August 20, 2005
Last night, the unbelievably bright full moon illuminating the valley was suddenly consumed by a fast-moving and intensely windy storm. I woke up a few times thinking that the roof of our hostel was going to blow right off. The storm ended up dumping a bunch of new snow above the 2000-meter line, and we were treated to glorious freshly-dusted snow-capped peaks the following morning, by which time the storm had completely dissapated.
This morning, we were headed back to Christchurch for our last full day in New Zealand, which was about 330 km away. We stopped first at the Church of the Good Shepherd, 
referred to by our guide book as the most difficult church for any pastor to give a sermon in. Why? Because the pews face a plate glass window with extraordinary views of Lake Tekapo and the surrounding mountains in the background!
On our way back to Christchurch, we also wanted to stop by a random cookie factory
that we spotted a few days ago on the way out of town. The company is called Cookie Time and it distributes cookies all over New Zealand. It's motto is "For Serious Cookie Munchers!" I've consumed my share of baked cookie dough in my day, so I was more than intrigued. The cookies themselves are a bit dry, but they have a really buttery flavor, and I imagine that a quick zap in the microwave (as recommended by the company) will turn the cookies all soft and gooey.
Well, we soon found ourselves back in Christchurch, and it was time to return our trusty rental car. Normally a Toyota Corolla 
will inspire all sorts of confidence for its reliability, but this little bugger was making some mildly funky noises when we first picked it up... but we made it back in one piece -- no accidents, no incidents, no tickets, no problem! I think we ended up driving close to 2500 km during the trip. Whew!
Now it was time for a quick lunch... hopefully something good, but cheap, since we've gone through some cash by this point. Lo and behold, the Christchurch branch of Tulsi (where we had dined in Wellington) had a ridiculous NZ $5.95 lunch deal that included rice and naan! That's even cheaper than Naan & Curry back home! We're always up for Indian food, and that filled us up perfectly!
We saved this part of the trip for exploring Christchurch in more detail. We've been blowing through most of the big cities we've been in, 
so we were really looking forward to meandering around town.
Here's a picture of New Regent street, a nifty little area that has lots of shops and cafes on the ground floor, and Mediterranian-style pastel facades above.
I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but the weather was unbelievable in Christchurch this day. It must have been over 20 degrees celsius, because it was almost roasting in the sun and folks were out and about in shorts and tank tops. We were really blessed with awesome weather this whole trip. It really only rained significantly on the first hour of the first day. This is winter???!?!?!? Pass the sunscreen!
There were two main sights for the day. The first was the Art Centre to check out the weekend arts and crafts market, located in the plaza adjacent to a converted former school. The market wasn't huge, but it had all sorts of local artisans selling their crafts, ranging from wool clothing to handmade soaps to wood carvings. There was also a section with an artisanal baker, cheese monger, cured meat purveyor and a french crepe maker.
Within the building, there were more local crafts, and we got to see a real wood-spinner at work (which was really really cool). We checked out his little shop and found out that he started his shop as a hobby over 20 years ago when he was unemployed. Now he was making these really amazing bowls, containers, and other sculpted items. It's interesting to see how folks find their niche in New Zealand... it seems a lot different than back at home.
For our last stop, we strolled through the city's botanical garden, a huge expanse of different trees, plants and sectioned gardens taking up a good chunk of acreage in the city. The botanical gardens are put to good use, as we spotted both tourists and locals hanging out all over the place. We even saw three separate wedding parties using the gardens as a backdrop for photographs. Here are some pictures:
Well, that was a good amount of walking around in the city. After a return dinner visit to Ebisu -- which was super-crowded this time -- and a short night stroll, we called it a day. Dude, we're leaving New Zealand tomorrow! I can already see Lav getting the post-vacation blues... she REALLY doesn't want to leave! What a bummer... I can't believe how fast the past 2 weeks blew by!
