Last Day in Christchurch

November 6
Our last day in Christchurch was very relaxed. Both of us were tired of traveling around and pooped in general. We started off the morning by spending a bunch of money at the Art Center, always a good time. I got myself a wooden spoon, I'm very happy about my spoon. I have a thing for wooden spoon right now and I can't tell you why, I just like them. Anyway, after emptying the bank, we walked back to the botanical gardens. We wanted to see if the roses were blooming some more and hit the buildings because they were closed last time. Besides, what is better than spending time outside looking at flowers. Again, I took way too many pictures of flowers. I'll show a couple of my favorites.
I've got a thing for ducks too.
We ate at the cafe in the center of the gardens for lunch and continued looking at flowers. We wandered through several buildings, starting with this one.
There was some really cool things inside.
Bananas! It was love at first sight!
Then it was back outside to check out the roses. There were a few more blooming but still not a bunch.

My bird friend.
We liked the spiky plant.
Cool tree
After looking at thousands of flowers, we went into the Canterbury Museum. Very cool. I have no idea how long we spent in there, it was awhile. We headed to dinner then and ended up getting a free meal because the waitress forgot about us. Not too bad. The next morning we were flying to Auckland at the butt crack of dawn so we headed back to the hotel to pack. We had some tea, packed up and passed out early.

I'm going to pack all of Auckland into the next entry. I didn't like Auckland all that much. It was too big and we had some bus adventures but I'll get to that in the next one. Cheers!

Lyttleton

November 5
This was our last day with the car so we decided to drive toward Lyttleton and see what we could find. We were driving along the coast and through little towns when we came across a beach. Of course we stopped. It was fantastic. Not quite warm enough to go swimming but walking along the beach was just fine for us. Mom right away began collecting shells and I was just enjoying the sun, sand and water.
I was teasing Mom about collecting too many shells, by this time she already had a handful. It was fun. We stayed here for over an hour before we decided it was time to move on. We continued on the same road and we were going to drive all the way to the point by Lyttleton. We turned onto the road that would take us there and I decided I was going to have none of this. This little road was tiny and up ahead there was this turn right along the side of a cliff with barely any room and no guard rails. We would be hanging off cliffs the entire time and I didn't want to do that. So we turned around and headed into the town of Lyttleton.

We stopped at the time station ball, every day at noon the ball drops according to Greenwich time so that sailors would know the time. It was neat, but we didn't want to pay to go inside.
Here is looking down towards the harbor.
We drove through Lyttleton and took a tunnel back towards Christchurch where we could ride the Gondala. It brings you to this awesome spot where you can look out at Christchurch and Lyttleton and basically see the whole pennisula.

Riding up and looking back
looking up towards the top
Mom wasn't quite as impressed with the heights as I was since we were swinging in this little box above the ground. We saw some sheep though.
Coming in for a landing
At the top, there is a gift store, cafe and an observation deck where you can really see everything. It was really really cool.
Me
Lyttleton
Christchurch, you can see the tall buildings where central city is and cathedral square.
The beach where we were earlier.
While Mom looked through the gift store, I took a hike around the building. There were some trails if you wanted to walk along the ridge but I just took the circle around the building.
After riding down, we were going to check out this park where there was supposed to be Maori village. Turns out it was pretty fake so we moved on. To where you ask... back to the beach of course! My shoes came off and I headed for the water. It was fabulous.
Show me your shells Mom!
Me
Crab shell, look he is smiling!
Oh my god what is that glowing thing, it is too bright to look at! oh its just my legs...
Mom is hunting...for the perfect shell.
It was an excellent walk. I got my feet wet, wandered through the sand. It was the best. Afterward, Mom and I ate some dinner, seafood sampler that was no where enough food. We then went shopping in Cathedral Square, last minutes souvenirs. We stopped again for a snack and went back to relax in the hotel. It was a great day, I love the beach.

Cheers!

Hanmer Springs

November 4
On our second day with the car, we decided to drive north to Hanmer Springs and sit in the hot springs all day. The drive was gorgeous, we went by vineyards, mountains and cool rivers. I was driving but I decided that I was going to take pictures anyway. Here are a few from the road.
Hanmer Springs was a cute little town with everything based around the hot springs. Here is our sweet ride.
We walked around for a bit, got the lay of the land and decided to walk over to a quilt shop. It turned out to be a little more than a short walk, more like a trek but we made it. It was a very pretty walk though.
Of course I found some horses.
We ate lunch at a cafe next to the quilt shop. We decided it was time to hit the hot springs. It was fun. They had some really hot sulfer ones, they were pretty stinky but of course I had to get in. Mom and I stayed in there for more than 2 hours. It was very nice.

Afterwards, I decided to take a hike on one of the several walking trails. It was really peaceful nice hike, along a stream.
As I was walking I found this old house in the woods. I explored around it for awhile, there were flowers in the clearing right next to the house. It was pretty cool, made me wish Lindsey was there to ramble with me.
After my hike, we headed back to Christchurch. It was about a 2 hour drive back but just as pretty on the way back. We had to stop for gas on the way home. I jumped out of the car thinking how hard is it to fill a gas tank. I try to open the gas cover and it doesn't open. I tried pulling, prying and wedging something in there. I could not get the damn thing open. I ended up having to ask someone else who stopped how to open this gas thing. Turns out there is a little switch under the driver's seat that lets the gas cover open. I was so embarrassed. She was laughing and was like "how dumb do you feel right now?" oh pretty dumb. I finally filled the tank and we were on our way. I felt so stupid but it was pretty funny.

We finally got back to the hotel. I was always very relieved when we made it to where we needed to be and always very happy to get out of the car. I think I would rather walk in strange cities. Anyways, we went to find some dinner and since we were both tired, we went to the Dux which was close. I was starving and wolfed down my food. Then we both relaxed in the hotel lounge, drinking tea and watching some TV. I think we went to bed early that night, it was a busy day.

Cheers!