Christchurch on NewZealand.com
With the organized tour we stayed in Bealey's hotel, quite a walk to the city centre. The first night in Christchurch we had our ‘last dinner together’, because one girl will leave a day earlier than the rest of the group. On Wednesday I have taken care of the other two nights I will spend in Christchurch and I’ve booked three nights in Oamaru, to the South. I’ve done some walking in the city that seems so English, like Cambridge or Oxford because of the old universiry buildings, the Cathedral, and the canals. But most of all it was a lazy day in the park to read and write in my diary. In the evening I had dinner with two people from the group and when we returned to the hotel almost everyone was sitting outside to have a drink (for their last night in New Zealand).
After the group left on the morning of February the 28th I moved to Cokers Backpackers, easy to walk to the city centre, but walking back I always needed the map to remember where I have to turn left.
On the first day that the group left it was quite weird that it seemed I heard familiar voices, and typical pink sweaters, because in other cities we always saw most other group members, mainly because we had a short time there and all went to the highlights, like in Auckland the Sky Tower and Devonport and in Wellington the Te Papa Museum.
But I have seen my tourleader twice (maybe Cathedral square is a place where you meet people), so we decided to have dinner together in an Indian restaurant. It was nice to have a conversation when she was in another role and was excited as well to travel on her own and to discuss our plans. I needed these days in Christchurch, after the group tour to think again what I want to do, before I leave. At least I wanted to see the penguins and do some hikes and cycle tours. But right now it was so much fun to walk in the city and decide what to do just when it pops in my head like a Bouncing Ball/ ‘Stuiterbal' in Dutch. So when I first had the idea to visit the Art Gallery I have changed my mind when I saw the bus to Lyttelton. So in the afternoon I have jumped on the bus to Lyttelton. I only knew it was close to the sea and that there was a museum about the Timeball.
Before I would climb the hill, I had a little picknick on a bench with a view over the big harbour (enormous ships). A German girl shared my bench and I had my first chips (fries). We walked together to the Timeball museum. It was a wee (little) museum like the woman there told us, about the way the exact time was announced. We felt like adventurers climbing the stairs of the towers with our binoculars. It was fun to see how the people lived there, reading the titles of the books full of adventures. Somehow I've read most of the books in the room of the little boy and hardly any books in the room of the little girl. But of course when I was young I always wanted to be an explorer. Unfortunately I was born some centuries too late.
At the hostel I spent a lot of time, rearranging my backpack. No idea how heavy it is, but I need to throw some stuff away, especially the booklets, brochures. I haven't bought that much, only jandals, a shirt and a thin pair of trousers. When I will return to Christchurch in two weeks I can do my shopping if I want.
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| 26/2-1/3 Christchur |
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