Christchurch 23 - 29 December 2010

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We arrived at Coastal Cliffs our B&B in Christchurch to a delightful welcome from Glenda who had made some lovely blueberry muffins for our arrival. We chatted with her for ages enjoying the muffins and coffee before she showed us around her home. The B&B only has two guest bedrooms and is set into a cliff face with a swimming pool on the lower level and lovely terraced gardens meandering down to the estuary and road below. There were wonderful views over the estuary with Christchurch city and the Southern Alps on the horizon, a truly lovely location. Our room had a lounge area as well as its own balcony which adjoined the swimming pool and was the only room on this level so we had the whole floor to ourselves. It was like a palace to have all this space after so long in the motorhome. Unbeknown to us Sharon had been communicating with Glenda and had sent over a few little Christmas presents for us which Glenda had placed in Christmas stockings matching the décor of the room. The room was basically white but had a large bright pink sofa with pink accessories (including a little pink Christmas tree) and the stockings were attached to pink baubles hanging on the wall, a lovely touch from our hostess. Sharon had also sent a picture of Maisie taken in the snow in the UK and Glenda had placed this in the top of the stockings. As she showed us around the rooms she said, ‘of course you know who this is’ and we were stunned to say the least. We decided we would leave the presents to open on Christmas Day and once settled in went for a walk to see what was around the immediate area. There were a few little shops and restaurants but it was very quiet as most of the locals had left the city for the Christmas holidays. That evening we wandered down to an Italian Restaurant where we had a lovely meal but we were the only customers all evening. We awoke late on Christmas Eve and Glenda had prepared a massive breakfast just for the two of us. She could not feed us enough, the table was crammed full with a large selection of rolls, croissants, yoghurts, cereals, juices and fruit including strawberries, raspberries, boysenberries, cherries, pineapple etc all freshly prepared and displayed. Glenda then asked us what we wanted her to cook for us, bacon, egg, pancakes etc etc! After eating all far too much we needed to walk it off so set off to explore the city. We walked down through the gardens and caught the bus into Christchurch city which took about 30 minutes. The buses were very regular (every 15 minutes) so it was easy to get around without a car. Christchurch is the second largest city in the South Island and was a planned settlement founded by English colonialists. This rich English history is still apparent in the city's atmosphere; historic trams loop around the city, you can punt down the Avon, and the city is scattered with impressive Neo-Gothic buildings, although there has been considerable damage from the September 4th earthquake which would take a lot to repair. Christchurch enjoys the largest collection of Gothic architecture in the country, with Christchurch Cathedral, the Canterbury Museum, Christ's College School, and the former University of Canterbury, which now forms the bustling cultural centre of Christchurch, the Arts Centre. We arrived in Cathedral Square and found it extremely easy to find our way around either on foot or the hop on and off trams. We called in on the I Site centre which was located in the square to pick up some leaflets on the area. The most delightful central feature of the city is the gently winding Avon River meandering through the city and we spent a very relaxing time punting down the river, you could have been in England. Known as ‘The Garden City’, Christchurch has many well-established parks and public gardens. The centrally-located Hagley Park, the Botanic Gardens, the four leafy inner-city avenues, Victoria Square and spectacular gardens such as Mona Vale on the banks of the River Avon. We spent a lot of time wandering around the various parks, the roses were out in full bloom and all the gardens were a delightful riot of colour. We headed back to Cathedral Square but by now it was very hard to find somewhere for lunch as everyone was closing early for Christmas, in the end we made do with some fast food from the portable food stalls and sat and watched the street entertainers including some school girls who were performing Irish Dancing and busking to raise funds to travel to Dublin for the championships. Back at the B&B we had a swim in the pool which was extremely warm at 30 degrees, pure heaven after walking the streets of Christchurch. We telephone Natalie and Allan the couple we had met a few weeks ago on a walk at Pelorous Bridge at the very top of the South Island. They were delighted to hear from us and said they would pick us up at our B&B on Boxing Day and show us around the city. When we got back to the B&B we had some fellow guests (that’s good they can help us eat the extra large breakfasts!). Lucy and Chris from the UK were finishing the end of their honeymoon before flying