At 8am, we went out to search for breakfast in the tranquil morning of Christchurch. This English-like little town on a Sunday morning resembled a ghost town, no shop was open and the streets seemed like a still picture without a trace of human being. I guessed everyone was still asleep after a long Saturday nite party.
After a long search, we finally found a Korean-owned cafe, which served breakfast. Egg and toast plus a cup of tea/coffee costs NZ$8.50 per set. A tasty hot breakfast in the chilly Autumn morning, what could be better than this?
We walked along the famous Avon River after that. This river is much more shallow that what I imagined. I wanted to go punting along this river so much before I came, however the desire wasn't that strong anymore when I was here. Looking at the gondola and the its lonely punter by the river side, I find no special reason for me to do so. Maybe, this is typical human nature. When you want to have something so much, you suddenly just lose the urge once the thing is put in front of you. Or I may say that the peacefulness of Christchurch has taught me the difference between a tourist and a traveler. A tourist will restlessly try all the typical activities being offered to them; but a traveller will instead observe and smell the environment with their hearts and souls.
Our slow stroll led us to the Botanic Garden. It was huge with plenty of well taken care shady big trees. There were a few joggers, loving old couples, parents with babies in the prams, little kids chasing each other around the giant trees and lovely ducks swimming in the streams. Everyone was quietly spending their quality time. The only language was 'smile'. Noise and garbage were barely detected. Do I belong here? Almost.
By noon, we took away some sushi in the city centre before heading to Akaroa, an ex-French settlement at the North of Christchurch. Along the way, the weather was chilly but the sun was very strong. Without the V-Kool tint on the rented car, both of us became quite a pair of roasted chicken, despite traveling in a car.
We walked along the famous Avon River after that. This river is much more shallow that what I imagined. I wanted to go punting along this river so much before I came, however the desire wasn't that strong anymore when I was here. Looking at the gondola and the its lonely punter by the river side, I find no special reason for me to do so. Maybe, this is typical human nature. When you want to have something so much, you suddenly just lose the urge once the thing is put in front of you. Or I may say that the peacefulness of Christchurch has taught me the difference between a tourist and a traveler. A tourist will restlessly try all the typical activities being offered to them; but a traveller will instead observe and smell the environment with their hearts and souls.
Our slow stroll led us to the Botanic Garden. It was huge with plenty of well taken care shady big trees. There were a few joggers, loving old couples, parents with babies in the prams, little kids chasing each other around the giant trees and lovely ducks swimming in the streams. Everyone was quietly spending their quality time. The only language was 'smile'. Noise and garbage were barely detected. Do I belong here? Almost.
By noon, we took away some sushi in the city centre before heading to Akaroa, an ex-French settlement at the North of Christchurch. Along the way, the weather was chilly but the sun was very strong. Without the V-Kool tint on the rented car, both of us became quite a pair of roasted chicken, despite traveling in a car.
The journey to Akaroa took about an hour. This is a beautiful small village. Everything is neat and clean. We didn't make it in time for the dolphin-watching cruise, as we were an hour late than the final departure of the day. Nevertheless, we both felt all right because I did not think my sinus can stand the chilly wind in the open ocean.
We had our sushi at one of the bench facing the sea. We both agreed that Sushi in Melbourne was definitely tastier and cheaper.
We had our sushi at one of the bench facing the sea. We both agreed that Sushi in Melbourne was definitely tastier and cheaper.
We walked around the village. Suspecting that we were a couple of plant enthusiasts, the owner of a motor lodge approached us and started to talk about horticulture when he found me taking pictures of the flowers in his garden. He politely released us after noticing both our blank faces, which clearly revealed that we know nothing about plants. We then took some pictures at the light house and decided to say goodbye to Akaroa. The afternoon sun was really too strong for us! Bernard started to complain that his eyes are deteriorating and he suspects that he is getting blind.
We decided to source for some groceries for our Lake Tekapo trip as we thought we would save some money by doing our own cooking when we stay at YHA later.
We came across a place called ' Fresh Choice' at Brighton and Cashemere suburbs. However, we had to stop shopping even before we started because I wanted to go to 'the Loo' so badly. Unluckily the washroom in the hypermarket was closed. We drove out to a McDonald nearby to rescue my bladder. Having said that, this rescue 911 trip also helped us accidentally discover Hell Pizza, a pizza franchise that had been strongly promoted to me by Jace after knowing that I would be travelling to NZ. We instantly decided to have dinner at Hell Pizza first before going back to Fresh Choice. 2 snack pizzas (inclusive the highly recommended cranberry sauce pizza) and a salad were served after a long wait. Definitely, these pizza were better than Winnie Bagoes', but they were still only the second best, after those from my own oven. (Jace, come to my house one day, I will make you my version of vegetarian pizza.)
We went back to Fresh Choice after dinner and purchased 2 days supplies of groceries. It costed us NZ$45, but at least we got our much needed Milo! I started to miss Tesco back home already!
I instantly dozed off after reaching our hotel. I guess the jet lag effect was not over yet!
I am so excited about what lies ahead as tomorrow will be the beginning of our adventure to explore the wilderness of South Island!
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