Christchurch

Christchurch was founded by a group of Oxford scholars and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Thus, it will not surprise you to know that upon getting into the city this morning, I was heard to remark; 'It really reminds me of home!'
It is odd - different, markedly so, but also vaguely deja vu of England. There is a winding river (The Avon) with costumed punters poling through the waters, like Oxford. There are ducks and green gardens covering many acres of the central city, like Canterbury. There is also a tram and a gondala ride, as well as crazy new metal sculptures and installations, like NZ cities everywhere. It really is most bizarre.
We had walked for over an hour from our campsite to get into town without having to then deal with the hassle of parking and so on. Once we arrived we set to exploring. Within about ten minutes, we had completed a leisurely stroll around the main centre squares and streets - another angle in which Christchurch reminds me of Canterbury.
Anyways, having just decided to stop spending quite so much money the night before when we re-did our budget, we found ourselves walking into a vegetarian restaurant, for the sheer novelty of finding that natives do not actually hunt vegetarians down and shoot them (even if they would like to) but actually occasionally cater to their needs. The Lotus Heart was a bit heavy on the new world meditational stance and had a poster boy by the name of Sri Chinmoy, who was posing serenly in various pictures with princesses, presidents and pop stars. The food was very tasty however, even if they did get a little confused as to which menus were on offer that day. We both decided to try a kefir drink after reading an extensive list about its health-giving propeties. It involved fermented milk, orange juice, grape juice and cinnamon and despite sounding a little gross was actually yum, with a weird fizz and a milkshake-like orange froth as a topper. It reminded Alex of Lambrini, make of that what you will.
After the culinary delights of vegetarian India, we progressed into the city again. We went to the library to check out printing options (exciting, I know) and sat in the park for a bit watching the Paradise ducks in action. They really do make the most peculiar noise - like a wazzoo!
Then we traversed the loooong walk back to the campsite and have since luxuriated in hot showers, hot dinner and the aforementioned hot chocolate.
Tonight will be a late one - the last race of the F1 is on in Dubai. I believe it starts at 1am. Doh.
We have not decided yet what we are doing tomorrow. We have been researching temporary holiday work for the last few days and sorting out the paperwork. Soon, after all, we will have to relinquish Newt! *sob*