Christchurch and a little hike through clouds

Back on a real road, or at least on a highway, we raced to Christchurch the next day. We were very excited about Christchurch, as this city had suffered great damage from the strong earthquakes in 2011 and 2016. The entire city center was practically in ruins and has been steadily rebuilt since then.

Already on the first meters we noticed several construction sites and we almost felt at home, after all our dear Karlsruhe also has a fondness for construction sites and spontaneous construction pits. The city center is framed by cranes and construction fences and only in the absolute center can one already speak of a beautiful city center. There you can also find the Canterbury Museum and the botanical garden. Both can be enjoyed free of charge and we were already convinced. The museum is really recommendable and exhibits many different themes. In addition to stuffed kiwis, a dinosaur skeleton and artificial glowworm caves, you could admire products from the first inhabitants of New Zealand, the Maori. For a few hours we strolled comfortably through the museum and immersed ourselves in different time periods and places. Really worth a visit!

In the afternoon, we asked ourselves what we wanted to do in the next few days. Not far from Christchurch is a small peninsula, on which you can visit a small old settlement of the first Frenchmen in New Zealand, called Akaroa. After a short research about the area, we became aware of a hiking track that promised a great view of the city and the bay in which the town is located. So we fed Google Maps with our new destination and off we went. We arrived in the evening and strolled along the promenade in the light of the fading sun (of course not without treating ourselves to a delicious hot chocolate). Since we wanted to leave early the next morning, we just quickly cooked and made ourselves comfortable in our freshly baptized Fred.

The next morning we set off on our little hike at half past seven. Contrary to the weather forecast, it was unfortunately foggy and the visibility was not really good, but we hoped that it would clear up and that we could enjoy the promised view. The track started directly in Akaroa and then wound its way up a nearby mountain. Past meadows and cows, we steadily climbed upwards until we finally broke through the cloud layer. We would now like to say that the fog and clouds immediately cleared and we could see for kilometers, but "unfortunately" we initially only saw a lot of white. After another hour uphill, however, we had to realize that this view of the clouds may not be what we had hoped for, but it was still really beautiful. It felt as if we were even higher above the clouds and in the distance entire cloud mountains flowed along the mountain ranges into the valleys. In total, we walked uphill for about 2 hours and after a small snack at the highest point, we walked slowly but steadily downhill for another 2 hours. Despite the clouds and fog, the photos are still worth seeing, we think, and we had a lot of fun.

Back in Christchurch, we celebrated Tobi's birthday first. In a small café in the city center, we had a small piece of cake, a hot chocolate and a long walk through the botanical garden. In the evening, we found a cozy Greek restaurant where we really indulged ourselves. To celebrate the day, we treated ourselves to a glass of New Zealand wine in addition to the appetizer and dessert. Simply a successful evening :)

During our hike, we also had a little time to think about our Fred. In addition to the WOF and the REGO, there is another "obligation" when it comes to cars in New Zealand. It is recommended to have a service carried out every 10,000 km or once a year. However, if you don't do it, nothing really happens either. Although it wasn't due for another 1,000 km, we decided to have such a service done in Christchurch because we had subjected Fred to a little something on our little adventure in the wilderness of New Zealand. We had it done one day later at an AA workshop, which we mainly chose because we had already taken out insurance there and the customer reviews were good. The service took a good hour, which we spent at a nearby McDonald's (I only say $1 hot chocolate) and it turned out very positively. Only our spark plugs were apparently not so great anymore. There was nothing more on the note that was handed to us briefly when we paid. It was not explained what exactly was wrong with them. So we (or rather our car delegate Tobi) had the esteemed gentleman called out and grilled him. Overall, we would describe our English as quite conversational, but it was quite an interesting thing to talk to a mumbling mechanic with a strong dialect about mechanical terms. But in the end, we were very satisfied after this personal conversation. Our spark plugs were apparently just getting old slowly and should be replaced within the next two years. Since this would not only not affect us, but could also be of no concern to potential future buyers, we happily continued on our way. Overall, however, we have to say that it takes some getting used to how they check and maintain their cars here. For example, we could have bet that, because of our slowly worn tires (not too worn, of course ;)), we would be scolded or made aware of any things that we don't even know that they could be broken. That's usually how it goes in Germany with cars of this age. But hey, we're not complaining about a functional car.

Next, we headed to the next city: Dunedin. How to pronounce it and what we did there will be in the next post.

Best regards to everyone :*