The Grange Bed and Breakfast

After about 36 hours of flights, waiting in airport terminals, and lots of spilt food on clothes, Morgan and I made it to Christchurch, NZ. I did not even make it to the Memphis airport before I spilled food all over my pants. This happened twice more in LAX, and Morgan spilled an entire hot tea in her lap on our way from Auckland to Christchurch. Needless to say, we were a little frustrated since we packed light on the clothes. We made it in one piece with all of our luggage, and then met Erica with New Zealand rentals. She showed us our new Subaru home, and we were on our way. In NZ, you drive on the opposite side of the road from what we do in the States, and that first drive to the B&B was quite nerve wrecking. The Grange B&B is a great place to stay with about 10 rooms. We had a little room on the second floor with a kitchenette and a nice balcony overlooking the park. The first thing we did was shower and head out to find some food. We noticed immediately how devastated the city was from the major earthquake it incurred about 3 years ago. It’s an absolutely beautiful city, and it hurts to see large cathedrals crumbled and businesses suffering. They are rebuilding quite well, and we really enjoyed hanging out and having lunch at the re-Start mall. It is an outdoor mall in the center of town made completely out of shipping containers. In this space there were coffee shops, hiking stores, banks, and more. You can see the old store fronts across the road, still with signs, tables and chairs set up waiting for patrons, but all the doors are locked and windows busted out. We found our way to get groceries and some cooking fuel, and then made it back to the B&B by 5 PM where we drank a fine bottle of sauvignon blanc and passed out. The next day we woke up bright and early feeling refreshed, and started out by going to the botanical gardens, a huge green mass in the center of the city. We walked around for about 3 hours, and Morgan got on to me a little because I kept wandering off down to the Avon River to spot trout. It is late spring time here, so everything is now in bloom. The gardens were awesome, and made for a good morning. We then went to Canterbury History Museum and then off to the town of Lyttleton on the coast. It is a shipping port on the outskirts of Christchurch, and we stopped there for dinner and a long walk along the coast. The final ending of our day was hitting up the Pac and Sav, New Zealand’s version of a Costco. We stocked up on all our food and any final gear we needed. We are headed out tomorrow to start fishing the Hurunui just a little north of town. We will try to post again once we get more internet service and are back in town. We are off to catch some fish now!