Day 8: Monday, March 4, 2002
Drive from Nelson to Christchurch

Today was mainly a travel day. We were going from Nelson to Christchurch, about 400 km (240 miles). We figured it would take about 4 hours or so, so we had a relaxed morning in Nelson. After packing up and checking out, we went into town. Walendo had finished his book so we went to a bookstore so he could get another one. After browsing a while and buying two books each (I picked up some fiction by New Zealand authors), we decided to get some breakfast. Walendo just wanted a quick bite rather than sitting at a cafe, so we wandered around a bit to find that. We found a place called Tea and Coffee that was sort of cafeteria-like, and he ordered an egg breakfast. I wasn't up for that, so I walked in town looking for a croissant or something. I found one, came back and we ate together. Neither turned out to be all that good. Oh well.

After that, we hit the road. There are two routes from Nelson to Christchurch. The eastern coastal route is slighly shorter, but the people at the hotel had told us that that route can get congested, so it's often quicker to take the route that goes south through the middle of the island and then cuts east to Christchurch. We decided to go with their advice. This meant backtracking through some of the roads we'd been on when we drove into Nelson, but it was still pretty in the other direction. It's quite hilly with lots of green, some rivers along the way but most are quite gravelly with very little water in them, for some reason. We also went back over the bridge where the accident had been, which was kind of strange.

For lunch we stopped in Murchison, the biggest town in that area, and picked up some stuff at the supermarket. We'd been seeing signs for picnic tables by the side of the road every few kilomters, so we figured we'd find a pretty spot and stop for lunch. Just as we found one, it started to rain, and it wasn't that nice a spot, so we moved on. The next one had several people there, so we moved on. Now we were getting pretty hungry, and somehow we entered a picnic-free zone. Since it was still drizzling on and off, we finally just stopped at a pullout and ate in the car. There were a nice scene of a pretty house with fields of sheep in front, so I got out and shot some pictures after we ate. I also walked up the road and saw a field of cows with a nice background. I zoomed way in and the cows seemed very interested in me. They all started walking toward me, so I got some amusing shots of them all lined up looking at me. (Or I hope they'll be amusing.)

Aberlene Tea House

The rest of the drive was uneventful. Toward the end of the drive, I started getting giddy and Walendo was cracking me up with very little effort. I guess it had just been too much driving. As we approached Christchurch, we went through the town of Amberly and saw a sweet looking tea house called the Amberlene Tea House. We stopped and got some Devonshire tea. It was about 4pm and we were the only ones in the place and we chatted with the owner. She seemed a little unhappy or something. She was frustrated that the exchange rate made it very difficult for New Zealanders to travel abroad. She told us they'd converted a run down place into this nice little restaurant. They wanted to do a full B&B but it's an old house and they can't put bathrooms in every room (called en suite), and that's what people want now. In any case, the scones and tea were delicious, and we thanked her and moved on.

Living room of our suite Belmont Motor Inn

Arriving in Christchurch we found our hotel with no problem, the Belmont Motor Inn. We'd stayed here the night we flew into New Zealand. This time we got a nicer room with a more comfortable bed. Like the other room, it also had two good sized rooms, one a living room/kitchen and another a bedroom, which was quite nice. It's nice that it's fairly standard to have kitchen facilities in most rooms, even among inexpensive motels.

Christchurch archway

After relaxing a bit, we walked into town and scoped it out a bit. The hotel is about a 10-15 minute walk from downtown. Most stores were closed, but there were plenty of restaurants open. I wasn't hungry, so we went to a cheap Chinese place, one of Walendo's favorite meals. It turned out to be less than great, but good enough. There was an internet place across the street, so we went in to quickly check mail and catch up. It's nice getting little notes from friends about what's going on there, and telling them stories about our adventures.

After that we walked around a little bit to scope out the town, noting the Avon River and an archway near a pedestrian street, probably of some significance. Eventually, we made it back to our hotel and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

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