NZ : Christchurch - Sweet As 'ey.

Having gained a couple of hours from our rained off walk at Mount Cook, we had a leisurely Sunday afternoon drive to Christchurch, and some time to go exploring. The gales were blowing the car from side to side on the road and the usually placid lakes where being whipped up in to a frenzy by the unusual winds. As we rounded corners on to exposed areas of roads we were fearing that we might lose total control of the car! Susie managed an awesome job of driving and got us safely out of the danger zone. We took a detour to Lake Tekapo, a place Ruth had advised us to visit, and saw the most unthinkably beautiful waters we had yet encountered.

High up in the national park on top if Mt John was an observatory and cafe where we couldn't resist carrot cake and coffee/teas whilst indulging in the views.

On the way to Christchurch we picked up Xavier, a hitchhiker that we had met once before at Fox's glacier. The poor dude was so knackered we gave him a pillow and forced him to get some shut eye on the way. We pick up hitchhikers to know that they're safe and not in the clutches of nasty people rather than for conversational purposes so we often give them a snack and the opportunity to have a rest from the road.

Our arrival in Christchurch was surprisingly warm. Our arranged friend of a friend was out of town and Sophie, a friend from school kindly put us up for the night( and the following three nights!).
Sophie is a medic in NZ and as she had Monday off of work we decided to frolick around Christchurch.

We went to the re:start centre, a shopping mall made out of shipping containers and found some goodies for the family, we stopped by the monument of empty chairs representing the people who died in the Christchurch earthquakes 2 years ago.

 Across the street was the 'Cardboard Cathedral' which is currently a work in progress. The shipping containers and traffic comes have become an iconic symbol of the post-earthquake Christchurch and are still scattered on most streets within the city centre. On the anniversary of the disaster these comes are used to make shift vase.

We drove to Lyttleton for lunch at the Porthole and marvelled at the quirky interior made within yet again a well used shipping container, once we'd filled our bellies we went to the She chocolate shop in Goveners Bay to indulge in artisan goodies, a night in front of the tele was just what the doctor had ordered and we watched an awesome selection of classic Rom-coms including 'while you we're sleeping' and ''my best friends wedding'  while scoffing down the chocolate covered
Florentines we'd bought earlier.

Being in one location for more than just a night or two meant that we could spend time doing necessary errands and the following day was filled with posting boxes home, a doctors visit and shopping for things to make a lovely dinner of fajitas for the girls who were so kindly letting us stay.
Sophie and her medic friends had invited us to tag along to the weekly pub quiz, where the team 'Cunning Stunt' (a name that Susie despised) came a fair fourth.

Our final day in New Zealand saw us chilling out in the 'Make' cafe. We spent the day knitting headbands with wool we'e bought from the local charity shop. The cafe was a genius idea and once we'd finished knitting we had a field day in the adjoining haberdashery to decorate our crafts.

Thanks to New Zealand and all those that made our travelling even more of an adventure.

Peace and love,

Jan and Sooz.