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Published: February 6th 2009
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How better to kick off our stay in Christchurch, than a hot air balloon ride watching the sun rise!
Rising at 4am (that’s right, 4 o’clock in the morning!) we were picked up outside our hostel and brought to a field outside the city, stopping to pick up our pilot on the way. Still pitch dark when we got to our take off point, we had to dig in and help set the balloon up. After lifting the basket off the trailer, we then had to drag the balloon itself out of its huge bag. It took 5 of us dragging it a good 200 feet before it was all out. We weren’t finished there though we then had to stretch it out before 2 huge fans were rolled out to blow it up. The huge burners were deployed to expand the gas that had been pumped in and before we knew it we were jumping into the basket and lifting skywards.
We flew up to 6000 feet quite quickly, timing the sun rise perfectly. We were slightly unfortunate in that there was a little bit of cloud cover, but it didn’t take from the views of the sun lifting
over Christchurch and its surrounding areas. We could see far and wide, our view including Lyttleton, Akaroa the snow capped mountains of the Southern Alps, and the east coastline, which we could follow all the way up to Kaikoura! Absolutely breathtaking…
After a full hour of these awesome sights and a few tales of the history of hot air balloon rides from our pilot, it was time to land. The bus driver had been following us the whole time and when we found a nice big field to land in, he had to ask the farmers permission for us to land in it. For his troubles the farmer got himself a nice bottle of bubbly in the traditions of ballooning, going right back to the first flights. If we thought it was tough work setting the balloon up and dragging it out of its bag, tidying it away again was even tougher! We got stuck in though and with it all packed away, and the basket lifted back onto the trailer, we got our drop of champagne to toast a safe flight. Yes we thought 8 o’clock was quite early to be drinking champagne, but who are we to
stand in the way of tradition!? Lynsey was asked to read an old Irish prayer, in English may I add, which is also a tradition all over the world, and after a second glass of champagne we jumped into the bus and headed back to hostel. It was quite surreal arriving back in the hostel at half 9 in the morning, with some people only waking up and eating breakfast, with us having done so much already.
In Christchurch we had to drop back our beloved rental car. It wasn’t quite as good looking as our previous rentals, nor was its performance quite as impressive, but we spent 3 weeks with that Nissan Pulsar and we were quite attached to it and were sad to see it go. Plus it meant having to rely on public transport for the first time in 3 weeks, not to mention actually carrying our backpacks!
We got excellent weather in Christchurch and our time there coincided with the World Buskers Festival. With performances in Victoria Park running all day each day, and performers showing their skills in Cathedral Square, we were fully entertained whilst walking the lovely streets of the city. Taking
in walks along the banks of the Avon River, strolling through Hagley Park and tasting the first decent pint of Guinness in a long time took up most of our time in the city, which we found very welcoming. We could easily see how it could entice short-term visitors to extend their stay.
Our time in Christchurch was split between 4 nights in our lovely hostel, and 3 nights staying in the rather upmarket boutique hotel, ala Denise and Woody’s house! We were kindly put up for the last 3 nights of our New Zealand experience in their lovely house, and were given the run of the place! They were even so kind as to let us borrow their jeep to bring our stuff from our hostel to the house in the suburbs, and let us use it to drive out to Lyttleton harbour, We took full advantage of this by driving on past the harbour and going for a swim in the Pacific Ocean at little Corsair Bay. The weather was gorgeous, the bay enclosed and the sea cold, all in all a perfect combination.
While Denise and Woody were out earning a living, we were kept
company while we were in the house by their 2 cats, Milly and Molly. Not usually big cat people, we were charmed by these very friendly and playful felines. Molly being so nice as to join us on the bed each morning after we woke up for a play and a bit of a lie down! We are very grateful to Denise and Woody for putting us up, they were excellent hosts!
We were sad to leave New Zealand. We really fell in love with the country they call ‘God’s Playground’, with its awe inspiring scenery and adrenaline fuelled activities. The people are friendly and helpful, and they really know how to show off their amazing land to visitors. It was a little depressing at the airport checking in for our flight to Melbourne but the really nice lady at the desk must have sensed this because she blocked an extra seat for us and we had a very roomy three hour flight to Oz to begin the next leg of our adventure……….
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Elvira
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I wish I was there!!!
First things first, can you explain the trainers pics? Is Adidas oficial sponsor of your trip now? hahaha I have had a bit of a rough time here. I now it's only a matter of times things go back to normal but letting you know so you don't think I don't think of you anymore!!!! Just tons of things going on at the moment. (as soon as projects for college done, workload back to normal, we find an apartment to move at the end of Feb, and eventually sort things out with insurance and find a new car I'll be fine :D Back to your amazing trip, was the balloon ride "scary"? does it move a lot? what's your next destination? Oh it's been snowing in Dublin!!!!!! Beeeeeauuuuutiful -freezing- but really nice!. Big kisses! keep sending your experiences and making us wish we were there! Elvira