Sightseeing Christchurch and Lyttleton
Woke up the next day (Monday, Nov 14th). I`d decided to spend the day sightseeing in and around C`ch. The hostel (YHA City Central, Manchester Street) is around 5 minutes walk from the city centre. And again, as the books said, my first impression of C`ch was how English the whole city is. Right from the names of the streets and buildings, to the way the streets and city centre has been designed to the the rain!
I first went to Stray Travel to confirm my booking. They`re very sweet bless them, but ridiculously SLOW. They seem to rely heavily on the head office in Auckland, and that's run by a lazy cow. It took forever getting my reservation confirmed. After that, I bought myself a joint pass for the Tram and Gondola.
I stopped off at Oxford Terrace to go punting on the River Avon which was a bit of an anticlimax, but again showed the English side of the city. I`d earlier booked a harbour cruise at Lyttleton. So had a quick falafal roll lunch at a Greek fastfood before I caught the bus to Lyttleton. The drive itself was uneventful. I had Madonna`s "Confessions on a Dancefloor" playing in the background, I`d dosed off and next thing I know - we`d reached Lyttleton.
The harbour cruise was a bit boring. The crowd was primarily 50-60 year olds, the weather was cold and the only consolation was the lovely burse flowers which I`m told is NZ`s #1 pest.
The bus back to C`ch dropped me off at the gondola. Took the gondola up the hill, the views were just gorgeous thanks to the burse. Luvly souvenir store as well. Bought some souvenirs and came back to C`ch.
I went to the Botanical Gardens which were boring. The only useful thing that came out of it was a much needed visit to the toilet. Walked around Victoria Square which is really nice, colourful and got lots of people. Again, just Kodak moments at this place. It was around 8pm and I was really really tired. Had dinner at "Tulsi", an Indian rsnt right opposite my hostel, and back to the hostel by 9pm. Chatted a bit with my roommates, checked email and slept by 11pm.
MY BACKPACKING TRIP BEGINS T`ROW!!!
The best part to me was the amount of information available. Lots of brochures, and the front desk itself does a lot of trip booking for you.
The hostel is also very very safe: you need to ring the bell to get in to the hostel after 11pm, and all rooms of course have electronic key access.
