From Queenstown to Christchurch

Saturday, May 08, 2010
Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand
It's 8th May and time for us to wave goodbye to Queenstown. Somewhat annoyingly, Queenstown was bathed in glorious autumnal sunshine today. The town did look marvellous and it was a bit sad having to leave so soon. The schedule was so tight that we didn’t even have time to enjoy all the facilities on offer at the hotel, such as the spa. We were rather early for check in at the airport. Normally it would be fun but Queenstown International (yes!) Airport was not so busy and we only saw three flights. I (Alan) was getting a bit excited as the flight to Christchurch would be on board a regional jet – ART 72. It was the first time Alan had flown on a turboprop aircraft. It certainly felt quite different to a huge 747. Cruising at a mere 21,000 ft, we could see the land underneath clearly and Alan was busy hopping from one side of the aircraft to the other trying to get the perfect aerial view shot. It was lucky the aircrew was friendly.

On arrival, we picked up the hired car – another first for this trip . We were given a new silver Toyota Corolla. Nice and easy to drive – only stalled once so far. But the stick for the indicators was not on the same side as our own car, so every time I wanted to turn, I put the windscreen wipers on. Comical for the first few times, but got annoying after a while. It’s getting better.

We didn’t get to the Club at Christchurch until the afternoon so we didn’t have a lot of time to look around. But we managed to see the Cathedral and walked around the city centre. Christchurch is the biggest city on the South Island and it has an English feel to it. It is name after the College and not the town in Dorset, so it said in the guide. We climbed the Cathedral Tower – all 189 steps. The view from the top was panoramic. From up there you could see how "low rise" the city was. I suppose with a population of just over 350,000, there was no need to skyscrapers. The centre was laid out on a grid system, so it was easy to navigate once you have learned all the street names. No, they use proper names here, not like the US. One thing that has amazed us so far in NZ is the number of Asian restaurants. When we said Asian, we meant Oriental. We expected to find Chinese restaurants, perhaps a few Vietnamese and Thai and a few sushi places. But even a small town like Queenstown, there are at least half a dozen Korean restaurants, loads of Japanese, Thai, and a Chinese restaurant at every corner. But perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised when we read that the 3rd and 4th most widely spoken languages in Auckland are Cantonese and Mandarin, after English and Maori. Whether they are there to serve the local or visitors, we are not sure.

For dinner we drove to Sumner, a town down the coast from the city. The drive along the coast would have been lovely at sunset. Alas we were just about half-an-hour too late and we drove in the dark ! We could see that Sumner would be a happening place in summer and that there was quite a bit of money around. We had a lovely dinner there before driving back to the city centre.
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Comments

Sybil
2010-05-11

I am sooooo jealous! Looks lovely.

rachel_aitken
2010-05-11

So pleased you visited Sumner, the suburb where I grew up one block from the beach, even if it was after dark! And there are heaps of Asian restaurants in NZ, you're right. Growing up in the '70s and '80s, often the only "foreign" option was Chinese, and indeed even when a greater variety of restaurants did open, you could often only get Typical Kiwi Bloke into a Chinese one. A bit like Indian restaurants in the UK I guess.

Vicki Humphrey
2010-05-21

Wipers/indicators........I think the wiper lever in the UK is on the right as most people are right handed and because it rains so much in the UK, they are needed often.....that's my theory. And in Australia anyway, you need to indicate when changing lanes left or right...so here that is needed more.

I have been getting that mixed up for years with all my commuting. Still getting it mixed up.

2025-02-14

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