Christchurch

Christchurch is a big place. There must be 1000 motels. E and K drove round and took nr 2 that E asked at. Still under our budget. It was on the main road and a while out of town but we walk. K had been getting worried about the state of the tyres on our trusty Mazda so the car was left with the Christchurch branch of the rental firm. It was returned the same day with 2 new tyres, new brakes a change of oil and spotless, both inside and out. They had thrown away all the rubbish including a toilet roll where K had hidden his phone. No worries. That was returned the next day. The park in Christchurch is big and beautiful, the river Avon winds it way through the park and you can rent a kayak and paddle gracefully upstream for 35 min and relax on the way back. If that is too much like hard work you can be punted around by a nice young man in a straw boater. It's sooo English. Not liking towns too much they took the tranz alpine railway up to Arthurs Pass at 791m. There was a gale force (honestly) wind blowing and rain forecast but once in the forest the wind calmed. Fantastic views again. Visited the seaside towns of New Brighton and Lyttleton and climbed up the cathedral tower. Not so difficult. Visited the Court Theatre and saw an old Cole Porter musical, Anything Goes. That was really good, well played and sung and fun to do something else. They discovered other things that needed time to look at but they will have to wait till next time. Problems with photos again but hang on, they will arrive soon.