We flew Emirates for the first time, and I was impressed with the service as I sipped free wine and dined on smoked salmon. Even better, when we arrived in NZ, Rachel's status as "under 5" allowed us to skip directly to the express immigration lane. =) We were eager to get our first taste of Christchurch, a beautifully historic city still bruised and recovering from the devastating earthquake two years ago.
We spent the evening strolling through Hagley Park and were thankful to find at least one restaurant, Spago's Italian, open on New Years' Day. (On a side note, kid coloring pages and the availability of fresh salmon become pure luxuries when going without them for so long!)
Early the next morning, we picked up our campervan from Wilderness Rentals. After orientation, Adam bravely drove our huge van away. (I opted for a break from driving for two weeks. . . and I was more than a little intimidated by the thing!)
Starving and in desperate need of caffeine, we drove to Re:Start, a temporary mall and public space constructed from shipping containers. Located near the downtown "red zone", we enjoyed lunch, shopping, and mingling with the locals in this space created to add a sense of normalcy during recovery. We loaded up on groceries at Countdown, then headed north to Kaikoura, famous for its picturesque coastline and marine wildlife. Only lightly raining, it was an idyllic drive past fields of sheep and wine!
We parked our van for the next two nights at Kaikoura Top 10 Holiday Park. The kids were thrilled with the playground and, best of all, the jumping pillow!
We spent the next day driving a short ways up the coast to the Ohau Point fur seal colony and Ohau Falls. Almost all were delighted to see the adorable baby seal pups playing on the rocks! (Mark was cold and thus declared that he "hates seals", retreating to the warmth of the van. Crazy boy!!)
Later, we drove to the nearby Kaikoura Peninsula and saw the Point Sheep Shearing Show. Watching a Drysdale sheep (used for carpets) be shorn in only two minutes was quite impressive, and Abigail got the chance to get close to a dog and a sheep, and even to feed a little lamb!
No comments:
Post a Comment