Wednesday 22 February 2023

It rained all night. Heavily. We know this because we had to leave the outside door in our hotel room open for air. I think all the other guests did too, as we heard many of them overnight.

It was raining when we got up, and when we left the town of Lake Tekapo

Not much to see, obviously. We had planned to take the scenic route to Christchurch, but the advice we received from reception this morning was to take the main state highway, as we probably wouldn’t see anything scenic from the alternative route, given the weather. But we had an hour or so to make a decision, before the highway forked to give us a choice.

We drove through more gorgeous farming country, forgive the photos please, taken as we were driving as too inclement to get out.

and admired the extraordinary windbreak/fences planted. Perfectly pruned, as if a pair of manicure scissors had been employed. These pine hedges are extremely high and long, so long.

Of course, not everyone is so particular

We move onto the town where our decision must be made. State highway or scenic route to Christchurch

Great name for a town eh? Our friend Geraldine will be chuffed. Especially when she sees these

We stop for coffee whilst we cogitate, and are served by a sweet young thing with the most amazing green eyes. She is Maori, fair skinned and she tells us that the green eyes are exclusive just to her tribe, originally from Stewart Island (from where we had that lovely salmon). We sought her advice which route to take and she was unequivocal – in this weather its the state route. Disappointed, but needs must, whatever that means. What it does mean, though, is that we are forced to take the road to the right when we know that our friend Geraldine would have counselled us to the left.

We see more support for Ukraine, which we might not have done had we gone scenic.

The roadside plantings are truly lovely as we approach Christchurch

and my resident horticulturalist asks me to advise you that the tall grasses are Chionochloa Conspicua, otherwise known as Alpine Tussock. We have admired these grasses throughout our trip and at first had mistaken them for Pampas Grass, but this stuff is actually native and it is really pretty.

We have booked a self contained suite in the centre of Christchurch and found it easily. It’s located in the Heritage Hotel, but privately owned, and we followed the very complicated but clear instructions as to how to find the key and the code and the carpark and the lift and the suite. We did. Opened the door and it looked very nice indeed. Self catering, which we like. Cherrie climbed the stairs to the bedroom and found this

Now, I know this will delight those of you who were disappointed at the lack of disasters so far in this trip. We are, after all, travelling alone and not with our disaster prone travel friends. But, despite our tolerance for most things, this bucket and drip and unmade bed and light menacingly dangling from the ceiling was not acceptable to us today. I logged onto their wifi in the room and found an email from the owners advising us of this ‘disaster’ and that there was a hotel suite waiting for us at no additional cost to us. Disaster averted.

The hotel is located right opposite the Cathedral which sustained so much damage in the earthquake of 2011. It’s still being rebuilt but good progress being made.

It’s still raining heavily, so we don our coats and take a short walk to the markets for a 4pm lunch/dinner. Surprisingly good pasta in a cardboard box with a bamboo fork. See, I told you we are tolerant. A quick trip to the supermarket reveals the continuing high prices in NZ

And back to the ‘suite’ with some basics and no limes.

We see a tram for Ukraine and celebrate the global community

No idea what tomorrow holds. Continuing rain forecast but we shall see. And you’ll have to too.