Lanky’s blog

I arrived early this morning in Christchurch and got to the hostel at 2am. I had to get up at 4.30am to ring the hotline for the hot air balloon ride to see if it was in operation this morning. Unfortunatly is was cancelled due to unsuitable weather conditions. We don’t have another day here so I won’t get to do it. Pretty disappointed but such is life. I went back to bed and had a nice lie in. I ditched Noni, she has been here before and didn’t want to do the tourist thing. I went for a coffee and decided on my plan of attack for Christchurch. I went to see the famous boat sheds down by the river. I was expecting something a lot more impressive to be honest but I suppose they were nice. Green and white stripes and about 4 of them and a cafe. I browsed through a market on the way and walked through Cathedral square. I love Christchurch. It’s such a lovely city. Very clean, people are very friendly. Easy to get around by foot and public transport is very easy to use and reliable. I got the bus out to the gondola ride. The views from the top are amazing. It’s one of the most amazing views I have ever taken in. It’s up there with seeing the harbour bridge in Sydney for the first time. Here is what I saw:

If the rest of New Zealand is like this I am going to find it very hard to leave and I will also have to buy a tonne more memory for my camera. We’re up early in the morning to get the trans alpine train to Greymouth. Can’t wait for the views from that, hopefully the weather will be as nice as today. It’s mid 20s and very sunny