Chirstchurch and Kaikoura

Well we've had a nice relaxing couple of days after our trek.  The following day we decided to drive to Milford Sound to see the Fiord.  The weather around there is very unpredictable...it was raining when we left, then the sun came out, then it became so foggy we could barely see!  So we were at the fiord, but unfortunately could not appreciate it's beauty.  We did meet some very inquisitive Kea (birds that seem a little naughty) so that was fun.  On the drive home the clouds started lifting and the scenery was so beautiful; out of this world!

The following day we headed to Christchurch.  We stayed in this beautiful hostel for 2 nights that was decorated with nice wooden furniture.  There was also a resident cat so of course that made me happy :>)  When we were having breakfast it was a little scary because there was an mini earth tremor!  Christchurch had a pretty major earthquake in December and there has been some pretty significant damage to the city and apparently they have been having little tremors every now and then since (we were not aware of this!)  Anyways, it only happened the once and not the following day ... whew.  We had a nice day in Christchurch just walking around the city and seeing some of the highlights in the downtown area including the cathedral.

Today we are in Kaikoura.  We had a lovely afternoon walking along the beach and we saw tonnes of seals (we got really close to them!) and different kinds of birds.  We also had some fun playing with the CRAZY seaweed on the beach...although I did get a little mad a Dan when he tried to whip me in the behind with it...such a rascal!  We were really lucky with weather.  It was a little weird today again but it started pouring rain only about 5 minutes after we were back in our hostel...lucky us!  Our hostel is really nice again today, there is a beautiful big common area and free (fair trade organic!) coffee, tea and hot chocolate.  We cooked up a nice veggie curry for dinner and then went into town for a drink.  The big buisness in this town in crayfish - you pay about $50 for a full one in a restaurant.  We decided not to indulge...our wallent couldn't handle it and (of course) I didn't really want one anyways.

We are heading back to the North Island tomorrow on the ferry (Dan is hoping for big waves and me for nice weather condusive to pictures).  Talk to you all later!

xoxo Hanna and Dan

The drive back from Milford Sound

A cute place we had lunch in Christchurch called Joe's Garage

The beach in Kaikoura