We woke up early and walked over to the Church of the Good Shepherd in Lake Tekapo, which is a really old (by New Zealand standards - 1935) church.
Then on the road for a very long ride to jet-boating. Alpine Jetboat was in the middle of nowhere near a town called Springfield on the Waimak river.
It was a relatively sedate 25 km trip up the river with truly magnificent scenery - sheer cliffs and jutting rocks coming right down to the river, with forested hills and wide sandbars (well, pebble bars). It looked like something out of a movie. Actually, although Lord of the Rings was not filmed there, the Narnia movie was filmed not far away. It seemed like the ride back was a lot faster and more fun that the other direction, and we did a lot of 360 degree jet spins. I think the general consensus is that it was worth it for the scenery, but the adrenaline rush was pretty low.
After the boating we went back to the van to meet up with the folks who didn't go on the boat - poor folds had to wait for us - and we headed out to Christchurch. Steve had been going on and on about how much of a shithole Base Christchurch was, but it's actually really nice. The counter people were friendly and the rooms were big and clean and the beds are really comfy. It's right on the North side of Cathedral Square, so it's right in the centre of everything. We had a nice view of the side of the cathedral from our room.
We got there around 3:30 and Susan and I immediately headed out to the craft market being held in the square. Some nice stuff and I found a stand with really nice reversible wrap skirts which I decided to come back for the next day as they were busy getting ready to close up and I couldn't make up my mind. The market runs Wed-Sat from 10-4.
We wandered the streets for a while window shopping. Susan peeled off and I got a kebab wrap from a truck in the square. It was really good - they put barbeque sauce and tzatziki on it and somehow the flavour worked. It was also really huge. I sat on a bench eating and chatting with other group people as they walked by. The back to the hostel to get online briefly and then back to the room, where Sarah W. and Fran were lying and reading. I picked up my book and when I glanced back up they were both fast asleep. I went for a shower at about 10 pm and when I got back they were just waking up. We chatted for a bit and then Sarah got dressed to go out and Kieran and Sarah M. got back and we all just chilled out reading (and playing Tiger Woods Golf on his PSP in Kieran's case). Nice low-key evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment