On to Christchurch....with Friends!!

Happy with a successful first hike, we recovered with a night in Picton, and met John and Jenn the next morning (November 4th) and headed south down the East coast towards Christchurch - the largest city on the South Island, and freqently a gateway to Antarctica. John and Jenn are good friends of ours from Eugene who recently got married (in Kauai!) and are in NZ for the final stage of their 8-week, round the world, extravaganza honeymoon. We were so excited to hear they would be here the same time as us, so we made sure to spend some time together. With no specific plans in mind we had a nice leisurely drive south through Kaikora, which is described as where the city meets the sea. And this is the truth. We got our first glimpse of what looks like a snow capped mountain spilling into the ocean. Driving down Hwy 1, you look right and see mountains, and look left and see the sea. Pretty cool.

Arriving in Christchurch, we went to check into our vacation rental that John and Jenn so graciously booked and set up for us. A welcome break from the hostel. Not that the hostels are bad, it has just been a nice change. That night after settling into the house, Jenn and I went grocery shopping while John and Keith went to investigate the local pub. The house is located in a suburb of Christchurch called Sumner, so we were really about 30 minutes from downtown. We cooked up a fine dinner, and spent the evening relaxing and visiting.

The next day we were after a hike, and had gotten some recommendations about some hikes close by. So off we went. And the weather was fabulous. Hot and bright blue skies. So off we went. Sumner sits on the beginning of the Banks Peninsula, and the hike we did wrapped around some of the coves making up that peninsula. Beautiful scenery as usual (I need to come up with some more adjectives...), but the heat caught up with us after four hours, and we returned a bit dusty and beat.

Here's a shot of us at the very beginning with John pointing the way:



After cleaning up we treated ourselves to a beer at "Keith and John's Pub". We're sitting there, enjoying a refreshing local brew, and it walks this perky, happy, bubbly, cute, curly haired gal, who locks eyes with John and Keith and says, "Hey guys!", like they were the best of friends, after which both promptly turned beet red. Remember....Keith and John went to this pub while Jenn and I were shopping and cooking for them!! So you can only imagine the amount of ribbing and teasing that took place after that (and continues every once in a while to this day).
After that, Jenn and John introduced us to our first taste of Indian food (delicious)! And then early to bed as we were all beat.

Brings us to Sunday, November 6. John was also meeting up with a good friend of his, Emily, who has relocated to NZ and is a bad ass adventure racer, and entrepreneur now here in NZ. She has started her own company and makes nutritional "cookies". You can check her out at www.powercookies.com

So we headed inland to spend time with her and her family at the small mountain town of Hanmer Springs, where there is lots of hot springs. A pleasant time had by all soaking, visiting and eating, then back to Christchurch on Monday. Through all of the contacts I have made orginating with our neighbors in Lebanon, I stumbled into a meeting with a nurse recruiter who also specializes in immigration stuff. So Jenn and I went on Monday to talk with her for a while and got lots of valuable information about what it takes to work as a nurse here, short term or long. Something we are both interested in and something we will both chew on for the next year or so.
We ended the day with a bottle of wine and more food - we have become quite good at keeping ourselves well hydrated and fed!

Cheers!