I gotta say one thing, though. I "love" the Kiwis. While getting our pre-paid phone cards and surfstick, we asked the salesman if there is a cafe to sit in nearby. What happened was a very detailed "What to see in and around Christchurch" with little tips for the journey. Generally it turns out to be very easy to chat with people. Really cool!
Christchurch was nothing to write home about, though. The earthquake from 2010 still has an after effect on the city. Building sites and road repairs everywhere... which brings me to driving :D The adrenaline-rush doesn't stop. After several near death experiences after turning right on the wrong side of the road, we slowly got used to the left-handed traffic. Funny how one instinctively grabs to the right when wanting to change gears (well, directions. The car has an automatic).
Since the rain and winds stopped us from doing anything farther away, we decided to drive to the small harbour town Lyttelton to have a look at the sea side. By this point the wind was almost hurrican-like. I'll be honest, I loved it. It shouldn't be like this all the time, but it reminded me of my time in Scotland. We tried to take some pics from higher up, to catch the rain and mist as well as the harbour, but our camera was not up to the task (The pictures did not catch the "atmosphere" entirely).
Now, after having returned to our little cottage, we're waiting out the day relaxing and tomorrow we'll be off to Dunédin. Since the weather will be similar tomorrow, we'll first visit the brewery in the evening and the next days, we'll finally tackle New Zealand's country-side as the weather forecasts promise sunny 20 °C for the coming week.
Christchurch: Beware the tram!
Lyttelton's Harbour in the pouring rain...
Lyttelton's hillside (Harbour is to the right)...
Isi in the pouring rain (can you see the water drip off her nose? :D)
Schön, dass ihr gut angekommen seid, und nicht ins meer geweht wurdet! Ich wünsche euch noch ganz viel Spaß und freue mich auf viele posts :)
ReplyDeleteLiebe Grüße,
Waltraud
Heyho, you've finally made it, nice! :-)
ReplyDeleteYour encounter with the salesman was exactly what we've experienced during our stay 2 years back. It'll stay like this, I promise. ;-)
Really hope you'll get better weather in the next days and weeks. And just remember our advice to just follow the sun. A few more hours in the car is nothing compared to some sunny days.
Looking forward to more posts & pics! :-)