that it was on the road, a 2-3 hour night drive, with the last 50km wedged between trucks heading north on the steep winding roads.

We managed to find the backpacker lodge we were staying at without too much difficulty, collected the keys and got ourselves into bed.

Wednesday - Kaikoura
We're going whale watching. Breakfast at the whale watching centre, before jumping on the bus that takes us to the custom built catamaran Te Ao Marama. The day started grey and a little overcast but the ocean was calm. We headed out for deep water, searching for sperm whales.

Our first whale sighting was dissappointingly brief. The whale known as Tiaki had been resting on the surface for some time and we arrived just as he chose to dive.

We then waited while the captain identified other potential locations for us to find whales. Whale Watch® don't use active sonar to find whales - they use under water listening devices coupled with their extensive knowledge of sperm whale behaviour to find place where whales are about to surface. We were soon under way to another site.

On our way we saw a couple of Wandering Albatross, resting on the ocean. These are magnificent birds, capable of circumnavigating the Southern Hemisphere in 6 days.

Our next sighting was more satisfying. Rua surfaced not to far from the boat and we were all soon clustered against the railings, watching the whale blow and idle in the rolling swell. After about 15 minutes, Rua slipped beneath the waves with a wave of his tail.

We then headed back toward the spot where Tiaki had dived, nearly 40 minutes before. Again we were able to see the whale surface and watched this massive, magnificent creature idle on the surface. All too soon, it was time for Tiaki to dive again and for us to head back to shore. The captain turned us for home and we were soon cruising at 20+ knots.

Suddenly the boat was pulled up hard. A whale had surfaced almost directly in front of us! The sun came out as we all crowded to the railings again. We watched Little Nick loll in the waves, rolling a little as he snoozed on the surface. After a short time, he slipped quietly beneath the waves with scarcely a ripple.

Back on shore we met up with Mark & Michelle for a late lunch before heading down the coast to do a bit of seal spotting. As we pulled into the car park we found that a seal had taken up residence. We were able to get very close and got some great photos.

Back to the Adelphi for dinner and a quiet night playing pool and a few drinks.

Thursday - Kaikoura/Christchurch
This is our last full day in New Zealand. 😞

Checked out of the backpackers and started back to Christchurch. On our way we got to see the wonderful costal scenery that we had missed during the night drive up. We stopped briefly to check out some limestone caves near Kaikoura. Nice but not spectacular.

Back in Christchurch, we packed our bags, stuffed post packs with excess items and arranged for Michelle to post them back to us. Then it was off to a farewell dinner at Sampan Chinese Restaurant (you've got to try their Beef Satay!). We're all starting to feel a bit glum. We have had a fantastic time in New Zealand and it has been wonderful spending time with Mark & Michelle again, but we are all too conscious that our holiday is coming to an end before we are ready to go home.

Friday - Christchurch/Adelaide
We haven't slept. We need to be at the airport at 4:30am so we've stayed up all night, watching movies, dozing & chatting before loading up the car and heading out. We're early to the airport and spend a long time saying good bye to Mark & Michelle. All too soon it is 5:20am and we have to board the plane for Auckland.

We land and in our sleep deprived, fatigue clogged brains, we manage to make it to the international terminal, move through customs and start our duty free shopping. On our way into the country we found a New Zealand drink called Ti Toki in these amazing stoneware bottles. We are determined to bring a couple of bottles home for our collection and hunted through multiple duty free stores before we are successful. We load up with booze and make our way to the departure gate.

We're back in Australia. We make it through customs without any problems and that's it.

Holiday over.

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