home in a couple of day’s time. They were in the other guest room on the upper floor but I suppose we will have to share the pool with them outside our room! Well it’s hard to believe that Christmas Day has arrived and as our host Glenda and her husband Rick were going to visit family in Christchurch and the only other guests, Lucy and Chris were also visiting a friend so we had the whole house and pool to ourselves. We did consider going to the beach but decided that it would be bliss to stay at the B&B and have a BBQ by the pool and so this is what we did. Firstly though we went up to breakfast and Glenda had placed a little Christmas gift for both of us as well as Lucy and Chris on the breakfast table, a lovely touch from our hostess. It was great to have fellow guests at breakfast and Lucy could eat her fair portion of breakfast, even after devouring four fresh berry pancakes she asked us whether she could have the ones that were left – but even with her healthy appetite we still did not do justice to Glenda’s huge breakfasts! Glenda’s husband Rick who was a local architect in Christchurch joined us and he opened a bottle of champagne for everyone to celebrate Christmas morning. So we had a delightful Christmas breakfast with everyone before they left for the day but before leaving Glenda said to just make the house our home. Rick only had today off as tomorrow he was taking a group of fishermen into the outback by helicopter to reach rivers that were not accessible by any other transport. As well as being an architect he was a very keen fly fisherman and apparently these tourist paid NZ$20,000 for a week’s fishing and he went along as a guide which he thoroughly enjoyed! On returning to our room we had a very ‘surprised’ call from Kerry and Cliff who were still in bed to wish us a merry Christmas, it was so lovely to hear from them and we had a nice chat from across the other side of the world, of course it was still Christmas Eve in the UK. We thanked them for the little snowman electronic Christmas card they had sent which we had enjoyed when we awoke. It was strange not having any Christmas cards to open but Paul reminded me that I did used to get fed up with them when I ran out of places to put them on! Whilst talking to Kerry and Cliff, Sharon, Geoff and Maisie called us on Skype and we opened our gifts from them whilst they watched - quite surreal. Sharon said that she did have trouble sending out the presents because of customs regulations and had to list all the ingredients particularly in the little chocolate treats as well as a welcome supply of Chocolate Horlicks. They have a similar drink here called Milo but it is not quite the same……. They was unable to send us Christmas crackers because of the explosives aspect – but did send the contents, little Christmas hats and jokes (SG&M, hope you enjoyed pulling the crackers). It was so different to the usual family Christmas but because we had managed to see and speak to all the family it was such a bonus and we were content. We had a quiet Christmas Day relaxing by the pool with wonderful views out over Christchurch and the Southern Alps. Paul cooked delicious BBQ steaks (the steaks here are so good, much better than anything you can get in the UK) and together with some local wine and beer in between dips in the pool to keep cool it was quite a relaxing day. Must tell you about the wine though – on a wine tasting tour a few weeks ago we had purchased a bottle of Pinot Noir which we had sampled and particularly liked so we thought we would keep it for Christmas day. They had put into a brown bag and we had carried it around with us since then. However when Paul took it out of the bag – guess what it was a white sauvignon Blanc and although good was not chilled, lucky enough though we did have some other supplies in our fridge! We had of course heard about all the snow in the UK and were so glad that we had missed this awful weather and enjoyed a lovely sunny Christmas day in New Zealand in such a lovely setting. We did feel that we should give Glenda a little gift but did not have anything suitable. However we did have some lovely shells that we had collected on our travels so made her a little shell display and placed it on the breakfast table for her when she arrived home (later she thanked us and said that she was going to get some glue so that the display would be more permanent). Next morning, Boxing Day now for us, Sharon and Geoff called again from their bedroom. It was of course Christmas Day in the UK now, Maisie was still asleep and Sharon and Geoff were eager for her to wake up as it was after nine!!!! It so reminded us of when Sharon was a child and she used to creep in early to wake Kerry up so that she could go downstairs to see what Father Christmas had deposited overnight! Kerry was quite content to sleep in (still is) and Sharon had to drag her down the stairs. Whilst chatting, Maisie arrived pulling her pillowcase behind her full of santa’s gifts but she was so sleepy she crawled into bed between mummy and daddy. We were so lucky to be able to share this special moment from across the other side of the world with them all. With