Christchurch

On Saturday morning we left the Marae and headed into Christchurch for our time off. We were dropped off at the hostel we were staying in and then had free time to roam the city until the rugby game started! So we decided to walk around Cathedral Square, which is basically the center of town. After we explored, we found a nice strip of restaurants with outdoor patios, so we sat and had some appetizers and drinks. On our way back to the hostel from the restaurant, we passed by a huge thrift store so we decided to go in and check it out. About 30 minutes later we all walked out with rugby polos to wear to the game.





Watching the game was so much fun because we got to meet a lot of Kiwi's who were sitting around us, and got to enjoy the camaraderie of a big sports arena. Everyone is outside enjoying the beautiful weather watching their favorite sports team play. It was nice to be in a city setting after being in rural areas for so long. After the game was over one of the women that was sitting near us told us if we stuck around the players would come by and sign rugby balls. So of course I was in and waited for Isac, one of the Christchurch Crusaders to come over to our end of the field. Riley and I worked our way through the crowd and got him to sign my rugby shirt (soo cool!!) and I got a picture with him because I said it was my birthday!

(picture to come!)





After the game we walked back to the hostel to meet up with everyone who didn't go. Then we all went out as a big troupe and hit the town the celebrate my birthday. It was a little frustrating because we got separated pretty quickly, and I wanted everyone to be together to celebrate. But after we cleared some confusion we all met up at Fat Eddie's where this main with an insanely long white beard was doing Billy Joel covers. He was so entertaining while he was playing, but we only caught him for about 10 minutes. Afterwards a lot of people were tired so they went back, but some of us headed to a bar called His Lordships. The only reason we went because a live band called The Wolverines were playing and we liked their name. However, we were in for a big treat when they ended up being a really cool cover band with a guy who opened for them that could beat box like I've never heard. He actually was probably the most talented person I've ever seen, it was insane. But after a while we all decided we were tired and headed back to the hostel to go to bed.



The next morning we woke up and decided to walk around the city some more. We went into a more historical district where we found this really cool market that we ended up spending so much time in. After we had spent enough money we walked into the botanical gardens which were beautiful. We explored the fountains, flowers, and the famous Avon River. Once we were finished we got lunch at this very cool cafeteria/restaurant called Dux de Lux. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing around the square in the city and in the hostel. That night we decided to go out to Mexican for dinner, which was delicious. We went back to His Lordships after dinner so everyone else could see the bar, then just headed back to the hostel.

Brenna, Me, Emily and Kara in front of the Botanical Garden fountain

Punting on the Avon River

Monday morning we got up and had breakfast, then walked around and went to a couple more shops for the last time. After we got all of our stuff back together, we met the teachers in the parking lot of our hostel and headed off to Craigieburn.