I figured most people wouldn’t be calling people after midnight, and I was mostly right. More annoying was the air hockey table that got some use during the night – although I couldn’t place the racket at the time. Also, every hour or so there’d be an announcement about watching your luggage, which was much (much much) louder than it needed to be. All in all I managed a few decent hours of sleep, and didn’t wake up feeling too bad.
I was up early though – earlier still now that I consider the time difference from Sydney. I grabbed some not-so-good breakfast at the airport lounge, and called a few hostels for rooms. Still booked, I finally managed to get one at the YHA, but couldn’t check in until 10. I read a bit then decided to watch a movie on the computer. “The Ballad Of Jack and Rose”, which wasn’t terribly special. Not Daniel Day Lewis’ finest work.
Caught the airport shuttle to the hostel, checked in, had a shower, then headed to Cathedral Square to check out the, yep – you guessed it, cathedral. There was a small market with mostly jewellery, so I checked that out, and was going to venture further abroad when I joined a small (but soon much bigger) crowd formed around a street performer. He was a juggler/comedian, and pretty amusing, so I watched him for a bit.
Headed down the street towards the royal botanical gardens (every town has to have one, apparently). Stopped en route to check out another market (artist’s work), and then some small artist’s shops in the art centre. Wandered about there for a while, and decided to get some food. Listened to some live music and ate, then finally ventured to the gardens.
The gardens were nothing spectacular, although the Avon river does run through it. They are also part of Hagley Park which is, according to my shuttle bus driver, the third largest municipal park in the world.
Next to the park was the Canterbury Museum, which I figured would be closed, but wasn’t. I foregoed any donation and had a nice walk through there. Lots of stuff on extinct New Zealand creatures, and New Zealand history. Actually much better than I was expecting.
Walking past the market on my way back to the hostel I heard some nice live music that sounded like it might be worth checking out. It was a woman by the name of Hera , that sounded pretty good (although I only heard one song before she ended her set). She had a face tattoo, which was surprisingly tasteful.
Back at the hostel I had a nice (and probably much needed) nap, for an hour or so, then went and grabbed some groceries.. Brought the groceries back to the hostel and did a little New Zealand research to see if I could map out a bit of an itinerary. I think I’ve got a good idea of what I want to tackle.
At night I went back to Cathedral Square and took a few night photos. I stopped at a convenience store on the way back to the hostel, and picked up one of the item’s on Ella’s “Must Do” list – a “lolly cake” . Basically a coconut covered chocolate cake that someone has inserted marshmallow like sweets into. I have to admit it was pretty decent. Different, at the very least.
