First Week Back

Hello!

Firstly, I do not have time to create new sheep comics this time around, so I apologize.  Here's a little of what I've been up to this week!

Flights are flights.  No one has fun on them past about 3 hours.  Add ten to that, then add 2 more flights and extra long layovers coupled with flight delays and you'll have an idea of what I went through to get here.  Totally worth it by the way.

I arrived at about 3AM local time on Monday morning.  Went promptly to sleep and got up around 1:30 in the afternoon.  Trond and I went for a lovely drive and sat on our own, overlooking the mud flats.  After a brief stay there, we moved to New Brighton Beach, where I warmed my feet in the sand.

Happy as a clam.

That evening we had a nice dinner at "Gorilla" with Trond's parents, where we ate nice bbq and salads.

Tuesday, Trond and I went out to lunch with our friend who works at the Polytechnic here in Christchurch.  She does event planning for exchange students on campus, so we had lots to talk about.  We ate at a bistro called, "Black Betty" which had AMAZING breakfast/lunch food.  Their bread was terrific.

Eggs Benedict.  Hollandaise sauce was scrumptious.

It was really nice to catch up with her and hang out for a while.  Trond and I spent the rest of the afternoon at our regular spot on the hill overlooking Lyttelton Harbor.  The weather was a bit drizzly and blustery, but the view is still spectacular.  We talked, read books, and napped for a couple of hours.  I took a little walk along the trails on the back side of the hill through the dense woods, which was wet and dark, but fun.

Lyttelton Harbour from The Sign of the Bellbird

That evening, we met up with some friends and had drinks/dinner at a local brewery.  Here's a link to their website: http://www.pomeroysonkilmore.co.nz/ Really great food.  I drank their Tuatara Hefe on tap.  They had a nice range of beers to choose from, all of which I hadn't tried before.  Two of Trond's friends we had actually met in Seattle a few months ago.  They were doing a road trip and had passed through at the time.  It was fun to hear about all their adventures that happened after they left.

Antics while waiting for our table to be ready.

As some of you know, Trond had to renew his visa this year.  We are all familiar with the nightmare that is the US bureaucratic system.  We had to fly to Auckland so that Trond could have an interview in person while he handed in his paperwork and passport.  We flew up there on Wednesday morning and instead of being confined to city center, we rented a car. On a whim, we drove out to the Woodhill Forest, a reserve on a peninsula to the northwest of Auckland. The South Island has the lovely rugged landscapes of mountains and plains and rough rivers, but the North Island seems more tropical, with green rolling hills.  Hobbit geekiness seeped through a bit.  Matamata is where they filmed Hobbiton and the Shire (complete with Hobbit Holes in the hillsides), but that was 2 hours south of Auckland.  However, much of the countryside we passed through on the way to Woodhill Forest looked very "Shire-like."

Determined to go back to Auckland by a different route, we hopped across to the east coast and found a nice picnic spot along the beach in Long Bay Regional Park.  Wide, flat, sandy beach with calm water.  Off the beach, I saw something that made me very jealous.  I swear that catamaran was going 30 knots.

That night, we went out to Korean food near the hotel and then took a walk down to the harbor.  Auckland is called, "The City of Sails" for a reason!  TONS of sailing yachts, America's Cup boats and catamarans in Auckland's numerous marinas and coves.  Here is a taste of Auckland from the sea.

How is that even allowed???  I guess it's name was apt: "Imagine"

The next morning, Trond popped out for about 25 minutes (including walking there and back) for his interview at the US Consulate.  Apparently he handed them the paperwork, they asked him two questions that were already answered on the paperwork, stamped and sent him on his way.  His passport with the renewed visa is already in the mail.  WOW what a waste of time.  But I did see a lot of the North Island I would not have otherwise.

The rest of that morning and afternoon, we traveled along coastal areas around Auckland and saw some great views of the volcanic island Rangitoto in the harbor.  Extinct, but pretty.  You can apparently take kayak tours across the bay, climb to the top, and kayak back.  Sounds fun, but we didn't have that kind of time.

We arrived a bit early to the airport for our return flight to Christchurch, so we played a little mini golf nearby. 

In the bag!

On Friday we traveled with Trond's parents to Akaroa, the nearby scenic peninsula (and where all the cruise ships go now since Christchurch has been closed off).  We took the pretty route along the interior of Lyttelton Harbor before we shifted across to Akaroa.  Stopped here for a picture:

Yeah, I could stay there a while.

In Akaroa, we went to Trond's cousin's restaurant, The Trading Rooms.  It is based on a store that their grandpa had in Kaikoura.  Trond's cousin is the co-owner and head chef.  DELICIOUS food.  I had a tasting platter of different types of salmon.

After lunch, we took a short walk around Akaroa.  There were 3 cruise ships in the harbor, so it was bit crowded.  On our way back to Christchurch, we stopped at  Barry's Bay Cheese and Birdlings Flat, a smooth rocky beach with dangerous water.  Definitely not a place to swim, but pretty and covered in very round rocks of all different sizes.

Trond and his parents looking for agate.

In the evening, Trond and I went with a couple of friends up into the Cashmere hills, where we parked the car and climbed to the summit of Bowenvale Park to overlook Lyttelton Harbor.  Trond tries to do this walk with friends about twice a week.  It's very pretty if steep at times.

Made it!

The views from the top were (predictably) spectacular.

Friday evening found us at late night Dim Sum.  We met up with some more friends and ate from about 10 to 11:30 in the neighborhood of Riccarton.  Most of the restaurants from downtown have relocated to this area and it has quickly become a hub for night life and "foodies."

Today is Saturday.  Our plans are to go to New Brighton Beach with friends, where we will spend the afternoon swimming and boogie boarding.  The evening has a Beach Party in store for us at a friend's house, which should be lots of fun.

On Sunday Trond and I are starting our West Coast adventure road trip.  A whirlwind three days, we are still poring over maps to plan our route, but have a pretty good idea of what we will do.  We might even have time to pop by his sister's place to see how the girls are doing.