From Blenheim to Christchurch

Friday, 06.12.2019

A lot has happened since the last post. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay with the Sowmans in Blenheim as long as I had hoped. In total, I was there for just under 3 weeks, until 25.11.2019. I actually wanted to stay there until Lars arrives and in the meantime buy a car so that we can travel the South Island. Luckily, the latter worked out. I am now the proud owner of a 2001 Honda Odyssey with 2 seats in the front and a bed in the back. So a typical backpacker car. Since I was supposed to get the car on the Monday that I was supposed to move out of the Sowmans, I decided to stay in a hostel in Blenheim for another week. During that week, I took care of everything from registering the car to getting insurance to hanging curtains - which wasn't really much. Oh yes, I also managed to run the battery flat in the first week - I probably left a lamp or something on while cleaning the car. Fortunately, someone at the hostel knew how to jump-start it with cables. Learned something new again!

On Wednesday, I finally drove to Christchurch. It's only 300km. You would think it wouldn't take that long. Think again. No matter what the navigation system says, you have to plan at least an hour for that here. On the one hand, there are only two highways on the South Island and then there are also construction sites, and otherwise, you can only dream of actually driving at 100km/h on these windy roads. But honestly, the Kiwis do everything by car, as there is almost no public transportation, so you would think the roads are at least good. But well, I digress. So, it took me more than 5 hours for the journey. On the way, I took a short coffee break in Kaikoura. I actually wanted to stay there longer. But I didn't arrive until 1 o'clock and still had more than half the distance ahead of me, so I preferred to keep going. I didn't feel like looking for a free parking space in the city after 5 o'clock.

Well, now I'm here anyway. Christchurch is not exactly Wellington, but still better than Auckland, I think. You can't really see much here, although there is a huge park with a really beautiful botanical garden. The only other thing that stands out is that the city center is super modern, but there are still lots of open spaces and ruins between all the modern buildings - still from the 2011 earthquake. Most of the sights are located outside the city anyway. But I wouldn't want to give up the parking space for my car for anything in the world. I won't move my car again until Lars and I start our trip on Monday. We will probably first go to Hanmer Springs, which is known for its natural hot springs, and then to Kaikoura, where you can watch whales. So we are heading in the direction I came from.

But before that happens, I'm picking up Lars from the airport tomorrow.