Tuesday, November 27, 2007
On Friday we drove from the glaciers to Christchurch. This took us over Arthur's Pass, the highest road crossing the Southern Alps in the South Island of New Zealand.
Christchurch was the first "big" city we visited in New Zealand. Christchurch was completely different from anything else we had seen so far on the trip. All I can say is the food and bar scene seemed great, but there wasn't much else going on.
I really liked how all the bars were down little alleys off the main roads. You would walk down major streets and hear music, and walk down an alley to find a cluster of 5 to 10 bars with outdoor seating. The bars were open until 6am (probably a bad thing).
Christchurch also had a TON of coffee shops. It seemed like there were 5 to 10 cafes on every block. Very cool.
In Christchurch we finally found some *phenomenal* food. It's all been good so far, but Indochine in Christchurch was top tier. I started with a great Elderflower Martini and pork dumplings as an appetizer. Then I had Lamb Shank Massaman Curry. The lamb fell off the bone, no knife needed. Delicious!
Sunday we took the TranzCoastal train and Inter Islander Ferry from Christchurch to Wellington. The train went along the coast through 21 tunnels and over 175 bridges. The views reminded me of the 1 freeway through Oregon.
Wellington is another non interesting big city. We went to the Botanic Gardens, took a tour of the Parliament buildings, and went to the Te Papa Museum. In the basement of the Parliament building we were able to see earthquake isolation devices, small pieces of steel and rubber between the ground and foundation of the building that would help during an earthquake. These were developed in Wellington and are now used all over the world (of course in California).
We had an amazing dinner at Kai in the City in Wellington. This tiny restaurant serves authentic Maori cuisine. I had some great Marlborough Pinot Noir and we ordered Hangi, a bunch of food cooked in an earth oven.
Looking forward to getting away from these cities and back to where the sheep live.
Christchurch was the first "big" city we visited in New Zealand. Christchurch was completely different from anything else we had seen so far on the trip. All I can say is the food and bar scene seemed great, but there wasn't much else going on.
I really liked how all the bars were down little alleys off the main roads. You would walk down major streets and hear music, and walk down an alley to find a cluster of 5 to 10 bars with outdoor seating. The bars were open until 6am (probably a bad thing).
Christchurch also had a TON of coffee shops. It seemed like there were 5 to 10 cafes on every block. Very cool.
In Christchurch we finally found some *phenomenal* food. It's all been good so far, but Indochine in Christchurch was top tier. I started with a great Elderflower Martini and pork dumplings as an appetizer. Then I had Lamb Shank Massaman Curry. The lamb fell off the bone, no knife needed. Delicious!
Sunday we took the TranzCoastal train and Inter Islander Ferry from Christchurch to Wellington. The train went along the coast through 21 tunnels and over 175 bridges. The views reminded me of the 1 freeway through Oregon.
Wellington is another non interesting big city. We went to the Botanic Gardens, took a tour of the Parliament buildings, and went to the Te Papa Museum. In the basement of the Parliament building we were able to see earthquake isolation devices, small pieces of steel and rubber between the ground and foundation of the building that would help during an earthquake. These were developed in Wellington and are now used all over the world (of course in California).
We had an amazing dinner at Kai in the City in Wellington. This tiny restaurant serves authentic Maori cuisine. I had some great Marlborough Pinot Noir and we ordered Hangi, a bunch of food cooked in an earth oven.
Looking forward to getting away from these cities and back to where the sheep live.