Back with Duncan

The next day was very quiet. At 7:30 a.m. the alarm went off as usual. Breakfast was served pretty quickly afterwards. We had booked a double kayak for 10am. So after breakfast we got ready and then drove on to Akaroa. When we got there there was a short briefing because none of us had ever sat in a kayak before. Soon after, we went out onto the water. Theoretically it is the sea, but since it is a very long natural harbor, the water is much calmer and it feels more like a lake. We had two hours to explore the harp. At first we kept further to the left and then wanted to go to the other side of the harp, in a circle back to the rental shop. Almost exactly in the middle we heard a strange hissing noise. After a short while we saw the dolphins that were making these noises. It was very different from the boat tour I had taken a few days before. It was really nice to see the dolphins so close. One of the dolphins even came up to the boat and dived under it. Since we had wasted a lot of time chasing the dolphins, we had to slowly make our way back. However, the wind had changed by then and we had to contend with strong headwinds and higher waves on the way back. About 20 minutes over the booked time, we finally arrived. Then we went straight back to the car, washed off the salt and put on dry clothes. Once that was done we went back to the harps and had a Thai lunch. Afterwards we went to the park next to it. Madlen wanted to read and I wanted to paint. However, I accidentally fell asleep😂😅

Back at the campsite, we both had to take a shower and wash off the remaining salt. After a long break and further planning, we made ourselves some food and the day was already over.

The next day it rained very heavily and we didn't really know what to do, but we decided to start the day comfortably and explore the places around Akaroa before we left. On our way over the mountains to Pigeon Bay, we drove into a very tight curve against a sheep transporter that, as it had two trailers, drove completely into our path. We both braked early enough, but neither of us knew what to do for a moment. Since we were also standing on a slope, I had to pull the handbrake to reverse so as not to drive straight into him. But there was hardly any room to the rear because he had already completely surrounded us. After I backed up, he continued driving, and if I hadn't honked in time, he would have hit us in front. I had to move further to the left, which didn't go particularly well because there was a very large ditch next to us. After a lot of back and forth, we finally made it. Pumped full of adrenaline, we continued. There wasn't really anything to see there, so after a short break we headed back.

When we arrived back at Duncan's, we all prepared dinner together and reported on our time in Akaroa. On Monday the car finally went to the workshop to have the drive shaft, thermostat and oil leak repaired. After the workshop we helped Duncan around his property and during the day we went over to the neighbors because they had an old dog named Flow and we wanted to take her for a walk. Flow needs a lot of cuddles and after the first 5 meters we sat down just to cuddle her🤗 The rest of the day was very quiet and in the evening we had lasagne with homemade pasta.

The plan for the next day was to drive to Chch, but since the weather wasn't good, we stayed at home and took the chance to decorate the house a little with Christmas decorations and bring in the tree. To get into the Christmas spirit and, among other things, because Madlen and I were hungry for something sweet, we decided to bake Christmas cookies.

The next day the weather was much better and we set off for Chch around midday. We spent our time there sightseeing, shopping and eating very good food, among other things.

On Thursday the time had finally come and we were finally able to pick up the car from the workshop. They had done a really good job and had found and corrected even more errors during their investigation. That's why the bill was a little higher than expected😬 But the great thing about the workshop was that they had a sweet dog who also wanted to be petted by everyone 😂 It's really a nice feeling to finally drive without the rattling of the drive shaft.

Actually, our plan was to drive as soon as the car came out of the workshop, but Duncan had invited us to a neighborhood Christmas meeting on Saturday, which we went to. A variety of preparations were made on Friday and the festival came quicker than expected. We had a very nice evening and it was really great to celebrate the festival in such a friendly community. We made a lot of new contacts and ate really VERY GOOD😇

On Sunday it was goodbye Duncan again! All we had to do was prepare our things and tidy up everything we had used at Duncan's before we headed off to Hanmer Springs around midday, where we had just arrived a few hours ago.