Wasting Time in Kiwi (or Should I Say Sheep) Land

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Wasting Time in Kiwi (or Should I Say Sheep) Land

Well, we have been many places and not done a whole lot since the last time we wrote an actual blog entry. When last you read about us we were in Dunedin checking out the wild life and wild university students. Since then we have driven close to a thousand kilometers and not really done a whole lot but enjoyed it all.

A Return to Queenstown

As you could tell by our previous blog entries we really enjoyed Queenstown. Kel enjoyed it for its wild adventure sports while I enjoyed it for its natural beauty. When our time in Dunedin ended we realized that we had more time to kill than distance to travel. If we drove straight from Dunedin to Christchurch, our final destination in NZ, we would have had a ton more days than necessary to enjoy the largest city on the South Island. So, with that in mind, we decided to return to the beautiful adventure town due west of Dunedin.

After a two to three hour drive which consisted of writing our 6 Month Retrospective and getting a good head start on our ever amazing Ode to Sheeps, we ended up back in Queenstown. Our previous stay had been really nice, but we chose, mostly due to Kel’s desire for newness (and a great low price deal), to stay in a different motel. Kel’s new choice turned out to be everything we could have asked for and more.

Our new motel room, which we stayed in for two luxurious nights, consisted of a 1 bedroom apartment which had an incredible view of the lake and mountains. With a full kitchen, a living room with two couches and a bedroom complete with king sized bed, we found ourselves in paradise. The room was so nice that it changed our plans for Queenstown from sightseeing to lounging.

For two nights we remained almost completely sedentary in our fabulous place staring at the scenery, reading books, and watching TV. Kel cooked us two dinners and one breakfast which were fabulous and we only left to pick up groceries or for lunch. We walked the full forty minutes into town on our second day to catch a late lunch, but otherwise were just the couch critters we are at home. It was amazing.

When our time in Queenstown came to a close, we found ourselves refreshed yet longing for more time in our favorite town in New Zealand. We knew we had to move on with our flight to Australia quickly approaching so we bucked up, packed up, and headed north.

Christchurch: A Nice Little Town

The drive from Queenstown to Christchurch was a bit of a pain in the rump due to the distance we had to cover. While in the States one can easily drive for a whole day to get from one place to another, New Zealand has spoiled us with its short distances. The 750kms from Queenstown to Christchurch were long but could have been much worse. We did have the chance to see Mt. Cook (the tallest mountain in NZ) from a distance and got to see much of the South Island’s central mountain range.

Once in town, in late afternoon, we found ourselves yet another motel room, this one not as fabulous as the last, and settled in for the evening. We grabbed some tasty Italian food for dinner but otherwise chilled for the rest of the afternoon.

Friday started off as a normal day for us. We woke up, grabbed some breakfast and started figuring out what the day held for us. While Christchurch is a nice town, it is a little lacking after we had seen so much of NZ. If we had spent less time here or were only going to a few towns Christchurch would have been much more interesting but, having seen so much of NZ already, Christchurch’s tourist attractions held less sparkle for us.

What to do when bored in a small town in NZ? Play mini-golf obviously. Up until this point we were tied 3 games to 3, meaning we needed a tie breaker before leaving NZ. You can’t end a countrywide golf tournament on a tie, it just isn’t done.

I am happy to say that the final results are in. By a margin of three strokes, Kelley Turner is officially the champion of the Turner New Zealand Invitational Mini-Golf Tournament. Thus far the e-kudos have not been as extensive as we had thought, but maybe with the publishing of this entry Kel will receive the accolades that she is due. (that's a call to action, folks) If it helps to impress you I will divulge that Kel managed to get three hole-in-ones in our final round, very impressive indeed.

After playing our final round we went to the driving range and disgraced ourselves with our lack of golf skills just to make sure we were humble. Before we could move on to find another course a rain storm set in pretty much killing outside activity for the day. We went back into town and grabbed some lunch at a nearby café and then wasted away the rest of the day being lazy.

