My camera obviously paid attention in the “Swim and Survive” classes, however the dials and switches are still a bit difficult from the residue of “Up and Go.” It also tends to have a mind of its own every now and then, but I think it’s just a temper tantrum and it will calm down. It is still taking photos and for that I am grateful, I had visions of having to buy a new one and explaining myself to the Insurance company.
We woke up early – 4.30am Aussie time, 6.30am here time. We were all organised and ready to hit the streets for breakfast by 8.30am. Christchurch really is a beautiful city even at that time of the day. We had a lovely breakfast in the cathedral coffee shop in the City Square and then wandered off to explore the Cathedral, the Souvenir Shops and Tourist Information Centre.
We boarded the tourist tram – turns out it was an old Melbourne tram – and we travelled around the circuit looking at all the points of interest. Having been around once we decided to stay on the tram to get off at the Botanic Gardens and have a wander around the gardens. They are just beautiful and like the Ballarat ones used to be. We then headed for a coffee shop for a cuppa and back to the Hotel for our bags and the car. It was a great hotel right in the centre of town, I have won brownie points with the Murphy’s for booking a good hotel, I just hope I haven’t peaked early.
We decided to head out to the Peninsula to visit the Barry’s Bay Cheese Factory – not a surprise to those who know us well, but it was an hour away. This was a fantastic drive through beautiful green fields around hills and up and down valleys. At times we were going around 30km corners, but Noeline managed to hold on to breakfast and we were happy about that. Barry’ Bay Cheese is scrumptious and worth the trip; we bought up, with bickies and merlot paste, so the night time hungers won’t catch us again.
It was only 14km to Akaroa from there and a late lunch was in order. Lesson 1 – when you get to a town don’t stop at the first bakery you find, check it all out first, no matter how hungry you are. So we stopped at the first bakery and had a nice lunch. We decided an after lunch stroll was in order and about four shops around the corner was an amazing French bakery, we peered through the window and almost salivated on it. It just looked so much better than the average food we had just consumed. Akaroa is a small town on an inlet where you can do boat tours out into the Pacific Ocean to look for dolphins and I guess whales.
We decided it was time to head for Timaru and our next hotel. We basically had to go back to the outskirts of Christchurch and then turn left to go down the coast. It was a lovely flat and smooth drive down the plains looking over beautiful green fields. Somebody earns a fantastic living here going around turning every stand of trees into a manicured hedge. They are literally everywhere, obviously everyone feels sorry for the poor guy and they all have issues with trees that are out of order and look a bit straggly- maybe it’s the English/Scottish heritage, but gee its time they let go. And no its not just the cows eating the trees even at the bottom it’s the sides and top as well. The hills have Mohawks.
We arrived at Timaru about 5.15pm and found our hotel – phew I have maintained the standard. We went for a drive to find a supermarket, they have strange names here and we didn’t realise we had driven past one – who would call a supermarket “pack and save” or “countdown?” Apart from Kiwis.
So we grabbed a trundle (trolley) and headed up the aisles in our search for goodies. They have a great type of trundle here that has two of our supermarket little carry baskets mounted on a frame like grandmas walker and they are great when you just need a few things – your arms don’t have to get longer.
We went for a drive around the port and checked the place out before heading to a Chinese Take Away to get dinner. Back at the hotel we ate our dinner, drank our wine, ate cheese, merlot jelly and crackers and basically had a nice evening watching the Best of Top Gear on the telly, then off to bed.
