Christchurch

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Ok so since I haven't really done that much since I got here to Christchurch I will try and cram a week in now!

To start with, the drive here was awesome! Very long, but amazing scenery!
I stopped in Pickton for a knight, but haven't got much to say about that as i spent so little time there.


I'm staying in the x base hostel at the mo. It's really nice, but i had a terrible night’s sleep on my first night. A guy in my room has a terrible cough and when he wasn’t coughing he was snoring so loud! I asked to move rooms which was no problem. I headed into town and looked around Cathedral square. It’s a bit of a pedestrian area where the tram goes through and the big cathedral is there. Looked in at the I-site and then had some breakfast at starbucks. I walked over to the library where they have free wireless internet. But, it’s super super slow so I gave up. I spent the afternoon walking around city center checking it out. There is a pedestrian street called City Mall which is basically just a street with all kinds of shops and a few cafes. Dinner and a movie again.

Couldn’t sleep in so I got up early and read the career section of the newspaper. Wrote a few things down and headed into town and found a cheap internet cafe. I sat there for 2 hours applying for every job I could think of. There is a free shuttle here that takes you from the cathedral square to the casino and then down to the supermarkets. So I took the free shuttle around to the casino and then went to the supermarket. You guessed it, dinner and a movie again tonight. Exciting life eh?

Relaxed over breakfast and then found out about an outdoor market at the Arts Center. It was a beautiful day out so I walked down to the arts center. I walked around the market looking at all the things for sale, some cool things, some weird things haha. I watched a busker put on a performance which was pretty entertaining.

They have all kinds of food vendors set up as well, german bratwurst, greek gyros, thai food, chinese food, indian food, czech food and even Hungarian food. Watched another busker and then headed back into the city. Looked at a few shops and then back to the hostel. Trying not to spend any money is hard!

I walked into the city again and while waiting for the free shuttle I met two older ladies who were really nice and gave me their ticket for the tram which normally costs $15 which was super nice of them! I looked around the tiny mall and ran into a girl from the Netherlands who I had run into a couple of times before on my trip.

We decided to go for coffee and visited. After leaving her I decided to ride the tram around since it was free. It was a cute little ride but not worth $15!!! I could easily walk around where the tram goes for free. Back to the hostel.


I walked into town to go to the bus exchange which is like a big bus terminal for all the city buses and you can catch any bus from there. It’s kind of like a big bus station but for just normal city buses, I don’t know why it was so weird but i’ve never seen anything like it. Was cool and a good way to do things! I know i should probably be driving since i brought a car! Haha.. but it's nice to not have to worry about where i'm going.

I caught a bus out to the big Riccarton shopping mall. This is the biggest mall i’ve seen in New Zealand. I spent most of the day there looking around. I bought a cd of a New Zealand Maori guy called Tiki Taane who is really cool!

Looked around at a couple of souvenir shops back in the city and then because I didn’t want to spend any more money I headed back to the hostel and watched a movie.

The weather outside wasn’t so nice but i walked into the city anyways. Took the free shuttle out to the supermarkets again. It started really raining as i was leaving. I had a coffee at starbucks to warm up. Then didn’t do much in the evening.


I walked over to the Art center market again. Walked around and had a german bratwurst and then I bought some german style bread which is super good. I walked through a bit of the botanical gardens.

After dinner I decided to go out for a drink with some guys from the hostle. We walked over to an irish pub called O’sullivans. There was a live band playing and it was packed inside. We had a couple of drinks and then decided to check out another place. We met a guy in the street and he showed us where Christchurch’s “strip” is haha. It's a street with like 6 or 7 bars all side by side. All of them have huge outdoor patio area in front.

We went into one called The Bog. Another live band was playing who were ok. We stayed for another drink and then walked home.

That's it for now.

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