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Our last day as wandering travellers came to an end today with us waking to a fantastic view, yet more glorious weather, and a seriously hungry hen. We sorted out the cupboards, which didn’t take long as there weren’t many (oh for a Cheapa Camper!!), and packed our bags. We congratulated ourselves on the fact that we hadn’t seriously overstocked the food cupboard, and only had two tins of chickpeas and a pasta sauce left over which I’d been keeping for serious emergencies. It appears that chickens like chick peas ... must be something to do with the name.
We drove into Christchurch with the fuel warning light flashing as John was determined it would be on fumes by the time we got there - I think he succeeded! We handed over the van and caught the shuttle into the City. Having booked into our Hotel, the IBIS, which is very central, with the desired level of luxury (it had a bed and an en suite that wasn’t a chemical loo!) - and a Guest laundry in the basement. What more could we ask for!!
After a visit to the Post Office to post back some of the magazines
and maps, guides, etc that we’ve accumulated (and yes, I did buy some back issues of one magazine), we wandered around the centre of the City. The hotel is literally round the corner from Cathedral Square, and from there we walked along the banks of the River Avon watching a student earning a living by punting tourists up and down. They say that Christchurch is an English City and I can see why - with its Oxford and Cambridge Terraces.
What did strike us was how quiet it was - it reminded us of walking around an English City on a Sunday. Even the traffic, such as it was, seemed muted as it passed.
After a little bit of trouble (!) we eventually found a shop called ‘Champions of the World’ which is the All Blacks Rugby Shop (not too sure some of us would agree with the name, but we wouldn’t argue with it here!) and we purchased two tickets for the exciting make or break game that evening where local team The Crusaders had to beat the Australian team The Brumbies to get into the Super 14 finals.
Seven thirty that evening saw us seated
in the new stadium that has been built for next year’s World Cup, and a beauty it is too. The English and Welsh teams will be based in Christchurch and many of their matches will be held here. Unfortunately we missed the jousting which is a focal point at the beginning of the Crusaders’ games to get the crowd into the mood, but we were ready ...
Both teams had a number of familiar faces - we were pleased to see both Giteau and Daniel Parker playing - although surprisingly ‘Dan The Man’ missed his first 3 kicks at goal. I had trouble stopping John from shouting ‘you’re no Jonny’ together with other inflammatory comments about All Black prowess next year if this is what the kicking was going to be like!
However, soon the Crusaders’ were scoring well, and this is where we got our next surprise. Despite bursts of fire on every home score (nothing for the opposition) and the occasional plea from the commentator for the crowd to support their team, which would result in a desultory ‘yeah’, there was overwhelming silence. We had 3 British students in front of us (an Irishman, an Englishman
and a Scot to quote the start of most jokes!) and they like us jumped up every time there was a try ... but no-one else did. I cracked in the end, and during the second half said to the Kiwi next to me ‘D’youse not sing or anything to support your team even when they score?’ (notice the use of d’youse ... I’m learning to speak the lingo). Answer: ‘ah no - we just like to critique the play’. ‘So do we’ I replied ‘but we sing while we’re doing it’.
The second half saw the fog start to roll in making for a very strange atmosphere - sitting watching a key game that the home team won by a significant margin in front of an almost silent crowd. We went and celebrated with a wonderful Chinese meal at Joyful, a super restaurant that had been recommended - and who kindly let us in even though they had stopped serving for the night ... they close restaurants early here!
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