Monday, Jan. 28th was Auckland Day so it was a regional holiday which basically just means everyone here in Auckland got the day off of work. Drew added on a day of vacation last Friday and off we went! We flew down to Christchurch (A) early Friday morning, took the scenic train up the coast to Picton (B), hopped on the Interislander ferry and ended in Wellington (C) for Saturday and Sunday nights before flying back to Auckland on Monday afternoon.
FRIDAY:
As mentioned, we got up early and flew down to Christchurch. For those of you who don't know, there was a pretty bad earthquake in November 2011 (I believe it was an 8.6) and it literally destroyed the entire city center. Our hotel was right on the edge of the destruction and was pretty much the only thing open in a 10 block radius. We asked a local how long it would take to get things back up and running and he said probably 20-30 years at best!
They have created a 'container mall' in downtown which is literally shipping containers that companies have purchased/rented and they've painted them lots of bright colors and set them up in a little area where people can shop, eat and listen to music. We went there for breakfast...and lunch, actually...and found it to be quite nice.
We walked through the botanical gardens and the local museum. We spent the afternoon just hanging around and then went to dinner at a yummy Mexican place! We called it an early night on account of lack of things to do and our early wake-up call the next morning. Needless to say, that wasn't the best night's sleep thanks to fears about earthquakes and being on the 7th floor of the hotel!
SATURDAY:
We caught a shuttle to the train station at 5:55am. I had never been on a train trip like that so I was super excited! We dropped off our bags and boarded the train around 6:45am...at 7am we were off and running! The train went all the way up the east coast of New Zealand and it was absolutely stunning! The cars were so luxurious, they had power plugs to charge all of our appliances, and we were right next to the food car!
Once we stopped in Picton, we had some time to walk around and ended up just sitting on a park bench and enjoying a local musician and the view of the harbour. Then we boarded the Interislander ferry and headed up to our upgraded first class seats. It was a private lounge with couches, a TV, and excellent views from the top of the boat. We thought we were going to have the whole place to ourselves until about 30 minutes into the trip with one random guy walked in. It was slightly awkward, but overall a fun experience.
We finally made it to Wellington around 5pm that night and went straight to our hotel to check in. Our hotel was...um, interesting...to say the least. One thing we have learned in our travels around NZ is that the hotels are definitely not the same as what we're used to in other places. Even when you stay in the same chain of hotels, they are vastly different. Anyway...we checked in and then headed down the main street of downtown Wellington to have dinner. We ate at a place called Sweet Mother's Kitchen and it was awesome! I had read about it online and it said it was a cajun/southern type place with New Orleans influence so we figured it was our duty as Americans to test it out and make sure they were doing it right. I got a chicken po-boy and Drew got a fried chicken burrito...and they were both delish! We grabbed some ice cream after and then headed back to the hotel for the night.
SUNDAY:
We slept in a little bit then went to the visitors center to get our tour tickets for the day. We opted for the hop-on/hop-off tour bus so that we could see lots of the city in one day. We headed across the street to grab a quick breakfast at the Lido Cafe and then it was off for a day of sightseeing. Our first stop was Mt. Victoria where we got to see some amazing views of the whole city!
We stayed on the bus for a while and then hopped off at the cable car stop so that we could take a ride on the famous cable car and check out a planetarium show at the Carter Observatory.
That afternoon we grabbed a quick lunch and then checked out the Te Papa Museum which has the reputation of being the best in New Zealand. There was a ton of stuff to see and I'm pretty sure we didn't even see half of it!
That night we stumbled upon an old favorite restaurant, Monsoon Poon, and had a really awesome dinner--it never disappoints. We stopped for ice cream again and then packed up to head out the next morning.
MONDAY:
On our last day we decided to head back to Sweet Mother's to check out their awesome brunch menu and we were so NOT disappointed! We started with homemade beignets--yum! Drew got a breakfast burrito--his favorite--and I got chicken and waffles which were to die for!
We walked around and got some souvenirs before catching a cab to the airport. On our way there, the taxi driver mentioned that some fog had rolled in over the airport so we should check on our flight status. Of course, since we bought the cheap flights, we couldn't switch to an earlier flight so we just sat and watched the fog roll in. Luckily, we got to pass the time by Skyping with Drew's parents which is always a nice treat. Our plane landed and we still took off on time so all worked out well!
It was a fun little vacation weekend and now we can look forward to all of our other upcoming trips this year!
Cheers!
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