A word of warning: this is a very long post. I tried to break up the text with pictures, but it is still quite a bit of reading.
Saturday, October 15
Before I could get on a plane to go to Christchurch, I had to do laundry so I had clean clothes to wear. After I finished, I grew very antsy just waiting around until it was time to go to the airport.
My flight was uneventful and even arrived about 15 minutes early. I took the bus to Bev’s flat, and we were finally able to give each other a moose hug! We made fried rice for dinner, which I had been looking forward to since last leaving Christchurch, and we watched Wales play France in the first semi-final. France won by one point, but they were ahead the whole match.
Sunday, October 16
This morning, Bev and I went to the store to buy food for our time in Christchurch. We got supplies for cookies, chicken Parmesan, and more fried rice. I also bought another cross stitch because I am almost finished with my current one. It is much more complicated than any I have done before, but I am excited to start it. On the way back to Bev’s flat, I got some sushi and Bev got ice cream for a snack.
When we got back to Bev’s flat, we made one batch of chocolate chip and one batch of peanut butter cookies, which ended up making 70 cookies. We plan to make as many cookies as we can so we can have them during our trip up to Wellington and I can have some while studying for finals. While our cookies baked, we watched ‘Big Bang’ and worked on our cross stitches.
Since our eating schedule got thrown off a bit, we ended up making toasties (grilled cheese sandwiches) around 3p.m. We sat on the balcony and had toasties, cookies, and milk.
Around 7p.m., Bev’s friend and one of her flatmates came over. We ordered Hells Pizza online so we could pick it up on our way to the Fan Zone to watch the All Blacks semi-final match against Australia. It took about 45 minutes to walk to the Fan Zone, but it was a nice walk, and it made Bev and me hungrier for our pizza.
The atmosphere at the Fan Zone was more relaxed than I expected. It seemed more like a family-friendly Fan Zone. There were two big screens on opposite ends of a big field, and there were bleachers on each side of the field. The middle area was free, and there was enough room so most people could sit on the grass. We found seats on the grass pretty close to one of the screens, which was really nice. The match was very exciting; there seemed to be lots of bleeding players but no serious injuries. It was incredibly physical; all the players looked exhausted at the end. The All Blacks won 20-6, which made most of the crowd at the Fan Zone excited. Instead of walking back to the flats in the dark, we shared a taxi with a few other girls, so it only cost $3 each.
Monday, October 17
Bev and I woke up at 7a.m. for breakfast, and at 7:30, Bev called the skydiving company to make sure the weather was good. We left her flat at 7:45 because we thought it would take an hour to walk to where we were being picked up, and we had to be there at 9a.m. We had gotten the directions online the night before, so we thought we could manage it. The directions were fine for a while, but then we couldn’t find the road we were looking for. We ended up asking two people for directions at various times, and we barely made it to the pick-up point on time. Luckily, the van was a little late. There was another girl, from Christchurch, who was also skydiving.
It took just over an hour to get to the skydiving place. It is also a jump school, so there were a number of people hanging out in flight suits. To our surprise, Bev and I saw Cam, who was our Magic Bus driver on the South Island during holiday. He told us he was staying in Christchurch for a few months.
Skydiving was absolutely amazing! Bev and I met our tandem masters, got into suits and harnesses, and then waited to get into the plane. There were 10-12 people in the plane total, and Bev and I were the only tourists. The rest were part of the jump school. The view from the plane while we were getting to height was beautiful. Once we got to the appropriate height, everyone piled out. I didn’t realize how fast the plane would empty, but it seemed to take 30 seconds or less. I was the last one out, so I could look down and see all the others, which was pretty cool. The free fall was such an adrenaline rush, and the parachute ride down had some gorgeous views. It was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done. Luckily, we were able to get dropped off on a road closer to Bev’s flat so we didn’t get lost again.
We got back to Bev’s flat around 3p.m. We warmed up pizza from the night before and ate on the balcony again. Then we spent a fun afternoon in the kitchen. We made peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies (71 cookies), chicken parm, and mashed potatoes.
