TUESDAY IN CHRISTCHURCH, FABRIC SHOPPING

 

Well, I had an average night's sleep.  The knees are not too bad this morning, I'm just feeling a bit stiff and sore.  I will take the dressings off later on today, and see where we are at.

Right, back to today.  We are going to visit two fabric shops, they are on opposite sides of the city.

We will pop into one in Hornby (Sewit.co), then go over to The Tannery in Woolston.  There we will visit Sew & Co, then wander around the other shops there.

After that, who knows?  No set plans, we really are 'winging it' with this trip now.

The weather has killed most of our 'outdoor' plans like going on the Gondola and visiting the Adventure Park.

ONWARD...

I took my knee dressings off this morning as they were coming off on their own.  My knees look great!  Left one is minor and not oozing, and the right on is a bit more ikky.  Some bruising as well (to be expected), and oozing, but on a whole I'm happy with them.  I think I'm a damn good healer.  I will keep a dressing on the right one for the day, so it doesn't stick to me leggings, then take it off when we get back to the Motel.  

I'm really looking forward to today's outing.  😂😅😊 FABRIC SHOPPING.

11.44 am. Our first fabric stop was disappointing, they didn't have much fabric. HOW RUDE.

So off we went to The Tannery and Sew & Co. They had lots of lovely fabric, and I did get some.

ABOVE: At the Tannery. Having lunch now.

ABOVE: We both had a burger and chips for lunch.  The burgers got a 5/10.  Very average.

Nice place at The Tannery though.

ABOVE: After lunch, we decided, as it wasn't raining, to chance our luck on the Gondola.  Port Hills straight ahead.

ABOVE: Going up, and a sheep acting like it was summers day!  Seriously, it was freezing.

ABOVE: Nearing the top, the climb got nearly vertical!  Lots of rock faces.  A bit daunting.

ABOVE: We knew there would not be a view at the top, but we didn't care.  It was still an experience.

ABOVE: At the top, where a nice man helped me out of the gondola.  He was lovely.

ABOVE: If we weren't up in the clouds, that would have been our view.

ABOVE: We had a walk around outside, looking for.... a rock!

Found one, just a small one.  I had to have a Port Hills rock!

ABOVE: The gift shop was very well priced, and we bought a few bits 'n' bobs there. The saleslady was a scream!  So very friendly.

 ABOVE:  My little Port Hills rock.  And now we are going down...

ABOVE: Once we were down, we drove through the Lyttleton tunnel...

ABOVE: The entrance to the tunnel, Christchurch side.

ABOVE:  Lyttleton harbour.  Very pretty.  Bloody freezing wind.

ABOVE:  I loved how the clouds seems to be creeping down the hills.

After driving around Lyttleton for a little while we came back to Christchurch.

Did a little fresh fruit shop at Pak 'n' Save, grabbed a LOTTO... and are now back at the motel.

Feet up, blankie on... relaxing.

7.41 pm, and we've had a nice, relaxing afternoon/evening.  Crackers, Cheese and cheesecake for dinner! lol

Signing off for the day now, catch ya tomorrow.

CHRISTCHURCH ON MONDAY

 

First up for today, a few photos I took yesterday afternoon, when we did a bit of a drive around the City Centre.

ABOVE: This is the Christchurch 'Cardboard' Cathedral, built in 2013 to 'replace', for a while, the Christchurch Cathedral that was severely damaged in the earthquake in February 2011.

The new Christchurch Stadium is behind it.

ABOVE:  I'm sure that sculpture has a name, but I couldn't find it in a search.  Annoying.

But, it's rather impressive.

ABOVE: The original Christchurch Cathedral, looking so sad and derelict.  It is a disgrace that it has not been restored by now.  Money is the problem of course.  It is going to cost $219 MILLION to fix it, or demolish it.  I hope they don't demolish it.  And of course, the longer they take to do something, the more it will cost!

Back to today, we are going for a drive out to Akaroa.  I've heard nice things about that area, and of course, it's by the sea.  So we shall do that.

ONWARD...

Slight change of plans for the day.  We are visiting the Riverside Markets first, then going out to Akaora.

I had wanted to do a Gondola ride as well, but it's pointless when it's super cloudy and wet, as it is today.  We might get it in on another day.

But for now... Riverside Markets...

ABOVE: 1. Riverside Markets building.

2. Just inside the door, fish. I thought they were painted on the wall, but no. They were made of wood. 

3. Inside was warm, and had some AMAZING  food stalls.

4. I've never seen such appetizing food!

5. Had to get something! That's morning and afternoon tea sorted out.

We are now on our way to Akaroa. It's raining. 

12.18 pm. Here in Akaroa and the weather is abysmal,  and we don't even care! We've done some shopping, and are now at The Grand Hotel for lunch.  It's a 'pub' lunch, nothing fancy.  I have a heater right in front of me so I'm happy 😊.

Photos later.

ABOVE: WHOOPS!

Explanation: I walked down a concrete boat ramp to collect a rock. It was going well till I hit a super slippery bit and fell on my knees. Then I rolled. NOT ELEGANT. It hurt like HELL. Luckily there is a pharmacy in Akaroa. The pharmacist helped us dress my knees. We are now heading back to Christchurch... with a bloody rock...

