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Thursday, April 28, 2011

Day 93 toooooooo day 100!

Still discovering our new locale, we headed to Salt Bar on Day 93 - this wasn't the new thing, as we'd had wine here before but we treated to ourselves to their yummy pizzas! Recommended, and won't be the last time I'm sure we treat ourselves in this way....

Day 94 was my first run in Christchurch - an 8km around Sumner's lovely quiet streets!

On day 95 suffering from cabin fever and with the bus not going across Ferry Road bridge I decided to walk from Sumner to Ferrymead. It's much further than it seems apparently and not that pleasant in the places where there's no pavement or rockfalls and cracked roads. My reward for this was to spend several hours in the $2 charity shop barn in Ferrymead - fun!

Day 96 is another lazy one - sorry! It's a goodie though, I watched all 6 episodes of series 7 of Peep Show in one hit!

On day 97 I ran up a hill - to Evans Pass Road with the hubby. "Just around the corner" he kept saying. Bollocks! Lots of ups but it was worth it for the view once there. And it being downhill on the way back.

On day 98 the hubby made his famous Sunday roast and I made gravy from a Bisto tube! Sent to us by our lovely friend Jane, it was brilliant!

On day 99 hubby & I flew to Dunedin. Although we'd been to Dunedin before, I'd never flown there. It was a lovely scenic flight and the day spent in Dunedin was just fantastic.

Day 100! Tuesday 12th April. The start of the Central Otago Rail Trail. We were driven to Middlemarch, sorted out with our bikes by the lovely gay Bob and then off we set! A great first day of cycling, and I'll let you into a little secret.....the next few days will be Otago rail trail based! Still, I booked it and experienced new places so think this is allowed

To be continued.....

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

day 85 - 92...

For our last night in Auckland, we were so very exhausted, stressed and sad. Having spent the afternoon saying goodbye to our good friends, it was a case of using the hotel's swimming facilities and eating in whilst watching Kick Ass. Ok, so having room service is a bit lame, but considering all I wanted was chips, choosing the Moroccan bean stew was very much a new thing!

Day 86 was the start of the road trip. With the fish. Was the new thing keeping the fish alive? Or driving to Tongiriro National Park? No, it was staying at the Chateau! Gorgeous old hotel in one of the best surroundings immaginable.

Before we continued the road trip with fish on day 87, I thought we should do a run in the morning, on something called the ridge track. So at 8am, it was a fresh though sunny morning, and we set off up (yes, up - who knew?)the track. At the top, both struggling to catch our breath the view was stunning, but I much preferred the run downhill!

Also on day 87 we drove to Wellington, and explored the city (Cuba st, record stores, vintage stores, bars and Japanese restuarants!) but that's by the by really. However, it'll take us nicely to day 88 - which was not the ferry crossing (and what a fantastic day we had for it!) but staying overnight in Kaikoura. Since my first visit to NZ where I travelled down to Christchurch to meet Andy by bus which involved a lunch stop at Kaikoura, I've always wanted to go back there. It didn't disappoint 9 years later. Still is as beautiful and hippyish as I remembered and the drive in was epic. I also picked up a lovely yellow sundress and bracelet from a vintage store which helped the happy vibes even more!

The final leg of the journey. Another gorgeous drive, to Christchurch. The fish were now used to the bumps and corners though I think the earthquake ravaged roads into Sumner were a bit of a shock. Still they survived! Into the new house, and once Crown had given us our belongings back we headed out to see what Sumner had to offer in this time of uncertainty. Several coffee houses, a supermarket, 2 recycle boutiques, 1 hospice shop, 2 fish n chip shops and the best Indian resturant we've eaten from in New Zealand! Not once did they ask how hot we wanted our curries (a major annoyance - if you order korma, it is by nature mild. If you order jalfrezi, it is hot. Not kiwi hot, but hot!) I would go so far as to say it is authentic Indian, and I don't think it'll be the last time we eat here....

Day 89 I mostly unpacked, but found the time for a walk into Sumner and explored the hospice shop and recycle boutiques!

Day 90 was our first Saturday as Chch residents and the Hopkins came over to help us celebrate. The first beer was opened at 2pm, the last bottle of wine was consumed at 12am!

With the above in mind, day 91 was a lazy Sunday - a bit more unpacking and then I made a nice simple meal. It started with the question what do we have? Mushrooms, onions and rice. I goggled that and found a very simple recipe for just that really! Slow cooking the rice with the sauted mushrooms and onions - yummy.

Day 92 after a morning of yet more unpacking (are boxes like gremlins?) I needed to get out, so in true English style I waited for the rain to start than I walked along the Esplanade to Scarborough beach and back to Sumner village with my brolly and boots!

79 all the way to 84...

I was correct - Day 78 was a walk around the Waitakeres! It was a gorgeous day and the first time (since the KareKare / Piha freak out) that we'd made it there. We did a short but pleasant walk around the Huia Reservoir before heading to Titirangi for a lovely lunch.

I will apologise now - a lot of the next entries will be fairly small fry. In the middle of a move it's hard to get out and do stuff!

With that in mind, day 79 was as simple as using the veggie mince in the freezer and adding it to a curry sauce. I've never thought to do this before, but it was actually really really yummy.

Day 80, I did actually leave the house, for book group - my current last ever, sob. At my request we went to Vivace, but it was a sad evening all in all, as we discovered our friend is very ill. One of the most inspiring people I've ever met, for her fun attitude and positive outlook on life - I keep my fingers constantly crossed for her.

Day 81 was one of those fantastic impromptu evenings that you just could never plan as well as it turns out! I had booked a meal for Prohibition, the fab 1920s themed restuarant in Ponsonby with Nat & John, and John's bro and friend, whom we hadn't met before. It was a great meal, so the thought process went - let''s go play pool. That led to - let's have some more beers in a bar somewhere on K road, and when they chucked us out of that place, the thought was - how about Family bar? This was the place Andy & Matt had so much fun on their dirty pub crawl, so it seemed fitting. There was tequilia, drag queens, karaoke, and a big tits contest. It at this point we left to get kebab and more wine before the best taxi ride home with Raa, who played cheesy singalong music all the way home!

Day 82 - given the description above it will come as no surprise to discover whilst a man came and packed up my belongings, I sat on the bed and did nothing but read the remaining 500 pages of The Sunne in Splendour - an excellent book!

On day 83, more men came to pack up my belongings so I wandered down to Mission Bay cinema and watched Never Let me Go - this was the first time I'd watched a film on my own in NZ, but I'm counting the new thing as following it up with an evening showing of Battle Los Angeles.....(Andy's choice) - the first time I've watched two films at the cinema in one day! Guess which film I preferred....!

As we were in the midst of moving, we were staying at the Skycity Grand Hotel over the weekend before setting off to Christchurch, so the new thing on day 84 was breakfast at Torcheon, the French cafe most famous for its Crepes. I had museli. It was delicious!