Last night was a bit up and down for me. We got to Christchurch a little later than expected due to a flight delay and the same goes for the Airbnb (as the home is not facing the road). We needed to do 2 loads of clothes and that seemed to take forever. The Airbnb is equipped with one of those washer/dryer combinations so 1 load to wash and dry will take about 3 hours. My mom fell asleep while the 1st load was washing and I fell asleep while it was drying but woke up around 4:30am to fold them and put in the 2nd load. I stayed awake for a few hours and around 6:30am went back to sleep knowing I wanted to wake up at 8am.

Waking up was tough but we had a free Christchurch Walking Tour today at 10am and we needed to make our way into the city as we’re staying in the suburb. Today’s weather looked great as it’s supposed to be around 80°F. My mom was not in the mood to take buses to get to the city so since the Uber was reasonable we opted for that route. Once we arrived at our meeting point I was quickly able to spot our guide James by his black and green kiwi shirt. It looked as though we were the 1st to arrive.

Soon after 2 gentleman came up from San Diego, CA and then more groups began to join. By the time we began the tour we were a group of about 17 with people being from NY, FL, the Netherlands and the UK. James took us around town showing us different things that were of significance while giving us some history and facts. Here are some of the things we learned:
•Christchurch is the 2nd largest city in New Zealand
•The population in Christchurch 415,000 people
•Christchurch has been given the nickname The Shakey City and The Garden City amongst others
•Christchurch has 2 harbors
•Abel Tasman discovered New Zealand in 1642
•Many older buildings are made of basalt and limestone
•The Canterbury region includes the city of Christchurch
• The Canterbury region hosts 60% of the fresh water in the region
• (Mentioned before but will mention again) In 1893 women could vote in New Zealand and it took 30,000 signatures
•John Robert Godly founded Canterbury and the school he went to was called Christchurch hence the name
•In September 2010 Christchurch had their 1st big earthquake (7.1 magnitude). There were 4,000 eartquakes in a 6 month period follwing this one.
•In February 2011, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake occured in Christchurch killing 185 people (there is a memorial honoring the lives lost)

We got a chance to see many graffiti pieces around the city in different areas along with other forms of artwork (one piece was even from the Berlin wall). We even attempted to make our own little music video on the Dance O Mat but the bluetooth wouldn’t connect. We passed by their convention center, trams, old theater, shopping avenues and a 30,000 stadium that’s in the works of being built.

By the end of our tour we got a good sense of the city and it’s history. We all gave James a donation for the tour and a good portion of the group headed seperately to the Riverside Market over near the Terrace area. On our way there we stopped in a church momentarily and then went to Riverside Market to get food.

There were so many choices to choose from in the food court area from Greek, Italian, Asian, Mexican, Chinese, Thai and more. I ended up getting a fish salad (one of the best meals I’ve had so far) and my mom got a seafood mixed curry noodle bowl (she also enjoyed hers). Because it was such a lovely day we sat outside on one of the many benches and enjoyed the crowd and music around us.

Afterwards my mom grabbed a taco to go and we visited some nearby vendors and a market to stock up on some drinks and snacks for the house. Passing back by Riverside Market we saw an outdoor brewery and stopped to have a drink (my mom had a New Zealand pale ale and I had a New Zealand berry cider-both were very good). I grabbed some New Zealand meat pies to go (a butter chicken and braised steak) to take back to the house.

From there I think we were exhausted and full so we decided to head back to the house via an Uber (the Uber got lost dropping us off). It was well into the afternoon by now and we both agreed we could use a nap so upon returning we did just that. After our nap we got up and ate some of our remaining food from the airport yesterday. We went through some emails and each handled important matters that needed to be addressed.

It’s 10:06pm here now as I wrap up this recap for today. I’m looking forward to getting an uninterrupted sleep tonight and look forward to the activities we have scheduled for tomorrow. Looks like it’ll be another good day weather wise but not as hot as today. Nevertheless we are looking forward to continuing our time here in Christchurch.