Scary fun and sad times as we come to the end of our time in New Zealand - Kaikora and Christchurch

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On Friday morning we were up early in anticipation of our whale watching trip in Kaikora. Unfortunately the weather was pretty bad with rain and wind, and when we called to confirm that the trip was going ahead we were told it wasn’t due to the weather conditions. We had the option of rebooking for the following morning but as we had to get to Christchurch to get the camper back we wouldn’t have had the time so we made a decision to leave it. Much as we were looking forward to the trip and the possibility of seeing whales in the wild, we were really tired after a mad few days and didn’t mind too much about giving it a miss, plus we had already seen dolphins in the bay of islands as well as seals and penguins so we have had our fair share of marine wildlife over the last few weeks!

So instead we had a really chilled day at the hostel, catching up on our blogs, doing laundry, playing chequers and relaxing in the hot tub and sauna - days doing nothing aren’t so bad! As Scott had made a huge spag bol the night before and put the rest in the fridge, we had that for dinner with garlic bread and wine which was lovely and got an early night, our last in Eric the camper which we were sad about!

The next morning was clear and sunny (typical), and after clearing out our rubbish from the van (amazing how much rubbish you accumulate in 3 weeks!) and sorting out our bags (which we hadn’t moved or carried the whole time we have had the van, something we need to get used to again) we started making our way to our last destination in NZ and the second biggest city here- Christchurch. As it was Halloween weekend we had decided to dress up in C’Church so stopped on the way at a place called The Warehouse, which is like a Matalan at home, and get some cheap fancy dress outfits! We chose original costumes (Scott as a vampire and Vic as a witch) and carried on to C’Church where we would be saying goodbye to Eric.

As we approached the Escape rental office we were both sad at the prospect of giving Eric back - we had really enjoyed the freedom of the camper and he had been our home over the last 18 days so we had become quite attached to him! But all good things come to an end, and we were looking forward to a proper bed, so after a last goodbye we left him (sob sob) and went to our hotel (which we had booked back home) to check in. The hotel was small, boutique like and very modern and right in the centre of C’Chruch which was great for exploring. In the rooms there was different lighting options so you could set it to the mood you wanted, and instead of a loud alarm going off you were woken up by a light getting brighter and brighter like the sun! Very cool. We had a quick look around C’Church (very nice first impressions) and went back to the hotel for a snooze before we got ready for our fancy dress night out.

We were both quite excited about dressing up for Halloween and had seen in the town that a few places were holding fancy dress parties that night and offering prizes for best dressed etc so we made a real effort to look the part. Vic had bought a witches hat and a glitter wand, which she teamed with a black dress that she had and lots of black eye make up and lipstick to look like a gothic witch. Scott went to town with his vampire make up which included white face paint, black eyeliner, red lipstick and fake blood, which when worn together with his black cape that he bought, and white shirt and jeans that he had, looked really authentic. We took some photos before quickly walking through reception and heading to a bar which we had seen that day had a drinks and dinner special as well as a Halloween themed night. As we were walking there (it was still light) we felt a bit silly, especially when some Chinese tourist stopped and asked if they could take photos of us (but we think they just loved our outfits), but when we walked into the bar and were the only ones in fancy dress, let alone the only ones in there, we felt really stupid! We persevered though as the bar staff (who weren’t dressed up either) assured us it would get busier later, and had a curry and a drink for £6 before having some more drinks and waiting for the bar to get busy.

However at 9.30 when we were still the only ones in there, we thought we should make a move to somewhere a bit livelier (where other people would also be in fancy dress) so went to a few other bars but they weren’t busy either so headed back to the original bar. It was busier when we got there and there were other people in fancy dress (three people had gone as the tinman, lion and scarecrow from Wizard of Oz- brilliant) so we didn’t feel like we had got the wrong night! After a few more drinks there we went to another bar near our hotel which was really busy and everyone was dressed up for Halloween so it had a good atmosphere, so we stayed there for the rest of the night and just after they played Thriller we decided to call it a night around 12.30.

The next morning we had a well deserved lay in before going out to spend the day in C’Church. It was really sunny and we first visited the cathedral, which is a beautiful building, before having some Thai for lunch at a food court. The food courts in NZ are amazing, so clean and most of the time they have all different Asian foods on offer (Thai Chinese, Indian, Japanese etc) at really good prices, we wish they had these at home instead of McDonalds and KFC! After lunch we went to the Museum which was really interesting; they had an exhibition there called ‘Fred and Myrtles Paua house’ which is a replica of this elderly NZ couples house in which they decorated the walls in Paua shells which Fred collected over the years; they became famous from this and even stared in tv adverts, madness! We then walked through the botanic gardens which were lovely and sat in the sun feeding the ducks for a couple of hours before going back to the hotel to pack up our bags.

On our last evening in New Zealand we treated ourselves and went for a really nice dinner at a restaurant called MU. Scott had scallops to start, followed by NZ lamb and Vic had fillet steak, both were excellent and it was a great way to end our 3 week trip in this fabulous country. We can't believe our time here has come to an end and are really sad to be leaving NZ; it has been all we thought and more, with surprises all the way and lots of laughs. This country really has it all- amazing scenery, idillic beaches, great food and nightlife, no traffic and friendly people - we really hope to be able to come back here one day in the not too distant future as it is a place we have both fallen in love with!

Our journey continues with over 3 weeks in Australia up next, starting in Melbourne....

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