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It has been a slow time at the hotel so it was a good time to take off for a while. It also happened that I decided to apply for a new position in the hotel. So I've transfered from Housekeeping to F&B (Food and Beverage), from Room Attendant to F&B Attendant. I now polish silverware and stock the buffet while making sure that hungry people are kept happy.
On Thursday, May 8th at 3:00 p.m. I hopped aboard Atomic Shuttles and headed off towards Christchurch. I only used it as a night stopover on my way to Akaroa. I was a bit surprised to find myself a bit car-sick for the first couple hours. As it turned out my stomach was out of it for a couple of days. Curious... Sitting across the aisle from me were two guys who also worked for Accor, none of us having known each other before, now sitting near one another on the same bus. In Christchurch for a little entertainment before bed, I sat on a bench in Cathedral Square. Three rather drunken boys sat down with me and we chatted for about 15 minutes before they wandered off for their next
bit of partying. They certainly provided some amusement, I then wandered off to bed at Base Backpackers.
Friday was a mildly cloudy day with some definite wind. It made it a bit difficult to take pictures on the way into Akaroa. The shuttle took about two hours so I arrived around noon. After grabbing a bit of lunch in the backpacker, Chez la Mer, I went for a wander. It was so refreshing, rejuvenating... I was so incredibly happy to be by the ocean and no longer in Queenstown. The air was fresh, the people were friendly, and I was free. After returning to the backpacker for dinner, I met another girl staying there, Chloe. We went to the pub next door with a french lady, Emanuella for a beer and chatted with some locals.
Chloe and I went for a drive around the peninsula on Saturday. We visited Le Bons Bay, Okains Bay, ate lunch in the Hilltop Cafe and tasted the cheese at Barry's Bay Cheese. Before coming all the way back into town we stopped at
Tree Crop Farm .
On Sunday I was intending to go to Hamner Springs. As fate would have it, there was
Le Bons Bay
Me and my new hat. no bus going straight through on that day and considering I didn't want to spend the night in Christchurch, I wound up going on to Kaikoura instead. I spent the afternoon wandering around Christchurch, waiting for my bus which I almost missed. While waiting I ate some Indian food, and made my own earrings with flourite and amethyst at The Bead Shop. I got to Kaikoura, got a bit lost and a bit cranky until I entered Dolphin Lodge where I was immediately welcomed and made comfortable. I played Cluedo with Hayley and Mark who work there and a couple other guests.
It had been bad weather in Kaikoura for a couple days so on Monday when the weather was finally better, a bunch of people got out on the first whale watch, including me. There was a strong sea-sickness warning so the people I went with and I all took the sea-sickness pills. Unfortunately it didn't work well enough for me and I lost my breakfast, before which I had managed to get a couple photos but not of what I was trying take. There were albatross with a 2m wing span but they came and went so
quickly and the boat was rocking so much I only got a few pictures of ocean and mountain. The crew hadn't been out for a while and as a result they took quite a while trying to find the whales. Eventually we found one sperm whale but he only stayed for a couple minutes before diving back under. We then had to return to shore which I was so grateful for. It would have been nice to have calmer waters and see more sea-life but I was quite content with the experience anyway and we did get a partial refund. The people I had met checked out that day but another girl, Gabriella from Holland, checked in and that night we played Rummy.
Tuesday was a gorgeous day so I borrowed one of the old hostel bikes to go up to the water tower. It was tough but worth the 360 view of the Kaikoura Peninsula. I stayed there for a while until I had to go back so I could meet Gabriella for dinner. She was catching a bus at 8pm so I kept her company playing cards. After that I went back to the hostel and tried
to decide what my plans would be to go up to Golden Bay. I had planned to stay for just two nights but by Monday evening still hadn't booked a bus out so I decided to sort it out on this day, stay the night and leave on Wednesday. Again I didn't book the bus so again I put it off until the next day.
On Wednesday I made the realization that I didn't really want to leave Kaikoura, so I wouldn't until absolutely necessary for the sake of my job back in Queenstown. In the morning I got up and wandered down to the beach taking a path which turned out to be a muddy slope that I took a bit of a slide down. On the beach I found a shell which looked as though it might still have a living creature in it so I returned it to the ocean along with my shoes. Feeling a bit clumsy with a muddy bum and salt-water shoes, I strolled back to the hostel for some breakfast before taking a bike out again. This time I followed the road along the beach (which was gorgeous) out to the seal
colonies where I got to sit whithin a few metres of a couple of seals. I returned to the hostel just in time to make some dinner before a large group checked in and took over the space. Fortunately Hayley and Mark rescued me by inviting me up to watch a movie.
Thursday was a bit cooler but Hayley, Mark and I went out for a bike ride anyway. We visited The Hungry Nun Chocolate Shop and Lavendyl a lavender farm although the flowers weren't blooming. In total we rode for about 15km.
The beach called to me on Friday and I sat out there for most of the day. I found a starfish and tried to save it although it may have been dead when I found it... How can you tell? I placed it in the shadow of a rock where the water was somewhat deep enough in hoped that the birds wouldn't spot it and it might be able to get away with the tide. I was quite amused that I had a mild sunburn while back in Queenstown it was far too cold to wear anything less than a sweater.
On Saturday, my
final full day in Kaikoura, Hayley and I went to some garage sales and the local market. I finally ate at the famous BBQ and again we biked for probably around 10-15km. My most happy find at one of the garage sales was a bongo. It was exactly what I wanted although I had never looked for it. It's the exact size with the right sound.
I finally got a bus ticket out of Kaikoura but was quite sad I had to leave. By Sunday afternoon I was again in Christchurch. I went to the market there and wandered around a bit before heading to my room to read. Being incredibly bored I was happy to meet one of my roommates, a Scottish girl by the name of Iona, who invited me to have some drinks with her and a mate she'd just met. My last night away from Queenstown turned out to be quite entertaining, including my new bongo. I woke up on Monday and came back to Queenstown.
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