In Christchurch, I had booked a lovely airbnb in a garden behind a house on an appropriately named street - Rugby - the national sport. A taxi driver, who missed the turn because the street sign was missing, said that frequently happens because people steal the sign. We arrived about 9:00pm and Margaret, our host, met us and got us settled.
At 7:00 in the morning, David went to a nearby market and scored breakfast supplies -- bacon, eggs, bread, butter, jam, milk, OJ -- and we still had coffee we had bought at an earlier stop. We had the works! It always feels a little more like ‘home’ when you can cook your own breakfast and make an extra pot of coffee while you catch up on email, the news, crossword puzzles, whatever.
In the afternoon, we had tickets to ride a gondola up a hill just outside of town. When we arrived, I was a bit disappointed as it just went to the top of a dry, rather bare hill.
But I thought, “Oh well, I guess we’ll get a view of the city and the ocean beyond,” which was true.
However, when we walked around the viewing area, we realized that the real view was on the other side of the hill - a beautiful natural harbor hiding on the other side of a peninsula from Christchurch.
That evening, we ate dinner on a restored tram car that toured around downtown while they served us a fabulous four course dinner with wine pairings (NZ wines of course).
I had the Coppa di Parma, the slow cooked pork belly, and the flourless chocolate torte. David had the beetroot and apple mille-feuille, the Canterbury lamb rump, and the New Zealand cheese plate. Then we shared, of course, so we could taste more of the menu.
It was fascinating to see how they plated and served such a complicated menu in such a small space - it was like an airplane galley.
The next day, we took an all day excursion into the mountains to see the location where they filmed the Rohan portion of the Lord of the Rings. Our driver and guide was full of interesting stories about the people involved and background information about the filming and kept us entertained for the long drive. We went further and further into the hills and the road got rougher and rougher until we had to drive right through a river -- it wasn’t very wide but it was fast flowing. Good thing we were in a sturdy vehicle built for the job.
Our final destination -- the hill on the flat plains of Rohan where they built the set for Edoras.
The rest of the group hiked up to the top of the hill while I stayed with the vehicle -- my bad knee would not have made it up the trail. However, it was very windy and it started to rain on them, so I didn’t feel like I missed much.
Our final day in New Zealand was spent visiting a chiropractor and stocking up on medications. I had prearranged the chiropractor visit before the trip as David and I both need regular adjustments in our hips and necks due to old injuries. It was fortunate, as my chiropractor also taped up my knee and gave me some good recommendations for managing the rest of the trip.
Next stop -- Singapore.
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