Friday, September 5th~
After a 1am fire alarm at the hostel, I managed to get up and out by 6am to catch the airport shuttle. I have never had an easier time getting through security and customs, and everyone was all goodness and kindness. Happily, I was able to catch up with Shir one last time in the Duty Free shops. We were both heading to Christchurch, NZ, at the same time, but weren’t on the same flight. Bummer. But it was cool to see her again. We convinced each other that candy was an appropriate breakfast.
From a great distance, New Zealand looked to be framed by wide sandy beached. However, as we got closer and closer, those sandy beaches turned out to be the mighty snow-capped peaks of the Southern Alps. Magnificent!
Upon arrival in Christchurch, I found a shuttle, checked into my hostel, and took off to explore Cathedral Square. First, I checked out the cathedral itself. It’s an impressive building, dark grey stone rising out of a large paved square, closed off to all traffic but trams. I paid $2 to climb the tower, and it was well worth it. Well, first of all, (for those of you who aren’t aware) I kind of have a thing for spiral staircases, so I got my fix for a while. But the view was just lovely. Looking out over Cathedral Square, I watched people milling around some carts laden with wool scarves and gloves and trucks selling kebabs and chips; I watched men playing a game of chess with super large pieces on a board at least 2meters X 2meters (heh, I said meters. Embrace the metric system). I spent all of my batteries snapping shots from the heights, so I headed back to my room to charge them. On my way, I ran into a couple of girls from the shuttle and they invited me to join them on a town tram tour. It wasn’t bad; Christchurch really is a lovely town, but I don’t think the tour was worth $14.
At this point it was only 4:30 in the afternoon, but we (Marie, Vicki and I) were hungry, and opted for an early dinner. After some aimless wandering, we landed at Valentino’s. An excellent choice! We had a really nice cabernet/shiraz/merlot blend and I had an absolutely delectable lamb dish. Delicious!
After I had said goodnight to Marie and Vicki, I hit the bar connected to the hostel for a beer. There, I met Luke, a delightful Canadian from Alberta. We enjoyed some conversation over a few beers (Monteith’s Original; New Zealand beer is waaay better than Australian beer!), but by 10:15, I called it a night. Up early for the tour!
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