 LITERALLY!

3.37 pm, and we are back at our motel in Christchurch.  We will stay in for the remainder of the day now.

Here's a few more photos from today's excursion:

ABOVE:  First stop along the road, Barry's Bay.

Tide was going out.

ABOVE:  About to enter Barry's Bay Cheese shop.

ABOVE: We bought some cheese, a cheese knife and the cutest little heart shaped spoon.

ABOVE:  Barry's Bay Cheese, which makes all the cheese they sell.  If you visit during 'cheese making' season, you can watch the process.

It wasn't cheese making season today.

ABOVE:  Akaroa today, wet and miserable.  I would have loved to walk out on the pier, but nope, too wet.

ABOVE: The shopping 'centre' was spread out, with a few very nice gift shops.  Aimed at tourists, which we were today.  We bought a couple of lovely things, but I won't show them now as they are bubble wrapped ready for travel.

ABOVE:  I was admiring the giant pots of succulents, and along came my man.  Just as lovely at the pots.  😂😉😊

ABOVE: Lunch at the local hotel, I had pulled pork wedges, and OMG!  They were the best wedges I've ever had.   Stew had to eat half of them... they were very filling.

ABOVE: Stew had some sort of Lamb thingee, and far too many chips.

ABOVE: This lady worked in the hotel, and as she changed the money boxes in the ATM she looked at us and said "Please don't  hit me over the head!"

As if we would!!!

ABOVE:  The 'X' marks the spot where I fell over.  Way in the background is the Lighthouse, which we drove to after my knees were dressed.

ABOVE:  The lighthouse, which we didn't get out and walk around, as I was too sore.

It is now a couple of hours later and I'm feeling much better.  I have a feeling I might be stiff and sore tomorrow!  I really did a number on myself.

8.30 pm, and all is good.  My knees are feeling OK-ish.  Hopefully I get a decent night's sleep and we are good to go tomorrow.

Catch ya then.

LET'S GO

 

Well... after deciding only a week or so ago, we are flying off to Christchurch today.

I'm really looking forward to the complete change of scene Christchurch will be for us.

Although the weather is supposed to be a bit shit, we don't care.

It's all about a nice mini break for us.  And ummm... checking out a couple of fabric shops I've NEVER been to before!  😏😅😉

Of course, we will be having a good look around the city, and it's surrounds as well.

I am hoping the weather isn't utter shit, and we can do a couple of things outside, like walk around Akaroa, maybe do the Gondola ride?  Not sure what will be possible yet.

It's still early in the morning, and we don't have to be out at the airport till around 10 am, so we have plenty of time to slowly get ourselves up, dressed, fed etc.  

ONWARD...

ABOVE: 8.30 am, and a freaking  fog dropped down. Fingers crossed it clears in time for our flight out.

And already... our flight is going to be delayed. It's very foggy out there, no doubt why its delayed.  Hot chips 🍟 should help....lol.

11.15 am, and the plane finally landed in Hamilton.

ABOVE: We should have been getting off that plane in Christchurch about now. 😒

Lucky we are not in a hurry.  I think we will be leaving in about 45 minutes....

2,52 pm, and we are here in our motel.  Our flight ended up being just over an hour late arriving in Christchurch, and the delay was due to the fog in Hamilton.  Typical of Waikato.

ABOVE:  Once we got above the clouds, our flight was smooth and uneventful.

Even the two babies right in front of us were very good travellers.

ABOVE:  I don't know if you can make it out, but that is Farewell Spit, at the top of the South Island.  It curves right out into the sea in a huge arc.

ABOVE:  At Amberly, we headed out to sea..

ABOVE: And then we swung back inland for our approach to Christchurch.  I don't like it when the plane dips and turns like that!  My tummy does flip flops.

ABOVE: The Waimakariri River, looking very empty of water.  Maybe it always looks like that? I don't know.

ABOVE: Once we had landed, it was fairly plain sailing to pick up our bags and then get the shuttle to our rental car pick up.  Photo above is on State Highway 1, heading into the city.

Our motel is fairly basic, but clean and tidy.  It will do.  Soon we will go for a ticky tour around the city centre, bearing in mind only eateries are likely to be open on a Sunday afternoon.

5.35 pm and I was right.  Most shops were closed on the main shopping streets.  We did venture into a small mall, but it was pretty much the same as any other mall.

We drove around for about an hour and a half, then found a Pasta place called Pasta Pasta on High Street, and went in for dinner.

It was bloody yum! 

ABOVE: We both had a 'Not so Proper Chicken Carbonara', it was bloody delicious!  Heaps of flavour, which you don't always get in restaurants.  Highly recommend that place.

We got some Diet Coke from Pak 'n' Save, a few snack type things and are now back at our motel for the night.

I think this will be it for the day, I'm not anticipating anything else 'happening' for the evening, except lying on the bed watching TV.

Oh and it isn't THAT much colder here than in Hamilton.  AND the freaking bed does not have an electric blanket, which is nuts!  Lucky for me, Stew is always HOT.

I shall just cuddle up to him.