Tuesday, October 18
After sleeping in a bit this morning, we met Bev’s friend and walked to a brunch restaurant. I had eggs benedict and hash browns, and they were delicious. On the way back, we stopped at a British candy store and a needlepoint store.
When Bev and I got back to her flat, we made three batches of chocolate chip cookies simultaneously. We used up the rest of Bev’s white sugar and vanilla and most of her flour. At one point, we were very frazzled because we were trying to bake cookies, check Skype for our friends, and make gnocchi for lunch all at once. Our cookie total for the day was 125, which means we made 266 cookies while in Christchurch. We had a bit of trouble trying to figure out how we were transporting all these cookies to Wellington (minus the ones we eat on the way).
We kept up with our odd eating schedule and didn’t start making dinner until 8:30p.m. We made fried rice with fresh carrots, peppers, mushrooms, and broccoli and made teriyaki chicken to go with it.
Wednesday, October 19
Today was a very long, frustrating day, yet somehow or another, Bev and I are still laughing. However, we are also exhausted and for good reason. When we woke up this morning, we could hear the wind and rain outside; it was perfectly miserable weather. We ate breakfast and finished packing our bags. Bev was kind enough to volunteer to go out in the rain and check the bus schedule.
At 10:45, we left Bev’s flat. When we got to the bus stop, the monitor said the bus was 20 minutes away, which was about what we expected. It was still raining, and my bag started getting a bit wet (it is not waterproof). For some reason, the time predictor seemed to be off, and it was 11:20 until we saw the bus. By this time, I was getting a bit nervous because we were supposed to meet the Magic Bus at the Antarctic Centre (which is next to the airport) at 11:30, and it takes about 15 minutes to take the bus to the airport. Bev and I were happy when we saw the bus coming down the street, but then it had to turn into a side street and go around the block to come pick us up because there was something blocking the road.
We finally got dropped off at the airport at 11:40 and got to the Antarctic Centre at 11:45. Bev thought we’d be okay because the online Magic Bus schedule said that we were supposed to meet the bus at 11:45 instead of 11:30. We asked inside where we were supposed to meet the Magic Bus, and they told us out in the car park. It was still pouring rain and windy, but we stood out in the car park waiting until 12:15. By that time, we were wondering how long we should wait and why the bus wasn’t there yet. We remembered that we had a phone number for Magic Bus, and we called them. They called us back shortly and told us that the bus would be at least another hour late because they got snowed in. They also said that the driver would come inside to find us so we didn’t have to wait in the pouring rain.
Bev and I were not happy campers because we were soaked to the bone, our things were getting wet, and now we had to wait even longer for the bus. Because we had time to kill, Bev and I took turns changing into dry pants. We bought hot chocolate and shared a mince pie because we were so cold. We investigated our bags to see how wet our things were. Bev’s were getting a bit damp, but my bag was pretty wet by this time. Our backpacks had also gotten fairly wet, and one pocket was even holding water (we have the same backpack in different colours).
Finally, around 2p.m., the Magic Bus arrived, and we were able to just throw our bags in and go. Luckily, there were only five other people on the bus, so we got an extra row of seats for our backpacks and food bag.
We got to Kaikoura around 5p.m. Bev and I checked in at Adelphi Lodge and got our keys. But when we went up to our room, we couldn’t get the keys to turn in the lock. We had to go back downstairs and ask the guy at the desk to help us (apparently you have to hold the door in while you turn the key). When we finally got into the room, we pretty much unpacked everything from our bags. We used one bed for dry things, one bed for wet things, and the floor for miscellaneous things. We put a load of clothes in the dryer after having difficulty getting the machine to take our money, and then we went downstairs to dry out our food bag. The peanut butter cookies got a little wet on the bottom through the bag, so we had to transfer them to a new bag.
Bev and I tried working the electric fire in the TV room to dry our shoes, backpacks, and my bag, but we couldn’t get it to turn on. So we went back upstairs and laid out our things around the small heater in our room. Getting our clothes out of the dryer made us happy because we each got to put on an article of warm clothing. We had a late dinner but went to bed fairly because we were so tired.
