{"id":3416,"date":"2011-01-06T19:20:38","date_gmt":"2011-01-06T06:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wanderlust.simid.cloud\/?p=3416"},"modified":"2011-01-14T19:38:49","modified_gmt":"2011-01-14T06:38:49","slug":"5-days-at-eweg-haven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wanderlust.simid.cloud\/?p=3416","title":{"rendered":"5 days at Eweg Haven"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Christchurch, New Zealand] No, the title is not a LOTR reference, we’ve been guests now for 5 days with Ingrid and John in Christchurch. All the comforts of home plus real tea and normal (ie. excellent) food pretty much non-stop. I have unfortunately spent most of in bed with aches and fever so have not been able to enjoy the hospitality but am very thankful for being this ill here and not in the middle of some third world dump. A few evenings ago I could not bear it any longer and John kindly took me in to a 24 hour medical centre. The UK passport got me a 50% discount on the usual ‘foreigner’ consult rate but it was still expensive – I didn’t care. Nursing staff took my vitals and after a wait V and I got to see a Doctor. We were not too impressed. He didn’t really listen to us and was not interested in the possibility of malaria or dengue. Turns out he thought Borneo was in Spain and therefore I was not at risk! Oh well. I guess we got the guy who finished last in his class that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\"sam_5823\"\n<\/a>\n\n

Eager to show off Christchurch, and get out a little during their vacation, Ingrid and John took us out around town. Up the Christchurch gondola for a picnic and huge 360deg views of the city and surrounding topography. From there we cruised around some of the sea-side villages and beaches as far as ‘Taylor’s Mistake’ (haha). At one point we noticed a road sign saying ‘No Cruising’. John explained it was for the ‘Boy Racers’. New Zealand is apparently plagued by kids with pimped out ‘race’ cars – sounds just like Pretoria\/Chatsworth except in NZ they can start driving at 15! Our first overall impressions of the place: it’s colder and windier than expected, everything is spotlessly clean, everyone is friendly and the Canterbury beaches are rubbish \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

V went out with the crew on another outing while I stayed in bed. They visited Willowbank nature reserve (or zoo) where she got to see a Wallaby and a Kiwi. The kids (Rachel and Cloe) just love the place, being able to feed the tame eels and farm animals is far more fun than watching an endangered kiwi bolt along a fence.<\/p>\n

I was able to drag myself out of bed for another excursion later in the week but was really not feeling great. We did a tour around the old French colonial area of Akaroa and the Banks peninsula. Very scenic. Very quaint. The French landed there just a few days after the British took control of NZ. Unusually for these two nations they were able to sort things out amicably and the French stayed on. On the way home we pulled over at a road-side farm-stall selling the most amazing cherries I have ever seen. V bought a huge punnet accompanied by a big grin \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\t\"sam_5862\"\n<\/a>\n\n

Other than that, V has been nursing me back to health and just enjoying being in a wonderful spot with good friends and catching up. She got a couple chances to go shopping with Ingrid for basics and she is impressed with the variety. Sizes seem ‘American’ and prices are very ‘British’. The Marmite does not taste quite right though. The parks and streets around the area seem very peaceful and feel empty – I guess compared to South East Asia it is !<\/p>\n

We have to say a huge ‘THANK YOU’ to Ingrid, John and the girls for being so generous with everything. Internet connection, tea, roast lamb, biscuits, potjie, tea, pasta, cereal, tea, hot showers, home baked biscuits, and did I mention tea ? It has been an awesome place to be stuck in bed \ud83d\ude42 Rachel also seemed to take delight in learning something new, that eating a hamburger can make you sick and was very concerned for me. I think I’m her favorite as I definitely got asked more times than V to go jumping on the trampoline with her. It will be hard to leave here in a couple of days.<\/p>\n

BTW. Some time during the week (on the 5th actually), we passed the 8 Months on the Road<\/b> mark. I was too sick to notice. V, too busy \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

[Pictures: Going up on the gondola and me getting yet another haircut. More pics in the linked gallery and even more when we next get a chance to upload]<\/p>\n

– Posted from my iPhone via 3G<\/small><\/p>\n

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