Sista dagarna i Christchurch

Hello everybody!

Time for the last report from Christchurch and probably the last one for awhile. Tomorrow I go out on the South Island tour that is the reason for starting my journey in Christchurch. I now have 14 action packed days ahead of me, and my expectations are high.

But before I write more about the tour I thought I'd tell you a little bit about the last two days here in Christchurch. Right after leaving the Internet place yesterday I walked to this Japanese restaurant and had a perfect lunch to a bargain price. I had a large bowl of steamed rice that was covered with thick slices of raw tuna and Salomon :-)

Full and satisfied I took a bus to a part of the city called Heatcote Valley, here they have a gondola "kabinlift" which take you up on a mountain (very old volcano) and the view is stunning. You can see the whole city and in the far background the Southern Alps. After spending sometime at the gondolas top station I catched the bus back to the city.

Back in the city I bought a lamm sovlaki for dinner and then walked back to the hotel for a quiet night with some reading in my newly bought wine guide book of New Zealand wines.

Today I have been taking it fairly slow started the day with breakfast at cafe by the Art Center, Vegetable focaccia with capucciono and orange juice. Then I strolled through the Botanic Gardens and took some pictures. The Gardens are great a large park with all kinds of trees, flowers and great lawns where you can lay down and rest.
Just outside the Botanic Gardens lays the Canterbury Museum which I visited sins I was in the neighborhood. The Museum was like a crossing between a history and a natural history museum. It displayed some Mauri artifacts, early New Zealand settlers history, dinosaur fossils and Asian and Egyptian artifacts. Pretty Interesting though I fist entered to use the toilet :-)

After my cultural enlightenment's i walked through the city center to find some food, the problem is not to find some where to eat, but to decide where to eat. Christchurch is PACKED with restaurants almost one every ten meters. It's almost as many restaurants here as in Stockhom.
The really good thing is that you can find very good food for small amounts of money. I have focused on Asian and vegetarian (except for the lamm sovlaki) healthy, cheep and tasty. Finally I decided on Sushi.

Tomorrow The Adventure starts!!
day 1 Stay at a sheep farm close to Mount Cook (Highest Mountain here 3755 m)
day 2 Hike in the Mount Cook national park
day 3 Transfer day to Lake Manapouri ( a lake in the Fiordland area)
day 4 Hike the Routeburn track and Cycle in Hollyford Valley (both places in the Fiordland area)
day 5 Sea kayak in Milford Sound ( the most famous fjord in New Zealand)
day 6 Queenstown ( action and adventure Capital of New Zealand, the Bungy jump was invented here)
day 7 transfere from Queenstown to Mount Aspiring National Park (Aspiring is called the Matterhorn of New Zealend)
day 8 Hike to Franz Josef Glacier
day 9 kayak Okarito Lagoon ( wetland on the west coast with great birdlife)
day 10-13 Hike Angels Circuit ( hike through the national parks around Nelson)
day 14 Snorkel with fur seals in Kaikura ( kul dyka med salar :-)

What do you think about that???
Sins I won't bee able to reach a computer for most of that time I will have to recapitulate the story for you In about two weeks.

Ha det nu sa gott allihopa

Jag lovar att ta det lugnt pa resan a inte bryta nagra ben :-)

Martin