Thursday, October 20
Today was a nice relaxing day in Kaikoura. Before breakfast, we sorted through some of our stuff and took inventory of how much was dry.
After breakfast, we spent the morning walking up and down the street window shopping. We each found some things to buy for people and ourselves. Bev got a nice green rain jacket that says ‘wild kiwi’ on it, and I bought a pair of black arm warmers. We ate fish’n’chips by the water for lunch and almost got attacked by the birds. The alpha bird in particular was very obnoxious and loud. In the afternoon, we hung out at the backpackers drying our things and reading aloud.
Friday, October 21
This morning, we took the bus from Kaikoura to Picton. It was a short, uneventful ride, and we got to our backpackers in Picton around 11:30a.m. Bev and I saw an aquarium when we walked into town. We thought it would be a fun thing to do, but then we got distracted. In town, we looked in a few more shops and just enjoyed spending some time outside. After lunch, Bev and I sat outside reading.
Tonight after dinner, we went with a few people from the backpackers to a bar to watch the third place rugby match. Wales played Australia. Australia won 21-18, but Wales scored the last try, which was exciting.
Saturday, October 22
Bev and I spent the morning outside reading some more. The sky was very cloudy, and it misted for a good portion of the morning. We walked to the ferry terminal early and ended up browsing through a gift shop.
The ferry trip was uneventful. Once we got to my room, we unpacked and checked emails. We walked to Heavens Pizza for dinner and got gelato for dessert.
Sunday, October 23
This morning, our original plan was go walk down to the Warehouse to look at World Cup souvenirs and see if there was a cheap new bag for Bev to buy (her zipper broke). When we left the Warehouse, we decided to go down to Courtney Place and check out the Fan Zone there. It wasn’t set up yet, so we continued to walk until we reached the waterfront. It seemed as though that Fan Zone would also be open for the final tonight, so we decided to go there.
We stopped by Te Papa, and on the way, we found a sandwich place and decided to go there for lunch. We also passed an outdoor market and a little section of food stands. We were in Te Papa for about an hour before going back to the sandwich place to eat. Bev and I walked back through the food stands and bought dumplings, which were delicious. We also bought a kiwifruit cake to take back to my hostel.
Bev and I ate fish’n’chips for dinner and went down to the waterfront Fan Zone around 8p.m. There were already a good number of people there, but we managed to get a good spot to see the screen (minus the heads of tall people that got in the way). The energy at this Fan Zone was a lot different than in Christchurch. It felt more electric, and the suspense was definitely greater. It was an exciting match though there wasn’t much scoring. Everyone held their breath the last few minutes of the match because the score was so close, but in the end, the All Blacks won the 2011 Rugby World Cup 8-7! The crowd was crazy, and it was so much fun being a part of it.
Monday, October 24
Today was a very relaxed day with Bev. We planned to go to lunch at an Indian restaurant we had gone to the last time Bev was in Wellington, but when we got there, it was closed. We tried another Indian restaurant that I had been to before, and it was also closed, though its sign said it was open for lunch. Both Bev and I were very confused as to why these restaurants were closed. Luckily, we found yet another Indian restaurant that was open, and the food was very tasty.
We spent the afternoon hanging out in my hostel. Though it wasn’t very exciting, it was nice to just take it easy before stressing out about studying for final exams.
We went to Istanbul for dinner because of their two-for-one mains promotion on Monday and Tuesday nights. The food was excellent, and the atmosphere was really nice, too.
Tuesday, October 25
This morning was spent making sure Bev was all packed and not forgetting anything in my hostel. Since she had to catch the bus at noon, we decided to go to Wholly Bagels around 10:30a.m. for a brunch-type meal. The weather was very cloudy and windy but thankfully no rain.
I walked Bev to the bus stop and saw her off. It was sad to see her go, but I am already excited to see her in a little more than two weeks from now. By then, both of us will be done with final exams, and we’ll be looking forward to going to Australia!