all her Aladdin panto performances, Maisie was quite tired and was catching up on her lost sleep but she did manage to open a couple of santa’s gifts with us watching which was a real treat although obviously not the same as actually being there. We also managed to talk to my sister Frances and all her family in the UK but whilst talking the computer started to shake and I said to Paul to stop rattling the sofa but then realised that we were having an aftershock earthquake, there had been a couple over night but we had not noticed. It was such a weird experience the whole room was shaking and the little pink plastic Christmas tree on the coffee table was moving across the table, but no sooner had it started it stopped - thanks goodness, we learned later that it was quite a big aftershock measuring 4.9, the highest shock this month. Christchurch was still experiencing lots of aftershocks since the big quake on September 4th. Natalie and Allan arrived and we had a long chat before setting off to Sumner Beach for a walk up the cliff face with lovely views over the surrounding area. They had had some damage from the September earthquake to their house and driveway and were hoping that they had not had any more from the one today. We had a picnic lunch overlooking the ocean it was such a lovely day and good to catch up with our new friends who we seemed to have known for ages. They invited us to stay with them on our last day as they were located nearer the airport and even offered to let us borrow one of their cars whilst we were in Christchurch, such friendly people these Kiwis. Later we went back to there home for coffee and just as we sat down we heard a rumbling you could feel the aftershock arriving from across the street it went right through you and then stopped, we were hoping that there were not going to be any more as it was quite scary. Natalie and Allan drove us back to the B&B and said they would pick us up on last day to see some more of Christchurch and then Natalie would cook us Roast Chicken – Paul could not wait! Next Day we headed into Christchurch again as we were going to do some shopping but the large department store we wanted was closed and the I Site information centre which we had visited a few days ago was completely sealed off, the lovely building next to it had lost its beautiful balustrade and bricks and glass were strewn all across the area. The swarm of aftershocks on Boxing Day had caused new damaged to several buildings including parts of Cathedral Square. Many lovely old buildings had been badly damaged again and it would take a while for Christchurch to recover from so much damage particularly to the older building which seemed to have suffered much more than the modern ones. So our last whole day in NZ has arrived and Natalie and Allan picked us up but because the weather was not so good we decided to go for a drive around Lyttelton harbour and then head into Christchurch and visit the local museum. Lyttelton Harbour is located on the rim of an extinct volcano and there is a spectacular view from the road into the town where we stopped to take some photographs and then continued into the harbour area before carrying on via the tunnel back through to Christchurch. We parked up and noticed a very small baby duckling all alone looking for his mother and just avoiding the cars trying to park. Allan scooped it up and with a quick sprint around the car park found its mother and deposited the duckling with her and the other ducklings, she did not seem to have missed it, but with 7 children would you! The small provincial museum was established in 1867 and has more than two million collection items and specialises in the stories of early Maori, European settlement and Antartic exploration the latter particularly enjoyed by Paul and Allan. We spent some time going around the museum and had a little walk into Christchurch but the weather had not improved so we headed back to their house. Natalie cooked us a delightful roast chicken dinner and we spent a pleasant evening with them before they insisted on driving us all the way back to our B&B. It was sad to say goodbye to them they had been really helpful and friendly during our stay in Christchurch but hopefully we may be able to meet up with them one day. Next morning after another huge breakfast our transport arrived to take us to the Airport. It was also sad to leave our lovely B&B we shall really miss the lovely breakfasts prepared by Glenda and would recommend this place to anyone visiting Christchurch in the future. On the way to the airport our driver pointed out the Old Railway Station Clock with four faces. One clock face had stopped at the exact time of the earthquake on September 4th but the other had kept going but now another face had stopped at 1030 am the time of the 4.9 aftershock on Boxing Day. Christchurch airport was very modern with large comfortable seating other airports should take note and even the plane arrived exactly on time. It was time to say goodbye to our New Zealand adventure and start looking forward to the next one in Australia – see you all there.

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