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Published: July 12th 2006
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I wanna rock!
T and bully at Pancake Rocks Hey, we arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand on Monday 3rd July and stayed for three days. Our hostel was right beside the main square in which there was Christchurch Cathedral: the centrepiece of the town. Christchurch was founded in the nineteenth century, apparently the immigrants wanted to live in a place that reminded them of jolly old England- it seems that they achieved this, especially as far as the weather is concerned. Every steet in the town is named after a Cathedral town in England. It was pretty cold when we arrived so everyone's first mission upon arrival was to buy a fleece- Jonny bought an amazing one with loads of special features, for example he can press a button that makes the jacket inflate if ever he was cast adrift at sea (You certainly get what you pay for in this world).
On our first day in Christchurch the All Blacks were in town promoting their upcoming fixture against the Wallabies; I didn't recognise any of them though. I also had a look around the Cathedral, the world famous (apparently) Christchurch choir were in full voice- something about choris in churched that makes me think about the "olden days".
Our hostel had a bar downstairs, which was handy because the rest of the town was dead. they had live music every night aswell as a crazy Asian man that reminded me of Borat fromt tele: he took a shining to Bull in particular and kept trying to get him to dance. Needless to say Bull attempted to get rid of him with a few trademark expletives!
On our final day in Christchurch we went for a walk around the Botanical Gardens before popping into another cafe for a Cappucino and cake- I love a bit of cake, i do, I love a bit of cake. Post cake eating we went into an Art Gallery and looked at some nice pictures-good eh.
We decided that the best way to get around this country, where the "big guns" are scattered all over the place, was by car. We got a good deal on renting 2 cars between the five of us- only $19 per day for each car ($3=1 quid, so you do the math)
With me, Jonny and Dan as designated drivers we headed to Hamner Springs, a couple of hours north of Christchurch. The scenery
on the drive was absolutely amazing and as we arrived in Hamner Springs we were surrounded by snow capped mountains. The town/village of Hamner Springs is famous for one thing: it's Springs. Upon arrival we checked into a nice homely hostel and went to the Springs for an afternoon/evening of lying in Hot Spas and rock pools- the fact it was bloody freezing made it extra enjoyable when we were in the water. Three of the Hot Pools we could go in had Sulphur in them, which made them extra hot but had the not so good side effect of them absolutely stinking-so if the heat didn't get to you the smell definitely would.
At night we sought refuge in the warm building of our small hostel, which had a log fire, and played Risk. First time i'd played it and thought it was well good- Dan eventually grasped victory from the Jaws of defeat, in all we were playing for over three hours. Playing Risk reminded me of when Hudson used to play something similar around Mr Smith's house and used to complain about Mr Smith pillaging his Gold! (Correct me if i'm wrong Huds)
The next
day we were on the road again, another great drive surrounded by mountains, cliffs, fields and the sea. We arrived at our destination Punakiaki and checked into another belting Youth Hostel. It was a wooden green and yellow building by the sea, and oh I do like to be beside the seaside oh I do like to be beside the sea. The main point of a stopover at Punakiaki is to visit the Pancake Rocks, which throughout the day we'd just been refering to as the Pancake Place. Dan was furious when he found out that the word "Pancake" refered to rock formations and not the food, "What?!?!? No Pancakes!" he yelped. As it happened the cafe by the rocks sold pancakes in the ned, so Dan was smiling/eating again!
We went on a walk through a bit of a forest, crossing a rope bridge along the way ala Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom (Actually it was nothing like this, but just wanted to get the reference in). The Pancake rocks were so named because they had the appearance of several pancakes piled up on top of each other, they looked pretty sweet! (boom boom- sweet, like
they've got maple syrup and sugar on them...God, i've been around Sprigsy far too long)
That night we chilled in the spa that our hostel had, it was a tight squeeze with about 8 of us in there but it was ok. The Japanese Girl who ran the hostel said she thought I looked like Frodo Baggins( or as she pronouned it: Flodo Blaggins flom Lod of the Lings) which had everyone else in stitches?!?! Bull and Dan actually went in the sea like mad men, it must have been freezing- Bully came back with a bit of marble arch no doubt! After a Spa session we played Pictionary with a couple of Aussies and 2 English girls: Holtby's team of three reigned supreme. Jonny and Will's team came last, Jonny loved his arrows, drawing arrows pointing to something he's drew at every opportunity as if it emphasises his point (His drawing for the word "Drool" was another memorable classic!)
Was knackered from all the driving and slept like a baby.
Mike
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