Sunday morning was when Tom arrived which gave me a bit of company for the next month or so. The flight arrival was however 5.10am which meant it was early morning, and with it being early and Sunday meant there was no public transport. This meant I had to run to the airport although it was funny walking into the terminal arriving in t shirt and shorts with the temperature outside minus 4, with people giving me funny looks. After a safe landing we sat in McDonald's for a bit to wait for the first bus into town, which took us back to the centre of Christchurch.
After checking into the hostel we just went for a walk around Christchurch, me acting as tour guide where I just showed off an array of the gap fillers including the space invaders game, cathedral, and many of the other hands on things. We did however end up at the giant chess board where we ended up playing homeless people at chess and they were very good at it! Come afternoon we visited the art gallery which I hadn't actually seen yet which was interesting before having a more chilled out afternoon, before heading the local pool bar in the evening.
The following day was another free day around Christchurch so I thought the museum was worth a look around which was as ever very interesting. We then walked through the botanic gardens where we had lunch at the big shopping centre in Riccarton. From here we caught the bus to Sumner Beach which was nice although the weather was a bit overcast. We then headed up the Port Hills towards the gondola from here which was a nice walk following the crater rim walkway to the cafe on the top. We then went back down the other side to catch the bus back to the centre which coincided with the sunset.
With Tom flying into Christchurch and out of Auckland I thought the best way to get round was either inter city or kiwi experience bus. Kiwi experience had a flash sale so we decided to go with them as it's more of a tour bus and you don't have to worry about booking accomodation then as they do it for you. With the road north of Kaikoura closed first stop was Nelson via the Lewis Pass. It was an early departure from Christchurch though. En route we stopped at Culverden for breakfast, and from here it was a nice drive into the mountains. We also stopped for a walk up in the Lewis Tops which was nice.
We didn't arrive into Nelson until afternoon, stopping in Murchison en route for lunch. After arriving we just had a relaxing afternoon, heading into town to get a few beers for the hostel which had a pool table. The next day we didn't have a departure until 3 as we effectively connected with the people from Wellington which gave much of the day to explore Nelson. We therefore followed the waterfront and went down the beach before heading out for lunch. We then headed into town which was a nice place to walk round, pretty standard before boarding the bus for the short journey for the next stop in Kaiteriteri.
We arrived into Kaiteriteri by sunset although it wasn't a great one as it was cloudy. After dinner we just had a few beers down the pub before bed. The following morning there was enough time to do the walk up to the lookout and to walk along both Little Kaiteriteri and Kaiteriteri Beach before departing. We had the option to stay longer to do Abel Tasman National Park although we would of had to stay 3 nights as kiwi experience only do 3 buses a week in winter. Kaiteriteri still has a really nice golden sand beach though so it was still good.
The next stop after Kaiteriteri was Westport and we left just after 10. En route we went to the Nelson Lakes National Park and Lake Rotioiti to see the view which included snowcapped mountains in the background. No one jumped in though as it was full of massive eels! En route from here to Westport we stopped once again in Murchison for lunch. We arrived in Westport by afternoon. After checking in we walked down to the beach where we watched the sunset which was a really good one. Come evening we had a really nice woodfire pizza which the hostel cooked for us, before watching a film with a few others before bed.
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