Week 34 - Christmas in Christchurch

To kick off Christmas week, we had a few errands to run. We then took advantage of the nice weather for a little nap and a walk on the beach.

On Tuesday, the moment finally arrived, and we could move into our housesit. We didn’t meet the homeowners this time. The key was left under the doormat, and all important information was provided on a few sheets of paper.

Cat Jake, for whom we will be caring in the coming weeks, came right over to greet us. We really like the house. Especially the large terrace with a view is simply amazing in the summer. In the garden, we have a small lemon tree and even a large plum tree, which is ripe now.

We will definitely enjoy our stay and the amenities of the house in the coming weeks.

On Christmas Eve, we received a visit from Michelle. After we had dinner together and played a few games, we made our way to the center of Christchurch. There was the annual Christmas singing, which takes place for free for all visitors in a small park.

It was definitely very lively, and with a large stage and several food stands, it was bigger than we had expected.

Christmas carols were sung, some of which we recognized. Overall, there was a very nice atmosphere, even with summer temperatures of almost 20 degrees in the evening.

For Christmas Day, we had no plans. We spent a relaxed day with the three of us.

However, we had something special planned for dinner. A small 3-course menu with homemade ravioli and potato salad as the main dish.

Since there was unfortunately nowhere to buy pasta dough here, we had to use lasagna sheets as dough for the ravioli. This made sealing the ravioli quite challenging, but Franzi had the greatest patience and made wonderful ravioli.

We ended Christmas Day with more games and a glass or two of wine.

This year we certainly had a different Christmas celebration, but it was still very nice and became even more varied and fun with Michelle's visit.

This week we also used to clean our van at the car wash. It has definitely seen many gravel roads in recent months, and it was urgently needed to remove all the dust and dirt.

Today, we went for a bit of hiking. Right by us, there are a few hiking trails on the adjoining hills. From the top, we had a beautiful view over Christchurch.

To conclude our last blog entry for 2025, we are excited to share some news with you:

We have finalized our plans for after New Zealand.

We will leave New Zealand in April and travel first to the South Seas. Here we will visit the countries Vanuatu, Tuvalu, and Fiji. We are really looking forward to the almost 6 weeks there.

After that, we will continue to the next big adventure. We will travel further to Canada and also have a Working Holiday Visa there for a year.

We definitely want to use the summer in Canada to travel and explore the country. Canada is huge compared to New Zealand. This means we still have a lot ahead of us to get a good overview of what we want to do there. Fortunately, we also have plenty of time to focus on it more closely.

So, it will definitely remain exciting for us. Not only in the last weeks here in New Zealand, where we still have quite a bit planned, but also afterwards.

Of course, we will keep you updated on everything here and hope you are at least as excited for 2026 as we are.

With that, we wish you a happy New Year and all the best for the coming year :-)