Eeeek I have so much to remember... I haven't written in ages!
So.... I left Sydney and flew to New Zealand on 26th February, it was a good flight - largely due to the fact I was donated a chocolate muffin by the man sat next to me and also because the scenery flying over New Zealand was amaaaazing! There are strict guidelines on arrival at Christchurch airport about entering the country with food, plants, dirty boots etc.. anything that could carry infection, disease etc. I told the man I had cleaned my boots especially and got an "imaginary smily face sticker" haha. The customs officer who checked my passport was H.O.T and really friendly - told me good places to visit and things to do etc.. I left the airport thinking "Hmmm I love this country already"
I got a public bus into the centre of Christchurch and found a hostel i'd heard was good... ANOTHER hot kiwi checked me in to my dormitory! AND he had a gorgeous labrador called Charlie who I spent about half an hour with - I miss dogs SOOO much. The hostel was very nice, spacious and clean and just round the corner from the cathedral square. I went out on a mission to find a supermarket (ANOTHER hot kiwi gave me directions in the end)... haha, I promise I was not halucinating on this day, just very lucky! I stocked up on noodles and some other essentials and went back and dropped them off at the hostel, wandered around the city a little bit, sat down by the river then went back to my hostel to watch tv and kept falling asleep at around 9pm so I went to bed. On Saturday I decided to explore the laneways in Christchurch and found some really cool little bars and cafes and some lovely shops selling really nice things - one shop sold a huge range of organic products for mothers and babies, another was full of handmade pottery which was beautiful bla de bla bla. I had made ham and pesto sandwiches and sat down by the river to eat those, the sun was nice and warm so I lay down with my backpack as a pillow and had a little snooze.. very nice! Had the trusty noodles for dinner again and then went to the cathedral square and treated myself to a hot chocolate in a little cafe there. They were doing bell ringing and there were lots of people having evening strolls around the city, it was lovely. That night there was a lady in her 60's sleeping in the bunk bed next to me... apparently at about 5am I said to her "Oh dear, I'm so sorry I'm still in bed, I know it's terrible, I am just about to get up and do laundry and I must buy some flowers" HAHA! Luckily she was already awake and she found it quite amusing! The following morning I was up about 5am to make my way to the train, was given a seat next to a really nice kiwi but he had really big dreadlocks which kept tickling me every time he moved! ha ha. The train journey was absolutely amazing - SO beautiful and I saw whales and dolphins from the observation carriage when we were travelling along the coast. There was a tsunami warning that day (after effect from the Chile earthquakes) and lots of people were panicking about travelling along the coast. There were a couple of kiwi ladies in their 50's in the carriage I was in and we were trying to make light of the situation saying things like we'd better get our goggles and flippers out so we could enjoy the scenery but unfortunately nobody else found it funny! Oops. Anwyay, we ended up stuck in a place in the middle of nowhere called ferniehurst for 3 hours as we weren't allowed any closer to the coast whilst the tsunami was expected. Well... the tsunami never came so we were allowed to carry on and I eventually arrived in Picton and went to find Calli who'd arrived on the interislander from Wellington and had a scone ready and waiting for me in a cafe!!! It was so nice to see her and a bit odd too (in a good way!!) At the same time as being odd, it also seemed very normal... I know that doesn't make sense but I don't really know how to explain it!!! Due to the fact I was 3 hours late, we missed the bus to Nelson which we wanted to get so we dumped our backpacks for a few hours and wandered round Picton... it is tiny but very pretty!
I am running out of internet time so will have to stop for now but briefly - we've been to Nelson, did a wine tasting tour on our first day and hiked Abel Tasman on our second day then we came to Franz Josef where we are at the moment, we coudlnt get on the glacier hike yesterday as it was full so we did it today - WOW!!! So amazing!! I loved it. We are staying in a converted caravan called 'the love shack' which is fab! Will update you more next time! Lots of love x
Eek I've run out of internet time, tbc!
No comments:
Post a Comment