Dude - where's my shoes?

On the road out of Hamilton we had a a few steps to get to our next destination of Christchurch:

1. Find our way to the hotel at Auckland airport,
2. Back to Auckland city centre to say goodbye to the van,
3. Back to the hotel for any early night,
4. Up at 5am for our flight to Christchurch,
5. Get from Christchurch airport to the hostel,
6. Settle in at the hostel.

Step 1 went off without a hitch and we arrive and checked into our swanky hotel compete with crisp white sheets, fluffy towels and organic soap. Unfortunately as we were unpacking the van I noticed that something was missing.

Dude - where's my shoes?

The van was empty but my walking boots were nowhere to be seen and I had a very clear vision of them on the floor under the bed back in Hamilton. We definitely had no time to go back for them as the van had to be returned in an hour, so I said a quiet goodbye and we fired up the van for one last time.

After a minor detour (it turns out there are two beach roads in Auckland) we made it back to the Escape depot and said fair well to the van (we had seen 31 other Escape vans while we were on the road). After a spot of lunch at a delicious veggie chinese we headed back to hotel. We relaxed the evening away reading and enjoying a garlic face mask.

Very sleepy (but with lovery skin) we navigated our way to Auckland domestic terminal then enjoyed our short hop to Christchurch. It was a very short hop, about an hour (we actually spent more time waiting at the airport than in the air)! Once we had found our way out of the airport and to the bus stops we were in Christchurch city centre in 20 minutes.

The fence runs all the way round central Christchurch

All of the images on the news and internet can't really prepare you for seeing a city with no centre! The whole area that used to be central Christchurch is currently shut off and there are cranes, diggers and trucks moving about all day securing, demolishing or clearing the area. Some of the areas now look like vacant lots while on other streets that work has hardly started and you can see into homes and businesses where a wall is missing. After a rather depressing trek around this area to get to the hostel (Step 5 on the list nearly there) we found that although the city is missing big bits a lot of people are still here and getting on with it. Finally step 6 - The brightly painted Chester Street Backpackers is full of people and activity, the rooms are clean and bright as is the communal kitchen and the lounge area is very cosy (added bonus for Aimee there is yet another cat).

We spent Thursday afternoon wandering round the beautiful Hagley Park and finish off the day at an English style pub with a Fish and Fries supper.

It is hard to imagine the destruction as you wonder through the blossom in Hagley park

Aimee is rather fond of trees

The peace bell feels very fitting

Friday morning was very lazy but we eventually got up to a package with our names on it, some what surprised we opened it to find inside one pair of walking shoes size 9 with very familiar scuffs! A massive thank you again Glen and Fleur not sure how you pulled it off! From there the day only got better as we went to check out Canterbury Museum. The museum has some great exhibits on Maori life before the Europeans arrived and on early European settler life. A particular highlight was the reconstruction of Fred and Myrle's Paua house, this has to been seen to be appreciated - words fail me!

This does not do the house justice!

As I write this we are headed back there now to get another look at the house and checkout that Antarctic exhibits we missed yesterday. Our next post will likely be from Singapore so I will wish everyone well I have some whales to check out.

Ps.

Malcolm a special note for you - at the museum we spotted this shinny motor bike, turns out it was ridden by Speedway legend Ivan Mauger and was gold plated by Orange County Metal Processing in the USA after he won 3 championships. 

Triple Crown Special

A beautifully constructed hot water foot spa

With an overnight stop off in Orewa again to breakup the journey we moved onto the Coromandel peninsular for a few days. Our first stop was a beautiful walk down to (and backup from) Cathedral Cove which has been sculpted by the unforgiving waves. The huge stone arch has been roped off (it seems to be finally giving into the elements) so we could not venture far along the beach or see the blow holes but it was still very pretty.

Part of the amazing water carved cove

The waves are this big

Our over night stay was at Hot Water Beach Top 10 park and again it did not disappoint, the facilities were very new and there was a really nice communal lounge/eating area where we got chatting to a few of the other campers. It was rather difficult not to as a gregarious Australian guy with his son in tow made himself the host introducing everyone to each other. We had a fun evening trying to chat to people from all over the world (although mainly France and Germany). Who knew that car insurance was so cheap in Australia?

The morning of the 13th we made an early start to beat the tide (and the crowds) to the highlight of New Zealand so far, the hot water at the beach. After a few minutes poking around trying to work out what to do we located our own area of hot sand and started to dig with everyone else (there were about 20 of us at this time). At a few points half way along Hot Water Beach (only accessible near low tide) hot water warmed by the volcanism in the area bubbles to the surface. We quickly found that the temperature of the water varied over a very small area, within 6 inches it could go from boiling to freezing. Being my geeky self I realised that the nice temperature areas ran in a band down the beach so dug a long trench with a pool at the end rather than a wide pool like everyone else, once I had finished building the walls we had our very own perfectly constructed hot water foot spa where we lounged for the next few hours until the beach got too crowded.

Me digging with a saucepan

Aimee enjoying my creation - note the large retaining wall

Is Aimee smiling because of the hot water or the view?

Relaxed like only a free, all natural, foot spa can make you we stopped at the Hot Water Beach cafe and had a delicious platter of fresh bread, hummus, salmon and other such goodies and read magazines. Now totally chilled out we departed on the short two and a half hour drive to Papamoa beach, but how long would it take us to get there…

The route across the USA in visual form

I always get round to things eventually. Here is a map of our route across the United States. When I know where we are going in New Zealand and Asia I will add them as well.

View USA trip in a larger map

On the highway

Today we pickup our rental car to start the drive to LA.

Before 0920 this morning I had only ever driven in the UK, on the left, in a small hatchback and the most high tech car gizmo I had ever seen was an electric window.

Key in hand I step out on to the Hertz parking lot and find myself face to face with a Transformer (literally as the car is featured in the latest movie).

Me pretending to be a man with the man car

The Chevrollete Cruze is huge, compared to our car back home it is like an ocean liner. I sat down in the drivers seat and felt like I was about to fly the Millennium Falcon. I found the steering wheel and the hole for the key but didn't recognise and of the other buttons. After a few minutes of rifling through the instruction manual it turns out you don't need any of them (although the air con is useful).

Next up safely navigating this right hand driving situation. After a couple of laps of the parking lot, not deliberate I kept missing the exit, it was out on to International drive. This was admittedly a seat of the pants moment as it was now 0945 and there was plenty of traffic to keep me on my toes, a kindly bus driver took pity on us and helped us pull out in the end.

We are safe in Weeki Wachee about 2 hours from Orlando, we navigated highways, turn pikes and road works and arrive without too many new wrinkles on my brow. It was actually great fun and I can't wait for the roads ahead, another one of those travel experiences that shows that getting thrown in at the deep end can sometimes be the best way of learning to swim. We have a long drive tomorrow but we will be keeping our eyes peeled and we will see if I am still enjoying it or if the novelty has worn off after a few hundred miles.