NZ 2023 Day 12: Christchurch
DAY 12: 5 DEC 2023
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| Christchurch Botanic Gardens |
We were all ready to explore Christchurch before flying off to Sydney in the evening.
Little did we know that our stay in New Zealand was about to extend by a day involuntarily.
We left our car at the motel and explored Christchurch CBD on foot.
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| New Regent Street |
We were walking towards the Christchurch transitional cathedral but chanced upon a beautiful street where the trams passed.
This street is known as New Regent Street and there were murals near the area too.
After hanging around for some time, we made our way to the transitional cathedral.
We spotted many students with their teachers along the way!
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| Christchurch Transitional Cathedral |
The transitional cathedral is an interim cathedral constructed from cardboard to replace a church damaged by the 2011 earthquake.
The original church is undergoing reconstruction and will be ready in a few years' time.
Our next attraction is the Antigua boat shed located along Avon river.
But before that, coffee!
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| Black and White Coffee Cartel |
I started having runny nose when we arrived in Akaroa and the strong winds made it even worse today.
So we stopped at a cafe near the boat shed to get a hot drink.
I got a cup of cafe latte while Zhi Sheng got a cup of hot chocolate.
The latte definitely warmed me up!
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| Antigua Boat Shed |
A brief stroll brought us to the boat shed.
The boat shed looked cute!
You could pay to get a boat ride down the river to the botanic gardens.
Thereafter, we walked to the botanic gardens and explored the grounds.
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| The Arts Centre |
The botanic gardens are expansive, featuring a variety of distinct gardens that offer visitors diverse experiences.
It was lunch hour when we left the gardens.
As expected, the lunch places were crowded, with long queues everywhere.
We decided to do some retail shopping while waiting for the lunch crowd to subside.
And so, we made our way to Kathmandu!
They were having a 99 NZD sale for selected heli puffer jacket designs.
Zhi Sheng bought one yesterday and I got another design for my dad today.
I also conveniently popped over to the ladies' sale section and a puffer jacket caught my eye.
The colour is unique and they had my size!
So I left Kathmandu with not one, but two jackets haha.
We then popped by a pharmacy with NZ post office.
Zhi Sheng bought a set of local stamps while I got a postcard.
I was deciding between the Roy's peak and Mount Cook designs.
Eventually I chose the Roy's peak postcard because it will remind me of the view I never got to see thanks to the thick cloud cover.
When I was searching for places to eat in Christchurch, Dimitris greek food is highly recommended on various websites.
And that was how we decided our lunch venue.
Dimitris greek food is one of the many food stalls at Riverside Market.
As the lunch crowd subsided, we didn't have to wait long before we got our souvlaki!
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| Beef souvlaki |
We got a beef souvlaki to "share" which consists of pita bread, steak cubes, vegetables and greek yoghurt.
Zhi Sheng dislikes greek food.
So, this souvlaki was entirely mine after he took a bite and said no to sharing.
He got burger and chips at a popular stall at the market.
The souvlaki lived up to my expectations and the pita bread was one of the best I have tried thus far.
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| Exhibits at Canterbury Museum |
We had some time to kill before heading back to our motel.
Canterbury museum had free admission and it is situated along our route back.
At the museum, there were two exhibitions.
The exhibitions were interesting and some artefacts were donated by members of the public.
After the visit to the museum, we returned to our motel and drove to Apex car rental.
We said goodbye to our trusty 454 car and boarded the airport shuttle.
That's when things went awry.
Zhi Sheng went online to check our Sydney flight status and saw that it was cancelled.
I seriously thought he was joking because he didn't receive any email about the flight cancellation.
Turns out, the flight to Sydney was cancelled due to engine issues.
The flight was operated by Emirates and we approached the counter staff to explore alternative arrangements.
He informed us that the soonest available rebooking option, without incurring additional fees, was a flight scheduled for 6.20pm the following day, 24 hours later.
Qantas had flights with earlier timings but they are fully booked.
The alternative was to get a refund and book an Air New Zealand ticket which costs at least S$600 per person to fly to Sydney.
Left with no other options, we agreed to be rebooked on the next day flight.
Due to the trip disruption, the airline also booked us a night's stay at Novotel Christchurch airport and gave us meal allowances to be used at the hotel.
Instead of checking into our flight, we checked into an airport hotel.
We took some time to calm down in the room and let reality sink in.
This was my worst travel disruption thus far.
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| Lewis Road Ice Cream Pint |
We took a short walk to Countdown for some snacks shopping.
Along the way we spotted the International Antarctic Centre which is a famous tourist attraction.
When we returned to the hotel lobby, we looked at the brochures corner to get ideas for tomorrow.
We picked out mini golf, hot pools, wildlife reserve and zoo brochures.
In the end, we decided to visit the Willowbank wildlife reserve as it was convenient to get there by bus.
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| Steamed dumplings |
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| Fried chicken |
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| Seafood chowder |
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| Fried squid |
It was dinnertime and we utilised our 80 NZD allowance by ordering room service.
We got four appetizers to share, including a seafood chowder.
We then spent the night watching movies in the room.
And that is the end of a terrible day in Christchurch.
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