Day 54 - Tuesday 27 February 2024

Today has been another day of travel primarily, with a not that much planned. Only about 110 miles to Christchurch, so today was all about getting there.

Breakfast at the hotel (danish pastries just out of the oven; yum!), a video chat with my nephew Ben, and all packed for a departure at just after 09:00. I resisted the temptation to get yet more footage of that same viewpoint of the mountains and the ocean, but did stop off at Kaikoura South Bay for the view looking southward where I was about to journey.


The first stop I had pencilled in was for a viewpoint about 10km down the road, but on arrival there was nowhere to pull off the road. Therefore I continued on my way along State Highway 1, accompanied by the inevitable winding road and stunning scenery (and Sheryl Crow again ... I guess that in New Zealand it's inevitable that when I hear 'every day is a winding road' on my playlist that I'm bound to be on a winding road.).

I left the state highway at the town of Cheviot to drive into the Cheviot hills in search of Cathedral Gully, and had a brief stop to take in the sights.

Then onwards back to SH1, and I arrived in Christchurch just before 14:00. My room was ready, so I had an early check in. All of the luggage up to the room, and I decided that a bit of an explore was in order to get my bearings; I deliberately left the cameras in the room. 

About a quarter of an hour walk found me in the centre of Christchurch. I visited the information office to get my bearings, and to have a chat about the work going on in the centre of Christchurch. There is a lot of building and demolition work happening at the moment, mostly as a result of the February 2011 earthquakes. The cathedral in the centre of town was damaged during the quakes but it's been decided to save it, so it currently had an iron beam exoskeleton holding it together while it's repaired.

There is a tram that follows a 50 minute circuit of the city, so perhaps getting a hop-on, hop-off ticket is as good a way as any for me to explore Christchurch tomorrow.

I ate in the city centre and made my way back to my accommodation just before 18:00, so time to catch the blog up on an unusually quiet day It feels a bit odd really, but I didn't spot much going on between Kaikoura and here!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 142 - Saturday 25th May 2024

....... with my watch changed, it became the final day of my epic big journey. Over Europe now but still with several hours to go, the cabin crew started preparing for the breakfast service. Breakfast was served two and a half hours before landing at 02:00 (early even for me!) I said to hold that thought regarding dinner earlier in the flight ..... because we'd not had any choice in the back row, we were asked what we wanted for breakfast so that we had the choice this time, and were served before service had started to the rest of the cabin; a very nice (by airline food standards) cooked breakfast. We'd finished and cleared away before the rest of the service reached us.  Then it was a case of preparing for the landing; we landed at 04:37 (according to Flight Tracker) and after a 10 minute taxi were at our gate. Through passport control quickly, and luggage reclaim was painless; it's the first time when I've looked at the board for the carousel number, and there is onl...
Read more

Day 140 - Thursday 23rd May 2024

Image
And so, to my last full day here in Australia, and my last real day on my big trip; I guess the next couple of days kind of count, but it's basically all about travelling back home. That doesn't really have the same feeling of the couple of days travel I had to start the trip! If things go to plan, I should be home before lunchtime on Saturday. This morning I was awake well before the alarm, and found myself in breakfast at 06:45. It was a good breakfast, and I look forward to the same tomorrow. I then packed what I'll need for the day, and was at the pickup point 10 minutes early for the 08:15 pickup. A bus then took me to Hillarys Harbour on the west coast to catch the 10:00 ferry to Rottnest Island for the Grand Island Tour; I was there nice and early which game me the time to get a jumbo coffee (I hadn't realised they come in 'Jumbo') and explore the quayside. The ferry took 45 minutes to get over to the island, which then left me 45 minutes to find the star...
Read more

Day 133 - Thursday 16th May 2024

Image
Note to self; never assume .... it's a lesson I learned a long time ago, but still occasionally need a bit of a reminder. This morning, when I was looking for washing up liquid so that I could wash up my teacup and leave my room in a good state, I discovered a washing machine in what I'd assumed was a storage cupboard in the bathroom. It's been a little while since I did laundry, so had I spotted this yesterday I'd have done a load. Opportunity missed!  After packing, loading and tidying up after myself I checked out and left at 08:00. A stop off for the usual fuel combination (unleaded and coffee) and then away from Geraldton. My first suggested lookout was over two hours away, so back onto State Highway 1, then onto the Indian Ocean Drive to find Green Head. Off of the main road and onto a compacted sandy road, and I arrived at the lookout. I cannot say that I was very impressed in the moment by the views up and down the coast; perhaps some of the fantastic stuff I...
Read more