In quaint, English Christchurch

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Everywhere you hear that Christchurch is the most English city in New Zealand... and it's true!! You can punt along the river Avon, stroll over Cathedral Square / Manchester Street / Oxford Terrace and make a phone call from a red telephone box. Even the weather is typically English! It's not all that cold, but rather gray and drizzly.

We actually only just made our flight from Auckland to Christchurch with a few minutes to spare. Having said that, it was more like getting on a train than boarding a flight: we didn't need to show our passports, were able to quick-check our bags and didn't even have to queue to get on the plane. If only all flights were that easy!

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After arriving in Christchurch we had a delicious Thai meal (can't beat Thai food!) and joined a tour around the cathedral. It is a beautiful building and clearly very well looked after and loved. The volunteer that showed us around was a very nice retired chap who was extremely knowledgeable and obviously very attached to the cathedral community. Afterwards, I discovered various fab outdoor/camping stores - and the wonderful world of Icebreaker (beautiful outdoor clothing made from pure merino wool). You can even buy Icebreaker undies - so I did!! :o)

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On our second day in Christchurch, we had a nice lie-in before checking out the big morning market that is held on Cathedral Square, followed by more Thai food for me and a kebab for Deano. We then visited the Christchurch Art Gallery which has just the right amount of exhibitions - enough to inspire and interest you but not too much to make you tired and bored. I was really taken by an exhibition of work by Fiona Hall, one of Australia's leading contemporary artists. Her choice and combination of materials (glass beading, Tupperware, metals, video tape, shredded dollar bills and even soap, to name a few) is really interesting and each piece has a story/meaning but, despite its abstractness, is still beautiful to look at. Christchurch is actually a very arty city in general and after the gallery we visited the Arts Centre, which houses all sorts of little galleries and stalls selling locally produced items, from wood to jade and even clothing made from "mountainsilk" (very fine merino wool) and "merinomink" (a blend of merino wool and possum fur). Then we headed to the serene and beautiful Botanic Gardens for a walk.

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In the late afternoon, I decided to join an Ashtanga yoga class. Some experience that was!!! I usually practice Hatha yoga and never thought that different types of yoga could vary all that much. Basically, I have decided that Ashtanga kicks other yoga's butt! I didn't enjoy it as much as my usual classes and it didn't do as much for my whole body and soul, but it certainly was very dynamic and even my knees were sweating!

In the evening we went to Le Plonk, a wine bar that was supposed to have live jazz. Except it was the wrong night and there was hardly anyone there. It actually felt like we were sitting in the display window of a furniture store with all the lights switched off, but we had a nice time sipping vino and chatting.

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Christchurch as a whole is nice to see and I really like the architecture. It's quite gothic with lots of very contemporary houses made from wood, metal and glass. It's quite small though and there's not really enough to keep you occupied for more than a few days. When I set out to travel the South Island earlier on this year, Christchurch was one of the cities that I was going to check out as a potential place for us to move. As much as I love New Zealand, I needn't have worried about not having checked out the South Island though - it is truly beautiful but we're much happier traveling around than settling here.