Day 8: Making Friends with Pohatu Penguins, Seals, and Sheep

The next day of Christchurch we spent exploring the surrounding areas, specifically Akaroa. We had a sea kayaking tour scheduled and we were pretty pumped about it!

Downtown Akaroa was a cute little stop: a nice pier with some boats and a lovely painter man who did an astonishingly good portrait of me. So life like!

Overlooking the cliffs as we approached Akaroa.

Matt taking advantage of being camera man by taking his own selfie.

Group photo time! Me, Sam, Matt, Daniel, and Brooke

The lovely road we traversed in our rental car. We learned quickly that the rental wouldn't be doing any off-roading so we stayed on the paved path. Once we were in van for our excursion, it was a different story. This van was built for the narrow, graveled, winding roads of Akaroa!

We couldn't get enough of the bodies of water

So we probably took photos of it from every angle possible. But at least he one on the right shows the town of Akaroa, nestled on the harbor.

The launching pad for our kayak adventure had some sheep so of course we fed them! Well, we fed the interested ones. There were a couple, like our pal on the right, who were more interested in peeing or rubbing up against the fence.

Quite possible the most flattering "skirt" I've ever worn. This lovely garment helped to keep us warm and dry while kayaking in the harbor. Sam was my lucky kayaking partner :)

Kayaking like a pro! So good at it that I could take a selfie.

Pre-adventure, we got some good photos. Daniel needed some extra help with getting situated.

Matt cheesing on the harbor.

Sam looking all picturesque. And I'm hoping you can see the seals or penguins in these photos!

Seals! The baby seals were especially vocal.

We made it!We survived the choppy water on the bay, and kayaked with the seals and penguins.

Speaking of penguins... here's a baby one in a nest created by the sanctuary we were in. 

As you can imagine, kayaking for hours helped us build up quite the appetite so we got burgers! I'm sure you're shocked since we have only had burgers in literally every city.

This boy was in the women's bathroom. It might just scare the pee out of you. The red eyes were kind of a thing if you can't tell.

And here are some shots of our jailhouse hostel. I can now honestly say that I've spent a few nights in jail.

Day 7: The Mini Tour of Christchurch

Our first day in New Zealand was spent exploring the city of Christchurch. We arrived bright and early after our "red eye" so we checked into our hostel (a historical jailhouse) then grabbed brunch as our rooms weren't ready yet. A delicious brunch it was, very American like, and therefore hearty and filled out bellies!

Then it was into the city to explore the downtown area. Much of the city is still recovering from the earthquake in 2011 so at times it was a dreary site, but also inspiring. I especially liked the shipping container mall--pretty cool idea for how to take things and repurpose them in a way that others might not think of.

We also visited the Cantebury Museum which had a lot about New Zealand culture. Alas, we were getting quite exhausted due to the lack of sleep so I didn't retain much. It was also a bit of a museum for everything, it had art, natural history, this weird house with millions of shells on the walls. All in all, cool but a littler overwhelming at times.

Our last bit of adventure for the day was to take advantage of our rental care and go see Taylor's Mistake. So called because a captain ran his boat ashore thinking it was a strait. Whoops. We then sampled some New Zealand beer and pizza on our way back to Christchurch proper. all in all, a satisfying first day in New Zealand--and the perfect one to help us rest up for the rest of New Zealand.

This is what legroom looked like on JetStar... it was kind of nonexistent. My delicious huevos rancheros from breakfast. And I made fast friends with the little barrier sheep. Our first glimpse of sheep in NZ!

Old Christchurch Cathedral--badly damaged from the earthquake but still it stands. A cardboard cathedral was put up (very good at using recycled goods in Christchurch) to act as the new cathedral until they could repair this one. And a topiary, memorial house for the building.

Some things that were by the Cathedra, not 100% sure of the significance.

Brooke and I kept playing with the concrete sheep. And an archway over the bridge--this too is all that remains of the arch after the earthquake.

The Re:Start Shipping Container Mall. As you can see, they had tons sculptures as well.

The Cantebury Museum aka the museum with a little bit of everything. Like this house full of shells. Matt was confused.

And some recycled metal art.

They had dinosaurs! 

Pictures of Taylor's Mistake.

Delicious pizza! and some yummy beer as well. New Zealand is all right.