It was a bit sad leaving Nelson, knowing that we only had one more destination before heading back home to Australia (is it weird that I feel like it’s home?) But the thing that made it DEVASTATING was the fact that about halfway through our Harry Potter audiobook, Emma realized that only half of it got uploaded onto her iPod. We were depressed about this (obviously) but we journeyed on, stopping in Picton for some lunch and listening to 90’s music (always a surefire way to get me back in a better mood).
We checked into our hostel in Christchurch in the afternoon and discovered this market that was held right across the street that sold food on Fridays and crafts on Saturdays/Sundays. So we walked over and checked out all the homemade food (and Lauren and I bought some cupcakes. Typical.) After dinner, we went grocery shopping (yes, again…) where we discovered the best grocery store we’d seen by far. It was set up kind of like Costco and had really cheap prices, but you didn’t have to buy in bulk. This is what I call a win-win. We called up the guys we had met in Queenstown and were planning on going to see this improv comedy show with them, but it was sold out. So instead, the guys invited us back to their flat were we met a bunch of their other flat mates and friends (almost all of whom were international as well, which was neat). Their flat was located right in Cathedral Square which is basically the center of Christchurch and they lived behind this alley above 2 bars which made for a fun time. After hanging out in their flat for a bit, we went out to this 80’s club called Boogie Nights were I felt like I could’ve seen my parents dancing across the room. But it was a blast.
The next day we slept in and walked across the street to the art market again, checking out all the handmade scarves, pottery, and the international food booths (mmm, Nutella crepes…) The whole thing was like the Ann Arbor Art Fair on a small scale so it was cool. Also right across the street were these giant Botanical Gardens were we spent the majority of the afternoon. They had this rose garden which had over 100 different types of roses and a greenhouse and this lake which you could canoe on. It was absolutely beautiful. After dinner, we met up again with Anja and Antje and were invited back over to our new friends’ flat. We went out again that night to this Irish bar called Sullivans (where they played EXCELLENT music) and made several other stops that night before crashing into our beds.
Our last full day was spent looking at the Art Gallery and listening to this Salvation Army band that had set up right outside. Apparently, the weekend we were there it was this big jazz festival so I felt like there was always some sort of live music playing. Because we were leaving the next day, we needed to finish all the food we had bought which meant only one thing: binge hardcore. :) After stuffing ourselves, we hung out for the last time with the people we had met and ended up watching a movie at their place. We watched Defiance (with Daniel Craig) and it was actually really good. It was really great knowing people in Christchurch because we would run into them everywhere, like at the grocery store or at the art market which just made the weekend all the more fun.
And thus concludes the tales from New Zealand. The next morning we sadly returned Ellen, our rental car and boarded the plane back to Australia. The trip was amazing and I would tell anyone to go there. Now I am back at school (trying really hard to get out of vacation mode and back into school mode) and working my butt off because there are more trips to plan and more places to see! More updates soon (although you’re probably super sick of this blog by this point) and I hope you all are doing well!
P.S. For all you who were dying in anticipation wondering what happened to Lauren's camera, the hostel sent her an email the other day saying they had found it! :)
