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Published: April 2nd 2010
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Christchurch - Lyttelton
Our first full day in New Zealand and to our suprise the sun is shinning Sticking to one of my life motos: 'it's all about balance' (although granted i've failed miserably to follow this on many occasions), I've managed to strick up a reasonable balance between work and play.
I began with 6 month travelling followed be six months of work in Melbourne so as my year away from London decends apone me, Jacob's email prompting us to begin the next chapter within my journey was timed to perfection.
With little stress and only a few emails pinged between a life long friend and I, plans were put in place for a couple months travelling starting in New Zealand.
I was more than happy to tell work i was taking to the road again. I couldn't wait to get beyond the four walls of a rather grey and shabby office, however, I was pretty cut up to say goodbye to a life i'd worked hard to create between me and my Melbourne chums in a city i'd actually grown really quite fond of.
I moved out of my flat, gave up my job, packed away my footie gear but I wasn't allowed to leave without promising my lot i'd be back. I've had an amazing
Christchurch - Lyttelton
our ride up on the gondola time building on friendships and discovering the magic of one of Australia’s most vibrant cities that im planning to gain my second year visa and told the girls they weren't getting rid of me that easily.
As I arrived from my short and stress free flight into Christchurch I was greeted with a warm and welcoming hug from Jacob. It was amazing to see a familiar friend from back home who i'd shared so many memories with and here we were again about to embark on yet another famous Graff/Cohen adventure.
Over the past few years we hadn't seen too much of one other. When Jacob wasn't off at Uni we lived opposite ends of London and had our own social groups.
I was keen to use this time to catch up on these lost years but it was clear this wasn't going to begin until Jacob had slept off his humungous 27 hours or so in transit. The poor guy didn't know what day it was let alone string a sentence together.
We headed straight to our hostel in town where I left Jacob to sleep off the jetlag while i got my bearings as I walked
Christchurch - Lyttelton
Sun, sand, sea and err snow capped mountains around the sleepy town of Christchurch and sat in a coffee shop reading up on where best to visit over our months stay in this diverse country.
With the constant noise of hostel life and with Jacob now clocking up nearly 15 hours of sleep, we both woke early and decided it'd be nice to see in our first full day here in New Zealand watching the sun rise from the nearby botanical gardens.
We walked aimlessly among the morning mist and the eerie noises of the awakening animals whilst catching up on each others daily lives. It had dauned on me that maybe Jacob and I wouldn't have all that much in common as we did as youngsters but my fears immediately vanished as we talked non stop reminiscing on our childhood and what we'd both been up to over the past few years.
We treated ourselves to a heartily breakfast before catching a local bus to the nearby port town of Lyttelton.
I'd braced myself for rather cold and miserable weather. I set off with long jeans and a hoddie but to our amazement for this time of year the sun was in full bloom with clear
blue skys and just a touch of a cool breeze.
As we took a gentle stroll through the quiet village that sits within the hills and beside a torques blue lake we both stripping down to our t-shirts and chugging down the water to quench our thirst.
We took the gondola up into the mountains where we took in the first of many breathtaking views of the snow capped mountain, lush green fields and glistening sea shores. We sat on the rocks breathing in the fresh crisp country air before whizzing back down hills on mountain bikes.
It was great fun. What better way of getting stuck into the fabulous surroundings and letting go.
We were giving a map that would take us down the quiet mountain roads that looped back into a small sea front town and would eventually bring us back to the entrance of the gondola.
After a non stop downhill riding for a good 20 minutes we reached the bottom, parked up and sipped on an ice cold cider at the beach front bar before having a snooze on the sand.
We couldn't have asked for anything nicer on our first day.
Although Christchurch has
charm with a great mix of modern bars placed tastefully around the gothic architecture both Jake and I were keen to leave city life and head out into the wild.
We spent the morning gathering supplies (most importantly a football) and made our way to the pick up point where we'd be introduced to the new addition of our team - our van designed and named 'Cockfighter'. Well i guess with a name like that we'd be happy to know it was a kick ass van and our home for the next few weeks.
It was awesome to get behind the wheel of a vehicle and have the freedom to travel when and where we pleased. We wound down the windows to take in the warm spring breeze, plugged the ipod into the speakers and bopped to some Reggie tracks as we cruised along the absurdly beautiful summit road around the edge of an original crater until we hit Akaloa a tiny French influenced town just inland of the hidden bays and isolated beaches that form 'Banks Peninsula'.
We dinned on cheese and crackers overlooking the waters edge as the sun slowly set behind the mountains that we had
Akaloa
stopping off to take in the path we've just driven up driven through earlier that day before wrapping up warm for our first nights sleep in the van that we'd parked up along the pier.
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