Up at 7am for a muesli breakfast and packing, leaving the hostel at 8am for the drive over to Christchurch. The rain was back, and we were thankful that we got up the glacier at all! It was a dull drive through the rain all the way to Arthur’s Pass, a small collection of huts and houses in the centre of the south island. There we stopped at a coffee shop for a tasty lamb/rosemary/kumara pie and large but lame date scone. As we emerged from the other side of the pass, the clouds cleared and suddenly it was a perfect beautiful day.
We powered on to Christchurch and checked into the unique Jailhouse Accomodation hostel there – a former jail constructed in the 1860s and still in use until the late 1990’s. Our cell was simply furnished with bunk beds and a set of drawers and the communal kitchen and bathrooms were large and clean.
To the back of the hostel was a pool table with a balcony overlooking the rest of the prison and a movie room for relaxing. Laura had not had a great night’s sleep for a few days so decided to relax while I wandered into Christchurch town centre. The hostel is a little bit of a walk from the tourist sites, but I followed the river along and took a walk through the botanic gardens which were very pleasant. The town square is very pretty, but it is an odd town, lacking the charm I had expected.
We both then headed out for dinner at around 7pm, but nothing in the many city centre restaurants grabbed us (overpriced and uninspiring) so we went into a supermarket and loaded up with corn on the cob and fruit. Maybe we had had too many burgers? In the end, the corn filled us up, so we were glad we avoided a restaurant.
A bit of book reading and then to sleep.