Botanical Gardens, Kayaking, and a Wonderful Dinner

Our final full day in NZ was spent exploring Christchurch in a more effective way. After breakfast Kel talked me into taking a pedi-cab tour of the city. As I’m sure our faithful readers know, Kel loves pedi-cabs and will do whatever she can to convince me to partake in this means of transportation. The only type of transportation she seems to enjoy more are horse drawn carriage rides - I’m sure there will be more of those in our future.

While the pedi-cab driver was nearly impossible to understand due to his thick accent, the ride through town did give us a good overview of the area and give us an outline of the things we wanted to do with our time. It was pretty cheap so, while not very informative, it did turn out to be a good use of twenty dollars and an hour of our time.

When done, we set out for the botanical gardens which are on the west edge of the city. On the way we stopped and watched some crazy street performers who juggled while balancing on unicycles and ladders. We also got to see some of the art from the nearby art center while walking through the older part of the city. The botanical gardens are really nice and incredibly large for a city this size. After admiring the plants and scattered statues for a while, Kel talked me into renting a kayak to paddle up the Avon river which runs through the middle of town and is the outside border of the park.

I, as is often the case, was skeptical about getting in a boat in the chilly autumn weather, but I find it really hard to say no to Kel when she wants something that isn’t outrageous. I gave in and we found ourselves paddling up the Avon through tons of ducks and crazy tourists who didn’t know how to steer a kayak or canoe.

The trip of the river really was a good time. (Kel - hah, I was right!) The lazy current and tons of ducks (found out later that duck hunting season had just started so the ducks flock to the park to hide from hunters) we had a really relaxing 45 minute ride around the park. There is always a catch to these situations though. They had neglected to tell us that the horrible paddles they give you dump a half a cup of water on you every time you lift one side out of the water. Within ten minutes of leaving the docks we were both drenched in water. Kel and I both enjoyed ourselves but were completely soaked by time we returned to the docks. With a half hour walk ahead of us, cold and wet seemed to be the condition we were stuck with until returning home.

A Home Cooked Meal Kiwi Style

Luckily we both dried off by the time we returned home which gave us a little time to rest before we were picked up for dinner. Judy and Keith, the lovely couple we had met on the Taeiri Gorge Railway trip a few days earlier in Dunedin, had invited us over for a home cooked meal which we were both excited about. Keith was set to pick us up at our motel at 5:30pm so we wanted to take a few minutes to rest and get cleaned up for dinner.

Keith showed up right on time and whisked us away to his lovely home. Keith and Judy, who are both a little older than our parents, live just outside the city in the same home they raised their children in. We spent the first hour or two sitting in their family room chatting about all sorts of random things while the food cooked.

Dinner was amazing! Judy cooked us a chicken dish which consisted of chicken breasts with cream cheese and a pepper and fruit chutney. For side dishes we had potatoes, sweet potatoes (called kumara here in NZ), pumpkin, carrots and broccoli. All of it was delicious and between the four of us we ate almost every bite that was set on the table. For dessert, Just had stuck to her word and cooked a Pavlova for us. This traditional NZ dessert consists of meringue which is baked to hardness on the outside, but remains soft on the inside. In Judy’s recipe she had added whipped cream and canned peaches. The Pav is very sweet but not too sweet to be sickly. It was a really wonderful way to end the evening, I ended up having two slices!

It was so much fun having good conversation and being in someone’s home for a change. After being on the road a while you miss the comforts that are more than physical. Being in someone’s home evokes a sense of warmth and security that you just can’t get from a hotel room. Judy and Keith really made our stay in Christchurch a memorable one. We can’t thank them enough for their hospitality!

Since dinner last night we have re packed our bags for the short hop back to Australia. We will be in the land of Oz for the next three weeks spending our time completely in Queensland in the north. The weather this time of year is supposed to be warm but not unbearable and the beaches will have less tourists than the tourist season. I look forward to change of climate and to some R&R on the beaches.

Hope you are all well back home!

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Comments

[Scott Neilson]

Golf props
Congrats to Kel on her victory in mini golf. But it does seem like there should be some sort of prize involved. Or a trophy. Or a t-shirt commemorating the event.