Alice’s Gap Year Travels

We arrived in Christchurch to bright blue skies and a crisp breeze. Having got a bus to the main square we were then wandering around aimlessly with our huge rucksacks trying to work out which direction our hostel might be when a kiwi bloke with his pram came over and asked us if we needed any help, he was soooo nice and helpful and walked with us all the way to the corner… an excellent first encounter with the locals 🙂

So, New Zealand is COLD. Yet on our first day we insisted on still wearing our flip-flops haha, and is also remarkably like the UK(on first impression anyway.) Having dumped our stuff we headed back to the square, got some fish and chips and watched a Mauri group who were singing and dancing, it was really cool. We then walked down to the Museum and did a guided tour which was slightly boring but we survived it and it was free so we had nothing to lose, except maybe interest haha. The next day we did a quick bit of shopping then headed down to the Botanical garden where we went punting on the River Avon.. a man in traditional dress ‘punts’ along and there’s about 6 people to a boat. The gardens were stunning as it is Autumn here so the leaves are all just changing colour and there was a brilliant blue sky. The river was also full of ducks, hundreds of them, it was hilarious trying to navigate around them.

After this we got a bus to Lyttleton where you can get a gondola up a mountain to see a stunning view of the city and mountainous landscape as well as look down into a sunken volcanic crater which has now become a beautiful giant lake with an island right in the middle! Awesome. At the top we had a cake in the cafe before heading back down. (It was strange for both of us to be getting on and off a gondola without a pair of ski’s to restle with!)

Today we went to the art gallery (another ‘free’ excursion :)) which was really interesting and are now having a quiet night as we need to be up early tomorrow to catch our bus and begin our Kiwi Experience tour… here we go again! 😀

Speak soon XXX

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