Wednesday Nov 30
We left Sydney on Nov 30 in QF business class to Christchurch, booked using AA points. We weren’t bowled over by the service but at least there was a pre-departure glass of FC, icy cold. The flight was 1.5 hours late so we only got to our hotel, the Novotel at the airport, around 5pm. We had the ‘usual’ hassle going through customs in NZ due to having hiking boots (we needed to unpack them so they could check they were clean) - we also incurred the ire of the first official for ducking under the snake line as there was no one around. It’s never a friendly start in NZ.
We had dinner at the hotel - very good - grilled groper, then off to bed,
Thursday Dec 1
After our free brekkie (as Platinum Accor members) - we went to the Antarctic Center which is right at the airport - very nice - the 4D movie and Blue Penguins were the highlights. We then took a taxi to our next hotel, the Novotel at Cathedral Square right in the center of Christchurch. We could not stay here the day we arrived as it was fully booked.
After checking in, we did a walk around the city checking out restaurants and had a late lunch at a brew pub.
We did not do much else in the afternoon - after showers we had happy hour using our free welcome drink. As the hotel restaurant was closed for dinner (due to staff shortages) we had to find a restaurant for dinner. We had spotted the Amazonia while walking around - a trendy strip of pubs, bars, restaurants and shops along the river - all venues were hopping but they managed to squeeze us in. We had a pleasant dinner - shared entree then shared main (the steak was tough but the side dishes were excellent).
Friday Dec 2
We picked up our hire car - a nice RAV 4 and drove to Littleton (the port city for Christchurch) for a look around - it was a partly cloudy and cool day (high around 20C) - rain was forecast but it never eventuated. The Celebrity Eclipse was in port. We did the short but steep walk up to the time ball tower which had a wonderful view and an interesting history. We decided to drive back to the city for lunch as we could not find a suitable venue in Littleton - of course as we were driving off we did see a couple of likely spots but elected to keep going.
After lunch at pub called Original Sin we spent the rest of day walking around Auckland; then had dinner at the Craft Brasserie - pretty good - all venues were chocker-blocker.
Saturday Dec 3
After a big supermarket shop (groceries are expensive in NZ!!), we setoff for the 3 hour drive to Lake Tekapo.