Hello readers. We woke up to a much nicer weather today in Christchurch. We packed our stuff into the car and checked out of our accommodation. Then we walked around Christchurch looking at all the street art on our way to breakfast. Breakfast was at Grizzly Baked goods. Ronnie got a Pain Au Chocolate which he liked, but wish he got them to heat it up and Aimee got a Schmear bagel which is a sesame bagel with cream cheese and spring onions. She thought it was okay. We were in a bit off a rush to get it done though so we couldn’t take it slow and enjoy it.

We choofed it over to the Avon River for our morning activity – Punting on the Avon. We checked in and then climbed into the punt. A punt is a boat that is propelled by sticking a stick into the ground – not a paddle. It was such a serene and nice punt down the river. The river flows through the botanic gardens and was driven by a guide who had lots of interesting stories about the gardens and the river. The only problem is that we wish it was longer. Such a nice time.

After the punting we spent about 2 hours walking around Christchurch and just looking around. It was really quite nice. We ended up at the Hokitika Sandwich Company for lunch which is shop that does gourmet deli-style sandwiches. We got a chicken salad and a New Yorker which had corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and thousand island sauce. The New Yorker was definitely better and delicious. Ronnie didn’t like the chicken one.

We then got some ice cream from Utopia ice. We had intended to go here yesterday but it was closed because of the cold weather, but it was open today. Ronnie got a Vietnamese Ice Coffee flavour and Aimee got Sea Salt Caramel popcorn. The ice cream was not too bad. Not fantastic either though.

We walked back to the car and hit the road again. It was a pretty average drive up the coast to Kaikoura which is a little seaside village on the northeast coast of NZ. We settled into the room to catch up on some blog writing and get some relaxation. We spent some time looking at the ocean and drove down the road to see the fur seals that live by here. We saw 4 different seals and they are basically dogs with no legs that live in the sea! They were just relaxing and sleeping on the rocks in the sun. It was nice to see them. Aimee thought she saw heaps of penguins but they all turned out to be some weird birds.

We went to the Black Rabbit pizza shop for a takeaway dinner. We got a Hawaiian pizza with BBQ sauce on top and a lasagna with salad. It was the only pizza place in town so we didn’t expect much. The pizza met expectations. It was good, but not great. The lasagna on the other hand was terrible. It tasted okay, but it was cold and tiny considering it was $23. We ate it on our verandah which is cool because its literally across the road from the beach.

The rest of the night was relax and catch up. This is one of the one night stay locations (we have a few of them over the next week) to break up the long drives.

Spending:
Breakfast – $25
Sandwiches – $39
Ice cream – $11
Fuel – $48
Drinks & Snacks – $29
Pizza Dinner – $43
Total – $195

Much love,
Ronnie & Aimee,