A Tennessee Girl in Oz: Christchurch -> Dunedin

We arrived in Christchurch around 12:30 AM. Between that and the two hour time difference with Sydney, it was rough waking up on Friday morning. But we had a lot of kilometers to cover that day, so we caught the 8 AM shuttle back to the airport to pick up our rental car. We figured our drive would take us 5-6 hours, and we knew we'd need some stops along the way.

But first we did a quick tour of Christchurch. I knew from my trip last year that there wasn't so much to see. It's still very much a city in recovery, even all these years after the earthquake. They were lucky in that the recent earthquake in Kaikoura didn't affect them, although they felt it. From what we read, it seemed like most buildings that would have been affected were either already down or marked to come down, and all the new earthquake-proof ones held up fine. But the city was still on-edge it seemed. After all, it was the secondary earthquake that did so much damage before.

But we were undeterred! We had some breakky in a cute little cafe. One thing I hadn't learned on my previous trips was the use of the word "trim" for skim milk. So when I ordered a coffee, they asked "Trim or blue?" Blue means full fat, and we learned that's a direct carry over from the colors used in the UK for milk packaging. Our trim milk coffees got us started for the day, so we were good to go!

We had a quick walking and driving tour through the city. Mostly we saw construction work and construction workers, but the city is still trying hard to make it fun and livable while it rebuilds.

Then it was off though that New Zealand countryside, heading south! We had a beautful day for our drive.

With the early start time, and packed previous days, it probably wasn't surprising that the back seat looked like this at various times.

We drove for a few hours and then stopped in Oamaru for a break and lunch. We all really liked Oamaru! It's a small little coastal town, and we had stopped there with Mom and Dad last year. The historic part of the town has been well maintained/restored, and it just so happened that there was a Victorian festival in town that weekend, so it felt extra authentic.

We played on the playground overlooking the bay for a while and then had some lunch at Scott's brewery.

Then we were back on the road, heading to our final stop for the day in Dunedin. Driving in New Zealand is always interesting, because it's hard to know how long the journey will take you. It's a safe idea to add a quarter or half again time to the time listed by Google Maps. The top speed limit is 100km anywhere on the islands, and slow campervans or cattle trucks mean that driving times are a guess at best. Plus, there is so much beautiful country, it's nice to pull off and have a look every little bit. We also wanted to make sure we got to Dunedin in time to buy food for the following day, so we arrived in Dunedin at a perfect time of 4, after a lovely drive through the Otaga Valley and coast line.

Dunedin in our sights!

Dunedin is a cute little town and it is supposed to be quirky and lively because there is a big university there. But we stayed outside the main downtown area, in a little hotel on the coast. Our drive through the town did make it look very cute - it's on the list tot return to for a longer visit!

Our hotel was in an older converted apartment building. It was very cute, and the inside had a lot of character! Of course, in true Kiwi style, we were offered milk for the room: gotta be able to make that tea and coffee at any time of the day!

The boys waiting patiently for everyone to be ready!

The hotel was right next to the "beach," although there wasn't much beach to be seen that day. Between the Super Moon and a Spring Tide that day, the waves crashed right to the retaining wall along the boardwalk.

No heading down to the beach today

Saltwater pool at the end of the boardwalk. People were swimming through the waves!

Happy to be out of the car!

And that was it for Day 1 in New Zealand! We managed to drive far into the island and see so many things just in one day! True adventure started the next day, as we were heading to the very south coast, into the land of sheep and no cellphone service!