Charlotte at Lyttelton Harbour |
After a gruelling weekend of punk rock fun at Groezrock, we flew from Amsterdam on 2nd May. There was a tense moment when the check-in desk clerk wasn't convinced that we'd be granted entry into NZ with a one-way ticket (we had checked already that we could), but after calling the embassy we were cleared to board. The flight took 12 or so hours to Singapore, where we had a 15 hour lay-over. We hadn't managed to get much sleep in either in Amsterdam or on the plane so were utterly jiggered by this point, and not up for an exhausted trudge around the city. Luckily we were able to crash in a hotel room at the airport for a while, and then in a public 'snooze lounge' when our time was up in the room (it was bookable for slots of 8 hours). But if there is any airport that is tolerable to be stuck in for a while it is Singapore Airport. Decent cafes and some amazing butterfly gardens, a surprisingly pleasant place to wander around! We eventually boarded our flight to Christchurch which was another 12 or so hours.
We arrived in New Zealand on a bright and cool morning, and proceeded through customs without a hitch. We had already booked ourselves into a hostel and organised a lift from the airport, and a jolly lady picked us up and took us there. This was around 10am and we were told that we could leave our bags but couldn't check in for a few more hours. Despite being exhausted and not having showered since the hotel in Singapore we decided that a trip into the city for a mooch and coffee would be better than passing out on the couch at the hostel.
Feeling like we'd 'done' as much of Christchurch centre as is reasonably possible at the moment, we spent the rest of the weekend around the coastal suburbs. We had a good explore of Lyttelton, Christchurch's port town. Although only a small town, it seemed to have a pretty lively community and a little more alternative than you may expect from a port town. We had fun doing a spot of shopping and wandering up the steep streets. There was a lot of quake damage there too, and we stumbled upon a shipping crate turned bar called the Port Hole, set up after last years quakes, and enjoyed some hand-pulled real ale from local brewery Cassels & Sons.
We also visited Sumner, Christchurch's beach-front suburb. Happily there was a street festival complete with live music, yummy food and funky market stalls going on. We enjoyed sitting in the sunshine, eating veggie pakoras and drinking Matsons 'Quake Lager' which had been brewed to raise money for the earthquake appeal. We had a wander down to the seafront and had a bit of hike up the hillside, occasionally halted by blocked off paths due to the earthquake, but made it over to Taylor's Mistake, a little bay over the hillside. Fabulous!
All in all, it's hard to recommend Christchurch as a place to head right now, as the quake damage is just too great. However, the outlying suburbs, despite having some damage, are well worth a visit. It was a very strange place to have started our New Zealand trip but after a few days we moved on after being recommended to head to the nearby Banks Peninsula. We had only planned to stay a few days and do some walking, but we ended up staying a little while longer... 5 weeks to be exact!
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Christchurch & Akaroa |
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