Road Trip, Day 4 - Easter Monday

7:30 a.m: The B&B chimed a series of sing-song bells and announced that breakfast was served. Apparently this building used to be a frat house and they used the bells to get their frat boys out of bed or to declare Lights Out. Personally, I would have preferred to sleep longer (of course) and skip breakfast, but once the bells woke me up, I figured I might as well partake of their fine food. They offered the usual hot brekkies plus a few unusual breakfast menu items such as creamed corn, baked beans or spaghetti. I'd never heard of baked beans for breakfast before I moved to NZ, but evidently beans on toast is standard fare. No thanks. We never did understand about serving spaghetti for breakfast, and don't know if it was served with marinara sauce, or if it was just noodles. We mainly stuck with the traditional eggs or bacon-type selections. Miss Winnie, the tubby resident dachshund particularly liked the lamb sausage; Erica didn't.

Today we mostly wandered around Christchurch: the park, 2 museums, and the main square.
1. In the park, we saw a man punting on the Avon River (a punt is a flat-bottomed boat). The punter wore a fancy waistcoat and a jaunty straw hat and pushed the boat along with a long pole, just like in Cambridge, England. In fact, Christchurch is reminiscent of a proper British city with its cathedral, formal garden, cloisters, and Christ College. Conversely, the accent in Christchurch is LESS British than in Auckland. The people here on the South Island over-pronounce the letter R according to the North Islanders. In Auckland (and in England) they say purple as "puh-ple," and they find it humorous that the hicks on the South Islanders pronounce it "pur-ple." Of course, I say "pur-ple" too so it sounds pur-fectly fine to me.

2. We went to Christchurch's art museum (of course) and were pleasantly impressed with their collection. There was some weirdo modern art at the beginning, but lovely New Zealand and international art further on. Plus, the museum cafe had good coffee (for Curt, Nolan, and Erica) and a muffin for me (chocolate of course). After the museum, we headed toward Cathedral Square, the town centre, and stopped to buy some shoes for the Shoeless One! Yipee! We also had to get a new journal for me, since I was on the last page. I've always kept a journal during vacations, but for the last 1.5 years since we moved to NZ I have kept it up every day because let's face it, living here is like being on a never-ending vacation! Every day is full of new things to explore and learn, and that's why we like it.

3. In Cathedral Square there were a dozen spectators watching a giant chess game, in addition to a handful of smaller, regular-sized chess games. I think it's a pretty cool initiative to offer chess to the public in the town centre. The 2 men who were playing weren't your stereotypical chess players, either; they had numerous tattoos, multiple piercings, baggy saggy pants, and hoodie up the whole time. I'm not exactly sure what a stereotypical chess player would look like, they these guys looked more like stereotypical unemployed druggies.

4. The day wasn't over yet so we decided to go to the Canterbury museum which also turned out to be better than we expected. Erica especially liked the display of bugs. Nolan liked the stuffed NZ birds because you could push a button and hear their birdcall. He always liked pushing buttons. I liked the Antarctic exhibit. Most of all, Nolan liked the weta. He'd been wanting to see a weta ever since he arrived. It's a wood-eating bug about as big as a cockroach, and it's really gross and disgusting-looking. It became "famous" when NZ's Weta Workshop (named after the bug) won a bunch of Oscars for special effects for The Lord of the Rings movies. So Nolan's been dying to see a real weta. Ick.

5. That night, we went out to dinner and had an excellent chocolate decadent dessert (of course). After dinner, we went back to the B & B for another game of Hearts. Nolan and Erica were tired of losing to Curt so they ganged up on him (and won).

Overall, we had to admit that we liked Christchurch immensely. I remember when Curt and I were first immigrating to New Zealand, we didn't think we wanted to live in Christchurch because it was too small, too far out in the wop-wops, too provincial, too far south, or too cold. We were wrong (of course). It turns out it would have been a great place to live.

Plus, Christchurch is a magnificent word: Chch is the accepted abbreviation for Christchurch, since it begins and ends with ch. Actually, there's another ch in the middle! I seriously can't think of any other words that have ch 3 times. Now, THAT's a fantastic word.

Road Trip, Day 3 - Easter Sunday

We spent Easter morning swimming with dolphins, which seemed appropriate somehow.

First, we were issued a wetsuit. The young man who was distributing them handed me a size 10. I was flattered that he thought I was size 10, but I haven't worn that size for decades! I tried to put it on. I tugged and yanked, but it was simply too tight. Obviously there was not going to be an Easter miracle for me this morning. I faced reality and exchanged my wetsuit for a bigger one. After a short film on dolphins and how to behave around them, a short boat ride to find the pod, and a quick snorkelling lesson for beginners like me, we jumped in. Curt had elected to stay on the boat and take pictures while Nolan, Erica and I wanted to swim. (Only 13 people are allowed in the water, out of respect for the dolphins. But more can come along and watch.)

The water was C O L D! We had been told to keep our hands at our sides (to try to look more like a dolphin), and to hum! Apparently, the dolphins are attracted to noises. Sure enough, they were all around us, whizzing by and circling around. It was pretty spectacular to have them beside me and under me. Weirdly, there were also millions of translucent jelly creatures all over, which was probably why the dolphins like this harbour so much, but I found it a little creepy. I also tended to breathe so hard that I was nearly hyperventilating, which is apparently quite common when learning to snorkel. Overall, it wore me out. I was exhausted after about 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, the dolphins had raced away; it was time to get all the swimmers back on the boat so we could reposition and swim again. I appreciated having a little time to rest on the boat while it sped after the dolphins. Then we were back in the water again. We repeated this process a number of times. Nolan and Erica had been having good success. Erica said one of the dolphins was circling around and playing with her. The dolphins are so fast, however, that it's impossible for any of us keep up with them! I sat out the last few swims due to exhaustion. I was definitely knackered (as they say in NZ). But it was still fun to stand on the boat and watch the dolphins splashing around with the other swimmers. Once everyone got back on board for the last time, the boat continued to follow the dolphins so we could take lots of pictures, and they served hot chocolate. Meanwhile, we all got dressed in our dry clothes, which felt really good. If only I had some warm shoes for my frozen feet. Alas, all I had was sandals. (Remember, my shoes were still sitting by the kitchen door at my house, 500 km away)

By this time I was starting to feel a little queasy - as were a few others - which may have been partly why I quit swimming early. I even decided to skip the hot chocolate. Imagine me saying no to chocolate! As time went on, the queasy factor kept growing, and I decided to position myself near a bucket ... just in case. Nolan and Erica were starting to feel queasy, too, but not as bad as me. Sure enough, about 10 minutes before we got back to the dock, I chundered in the bucket. It was not my finest moment.

Once we got back on land, I felt much better. But the thought of getting in the car and going on a winding coastal road for the next 3.5 hours didn't sound too pleasant. I decided I'd be better off driving than being a passenger. I drove real sloooww and real smooooth. It was scenic but it seemed to take a looong time. It must have been boooring, too, for Curt and Nolan promptly fell asleep.We got to Christchurch about 3:30 - see #3 on the map - and we didn't get lost on the way to the hotel (that's twice in a row). The B&B we stayed at was ideal - central location, friendly hosts, free internet, tasty breakfast, tea & cookies every evening, and a fat little dachshund who begged for scraps from the table. They even had a dumbwaiter that took all the luggage to the 2nd floor. We loved this place.

Curt went running in the nearby park while Nolan and Erica and I went to the Arts Centre complex. We walked through the market and some workshops and galleries, including one that had some black pottery just like our bomb collection! (see the 30 Dec. blog "Sydney - Day 6" for an explanation of our non-explosive bomb collection) Fortuitously, we ran into Curt who had finished running and was now walking towards us with a crappuccino in hand. I immediately escorted him back to the pottery shop and we selected a chalice-shaped piece. Excellent.

Next, Curt and I walked downtown to the cathedral and sat down for their Evensong service. This is Easter, after all. They had a wonderful boys' choir performing. But Curt still feels uncomfortable with all the bells and smells that the Anglican Church has. We like our little Methodist congregation back in Auckland better.
Then we met Nolan and Erica at a brewpub for dinner and we all ate too much again. During dinner, we discussed our ambitious travel plans for the next 7 days and we all agreed that we didn't want to drive 9 hours to the next city (#4 on the map). We'd rather skip that destination (Queenstown), slow our pace a bit and relax more. I think the relatively short drive today along narrow windy roads - not to mention the queasiness from the dolphin experience - showed us how unpleasant a long drive would be.

I'd never truly appreciated America's highway infrastructure until now. In truth, I'd seen it listed as one of America's greatest achievements of the 20th century and dismissed it as a strange, obscure selection for a list of what makes America great. Now, I'm a believer. I can't begin to imagine how much America's highway system has contributed to the growth of the economy. Quick, easy distribution of goods equals lower prices and America is exceptionally good at that. Besides the economic impact, the highway system allowed Americans to be a more mobile population. I always loved road trips and even admit I have a certain appreciation for low-brow highway culture - the crowded rest areas, the sleazy gas station, the tacky tourist sights. I also found great satisfaction in the orderliness of the the numbering system of the mile markers and the exits, in addition to the numbering system for naming the highways themselves: interstate highways that run north-south are odd numbers (starting on the west coast), highways that run east-west are even numbered (starting on the southern border). Yup, I'm a road trip junkie.

But what we discovered over the last 3 days was that road trips in New Zealand would be fundamentally different. We wanted less road and more trip. After making the decision to eliminate Queenstown from our itinerary, we finished off the evening by playing another game of Hearts back at the B&B. Curt won again. Nolan and Erica aren't going to want to play with him much longer if he keeps whooping their sorry butts.

PS - There were NO Adventures today. We were quite pleased with ourselves.

PPS - I called Austin on his birthday tonight. It was 2:00 a.m. in Bellingham, but he was still up. We had a long talk. I miss him.