Akaroa Criterion Motel Christchurch

... Once in Akaroa I took a nature cruise and saw all types of wildlife, including some white-headed dolphins (called Hector's dolphins) and some more Fur Seals.<br><br>On arrival back to the harbour, the heavens opened so I sought the refuge of a café before getting the coach back to Christchurch.<br><br>Following a nice pasta in Sumner with Jonathan we headed back over the Port Hills to Rangiora.<br><br>I fly to Cairns via Brisbane tomorrow morning.

... returned to the square to its focal point of Canterbury Cathedral. You can go to the top for $5/head. In the other corners of the Square there is an aquarium/kiwi-house, post office, various sculptures/monuments &amp; the i-site. At weekends they have little markets there selling artisan crafts like whale bone, green stone, Maori designs, paintings etc.<br><br>We were told it was the most English city in Nz before arriving &amp; it added up after ...

... Hotel on Papanui Road. Very spacious rooms, but dated. Would have been in it's prime 30 years ago, but it was clean and reasonable value. Just reminded me of an old retirement home, complete with old hall stands with dust covered plastic floral arrangements. Decided to walk down the road towards village centre for a coffee &amp; snack. A local pizza cafe' was open and we sat down. Thoughts of a feed vaporized with the discovery of the menu. $29 for a pizza. Welcome to NZ. Drank the ...

... particular, didn't seem to impress sean and at one stage he even said something to the kids, despite their ignorant parents being in earshot! anyway, they were the kids! as for the wallabies, there was one that springs to mind who had the most personality of all of them and could have well easily jumped into our campervan and come along for the ride, and he was a little one that literally gripped onto our hands, and even held them steady with his paw under ours, while eating! now he ...

... the most scenic drives you will ever do - from rainforest to mountains, to beach forest and great lakes" ... "to Lake Matheson ... through the mountainous Hasst Pass and Mount Aspiring National Park".  Sounds great, right ?  Couldn't see hardly a thing.  Rained and the cloud cover was low.  I think we saw the Fox glacier.  We apparently drove right past Mount Cook, but we had to take Gollum's word for it; we could not see it at all. We stopped for the night in the ...

... early so that they could get home, it didn't work as far as we were concerned! Barb and Dave fly out of Christchurch to Melbourne this afternoon (Friday 13!!!) at about the same time as Barb and I leave for Sydney so we will travel to the airport together, dropping the Nissan off on the way. The car has served us well, particularly after we got the brakes seen to and the tyres rotated in Nelson, during the 3000 odd kms we have ...

... providing the entertainment for the day : he kept tellig us that he got out of teaching to avoid stress and now he was more stressed having to count up everyone on the bus and making sure everyone returned in time!!! We went up the mountain on a cable car (they call it a gondola), and the views of Christchurch from the top were unbelievable. We had a great picnic (complete with bottle of wine) on the beach at Sumner ...