Meandering

Today was an unplanned, play it by ear kind of day. Our scuba dive master told us about Ohau Stream, which is on the way to Christchurch from Picton. We decided to stop there and were very happy that we took his advice. Baby seals make their way up this stream (from the ocean) to a waterfall at the beginning of it each winter. As it is fall, there were plenty of seals all along the stream. Yesterday we saw young seals, but today we got to see baby seals. They were adorable and full of energy! Grant took some great video of them playing in the water.

How can you resist that adorable face?!

The drive today was also fabulous! It was our first day exploring the South Island. We found ourselves amidst mountains, large hilly areas, and the ocean. You definitely feel small in the middle of all of that!

Clouds descending upon the mountains. It was stunning!

We were also driving along the ocean for most of the day.
The water shimmered a thousand colors of blue.

Our next stop was Kaikoura, an eco-tourist town. There are plenty of tours there, especially whale watching tours. We just stopped for lunch at an outdoor café and did some souvenir shopping. Grant had a venison burger, and I had a chicken sandwich. We originally went in for fish and chips, but changed our minds when we saw the menu. The food was delicious, but our simple lunch cost nearly $40. Food is quite pricey here! It is interesting to us that they serve venison at restaurants. We actually saw a deer farm one day while we were driving. I did a double take when I saw deer grazing in their own field next to a cattle field. I wish I had thought to take a picture!

Upon arriving in Christchurch, we realized we didn’t have much time to tour because most of the town shuts down between five and six in the evening. We decided to drive to the part of downtown that is still accessible. Grant parked the car and told me he had an idea:

Punting in the park. It was the perfect afternoon for a little boat ride. We got a private thirty minute tour on a river that winds through the Botanical Gardens and Hagley Park.

Our last stop for the day was a mall that lies beside the earthquake ruins in downtown Christchurch. What a unique way to temporarily rebuild!

The container mall, called Re:START, consists of stores inside of containers from
rebuilding downtown Christchurch after the earthquake in February, 2011.

We ended our day at a mall that had free WiFi. It is the first time that we have been able to surf the web without worrying about how much data we are using. We found out that all of the public libraries here have free WiFi, so we may end up stopping by some more libraries along the way. We hope you all have a wonderful start to your week!

Love, the George family