Advertisement
Published: November 23rd 2007
We arrived back in Christchurch on a sweltering hot day and checked out our new hostel Foley Towers. It was fairly central, and next to the river Avon which runs through Christchurch. Our room had an ensuite which when you’ve been away this long is really nice to have! Not that Jon minds walking round in his kegs, or even naked. Fi has had to tell him to put his clothes on several times!!
After a wander round and a Starbucks (of course!!) we checked out the old university area, where there was a craft market and several bars and cafes. We ended up in a bar (shocking I know) called Dux de Luxe where we were meeting Matt again. He likened it to the Glen in Aber but it was much nicer!! Think it was just cos you sit outside in the sun drinking! A very good Sunday sesh kind of place. After this he took us on a tour of the suburbs and up to a lookout where it was very windy and chilly! We ended up in a little port called Lyttleton and had some food before heading back.
The next day our main priority was
to buy a laptop for Jon, as we’d had enough of going to internet places and paying $4 an hour! As luck would have it we were able to get free wi-fi in our hostel (should have cost us) so we sat on the laptop that evening surfing for about 7 hours!! Square eyed by the end! But it is great, and means we can watch DVDs and listen to iTunes in our room! Bonus!
Our final day in Christchurch was spent writing our last blog, uploading pictures and feeding the ducks (see pics)!! As you can see we are extremely active! Ha ha.
The next morning we caught the bus to Kaikoura (which means ‘seafood’). The weather had taken a downturn and it was tipping down (proper Wales style)!! Our hostel there was pretty good and we managed to connect to free wi-fi here too! Kaikoura was a nice little town mainly centred round whale watching and seal/dolphin swimming. On our way into Kaikoura we stopped at a seal colony where we could go take pictures. We were told to stay 10m away from them...we aren’t quite sure why, it’s not like they move very quickly!! It was
also here that Jon got the fright of his life! After taking pictures down the beach he headed up to where Fi was standing. We started to go back to the bus when ‘raaar’ (no idea how to spell a seal grunt..but it was loud!)....there was a seal about a metre behind us (see pic!) who objected to Jon being so close! It was hilarious, Jon’s face was a treat and he jumped so high!
The day we left Kaikoura, the weather had finally calmed down and the view was stunning! The clouds had cleared to show the snowy mountain tops (fresh snow too..brrr). Not a bad view to wake up to...although we’ve not had many bad views in New Zealand, the place is stunning!
It was this day that we were heading up to the North Island, to Wellington to be specific. We were taking the Interislander ferry from Picton through the Marlborough Sounds. Unfortunately, the weather was grey by now and the sea was fairly choppy. Once on board we took a seat with a view, which coincidently (of course) happened to be the outside deck of the bar!! The only thing really worth mentioning of
this boat trip was the ‘wasabi incident’!! Fi was happily eating sushi when she asked Jon if he wanted to try wasabi, as he kept taking the piss every time Fi’s eyes streamed and nose burned (if you’ve tried wasabi you’ll know what this is like!). So anyway, Jon while chanting ‘easy easy’ tried some wasabi. However, he just put it in his mouth and swallowed. Fi explained that this wasn’t the way to do it and he said he’d do it again...still chanting ‘easy, easy’. What followed (and we have this on video) was one of the funniest moments so far! Jon spread the wasabi all over his mouth and teeth and whilst in the middle of saying ‘it’s not that bad’ began to cry and wince! His face went red, his nose and ears burned and he started downing his beer! Didn’t help. So for any of you who’d like to see this video when we get home, it’s worth it! Hilarious!
We arrived in Wellington (named the windy city - this is true!), which is the capital of New Zealand. It’s a pretty nice little town, a lot of people’s favourite, but the hostel - Wellington
City YHA - was amazing. It was clean, our room was great, the kitchens were clean and huge, and it was really central. All hostels should be like this!
Our first task was to track down the famous Welsh bar. Yes you heard right! The only one in the Southern hemisphere. It turned out to be right opposite our hostel so we went in for a few drinks. Inside it’s not the most attractive bar, but it’s covered from head to toe in Welsh stuff, mainly flags but also posters, teatowels and random nic nacs! As we were Welsh we were made to sign one of the flags, and the visitor’s book. The lady who owns it is from the Mumbles, and the barman was from Abergele!
The next day we set about sightseeing. We first went up the cable car to the Botanic Gardens which are on the top of a hill, so the views are pretty good! We had a little picnic before heading back down. We then went to the famous Te Papa museum, built on springs in case of an earthquake. Now maybe we aren’t ‘museum people’ but we weren’t all that impressed, after
Seal
This one was a show off!!it had been built up so much! Fi thinks it’s nowhere near as good as the Natural History museum in London. Biased maybe?
Jon found the football posters here funny as they were advertising Wellington Phoenix vs. LA Galaxy ‘featuring David Beckham’....like it was a movie! And the biggest thing since Wayne Rooney broke a metatarsal.
That night after several drinks in the Welsh Bar (well 3 for Fi, 6 for Jon), Fi decided that trying to cook with Jon in his current ‘happy’ state was out of the question so we went to a pizza place called ‘One Red Dog’. Really nice place, gourmet pizzas (i.e. strange toppings) and it was here that Jon tried crocodile (on his pizza!). We also went through about 3 jugs of water as Fi tried to sober Jon!!
Our last day in Wellington, we went to the zoo. Bit like any other zoo. Lots of animals (see pics).
The only other things to mention was the fact that we were ID’d in the supermarket by a young girl (hope she was embarrassed)..Jon was not happy..was she serious?! And also at 10pm of our last night we had a fire evacuation
as some muppet decided to set off the powder fire extinguisher outside our room. This attracted 6 fire engines, luckily the fire station was across the road! But they weren’t happy...neither were we as we breathed in the powder!
The next morning we caught our bus at 8am for our trip to Napier. Everything was going well as we drove down the motorway until 8:30am when the bus decided to break down. This took four hours to fix and we lucky things got to spend all this time by the side of the road...and it was baking!
Bus fixed..and off we went with the promise of free lunch, so we took advantage of this (main, cake and drink!)..although it still only came to $12 each! Unfortunately as we were running so late we made no other stops and arrived in Napier about 6pm.
Napier is on the east coast of the north island and rivals Miami for ‘Art Deco Capital of the World’. It’s a really cool town and our hostel - Criterion Backpackers - was excellent. Set in an old art deco hotel, it was quite swish! The buildings were great, it was by the sea
Scary seal
Scared the hell out of Jon!! and it had a Starbucks! Woo hoo! We ended up having dinner out one night at a place called Lone Star, and what is now going to be a frequent haunt (there is one in Auckland). This is purely because the portions are enormous! It even floored Jon...only just though!
Our next stop is Rotorua, then Auckland so we will write more there, hopefully once we have our own flat!
Send us comments, poor show last time guys!
Lots of Love,
Jonny & Fi
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.099s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 12; qc: 55; dbt: 0.0512s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Dad
non-member comment
Still enjoying your blogs loads - great fun. The 'wasabi' incident sounds like something to be seen ! Take care, and enjoy finding your own longer-term home very soon. Dad xxx