Christchurch and Kaikoura

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I left Queenstown for Christchurch on February 1st. This was a very long day on the Kiwi bus! I stayed 2 nights in Christchurch and truly didn't do too much there. I had amazing hot and sour soup and satay chicken for dinner with Amy and Michael the first night we were there. It was sort of a "farewell" since they were leaving for Kaikoura the following morning. I knew we would be able to possibly catch up briefly during my one night in Kaikoura, but essentially this was our last night together. My time in Christchurch was very independent. I spent most of my day off shopping for a cardigan (it was very cold there) and found pretty much everything BUT a cardigan! That evening more people came in on the next Kiwi bus and I was able to catch up with different people we've travelled with along the way. Many people had flights out of Christchurch so this really was "goodbye" over and over again.
On the 3rd of February I left Queenstown for Kaikoura. Kaikoura is a GORGEOUS little east coast town famous for dolphin swimming, whale watching, seal swimming, fish and chips... it was basically an amazing beach town without the sand. I went for some fish and kumara (the KIWI sweet potato, my favourite!) chips with my Swedish friends Adam and Joel and then went down to the "beach" and sunbathed on big rocks. That afternoon I wandered around trying to find Amy and Michael's hostel (they weren't staying in the Kiwi Experience arranged hostel) and eventually gave up and went to an internet cafe. Later that evening, we caught up with eachother and all went out for Thai food. I had some delicious, enormous mussels! Later that evening my dorm-mates (Adam, Joel and Ella) and I watched a movie on Joel's laptop and got a good night's sleep. The next day we were off to Wellington!

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