Getting myself together in Christchurch

Cathedral square in Christchurch
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I got into Christchurch fairly late on Sunday evening / Monday morning (~1 am), so all I could really do was seek out a place to stay.  Fortunately I had a good reference (Yes, Bob, that NZ Lonely Planet you gave me ~4 years ago was put into good use!), and found a place to stay in town.  It was my first real dorm experience in a hostal (had always stayed in doubles with friends, nicer hotels/B&Bs, or caravans...), and it proved to be a bit of a tough adjustment.  I guess you are just told to always watch your stuff, and it is also a little weird at first to sleep in a room with 9 other people that you don't know.  Given that I got in so late, I also had no chance to get to know them, and they also tended to come in at all hours, so I didn't get much sleep that night.

Monument at side of cathedral in Christchurch
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The next morning, I started to plan out my adventure.  I chose to join a bus tour to cover the South Island, since I had been to North Island already.  The bus tour group that I chose was Stray, since I had heard that Kiwi Experience (the other major bus line) was a little more popular overall, and especially with the younger tourists (ie. fresh out of high school/college).  This way I figured that I would be with fewer, more like-minded people than with Kiwi.  Only problem was that the next bus didn't leave until Wed am, since I missed the 8 am bus that morning, so I had a few days to kill in Christchurch.

Trolly line for Christchurch city tour
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Christchurch itself is not much to speak of.  Pretty regular city overall, with the highlights being the central square & cathedral, and the Avon River & its bridges that run through town.  After 5 minutes there, the square turned into just another bunch of cafes and shops, and the cloudy weather removed some of the lustre of the river and its magnificent scenary.

So, I decided that I would make a couple of day trips out of town to kill some time.  I rented a car, and went off to Akaroa for the first afternoon after booking the bus.  The town is quite a beautiful little French-style fishing village, filled with colourful and charming little antiquated buildings, and set in the midst of a few bays created by volcanic activity.  The drive to the village may be the nicest part, as you come up over a large hill to see the village nestled in the valley below.  Quite stunning, even with the extremely cloudy day that I went there.  Wandered around for a while and then I grabbed a nice fish and chips lunch, before taking another scenic route back to the city.

Aerial view of Akaroa from the hilltops on route to the village
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The scenic route had several different lookout points and beaches to go and explore, so I took a while at a few of them just checking out the scenary.  However, the weather started closing in on the region, so my afternoon was cut a little short as I needed to go slowly back to the city through pea soup.

That evening I went to the bar at the hostel to hopefully meet some people, though I wasn't trying too hard.  I had a beer or two, but never really had a chance to strike up a conversation, and I don't think people there were really that friendly.  The hostel was actually one of the colder ones at which I stayed (Base Backpackers).

Waterfall on the road to Akaroa
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The next day I drove up to Hanmer Springs, which is a hot springs reserve a couple of hours' drive from Christchurch.  Was quite a nice drive through rolling farmland, into a town that was fully aglow in autumn colours.  All of the leaves on the trees were changing, and in the hills you could see different patches of colour amongst the evergreens.  Nice quiet little town.  The springs themselves were quite nice and relaxing, and I just sat there for a while in pools up to 41 degrees C hot.  Grabbed a quick lunch there and then back to the City to get ready to leave the next day.

One of the historical French houses in Akaroa
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Once again, I really felt isolated in the hostel, and hoped that the Stray bus people were much more friendly than those that surrounded me there.  The next morning would either be the start of something great or horrible.