It’s time to remove the training-wheels and start driving on the left side of the road, feel the fresh air from an open window to experience Freedom. Given Juni’s newfound interest in crawling we decided to skip or at least postpone renting a motorhome and instead went for two regular cars and aiming for sleeping in places with wifi and bathtubs. Jucy seemed like the best alternative so we rented two “Styla” and headed back to the airport with another shuttle (Steve’s to be precise).

Since Jonte had lived in Australia for three years without a hitch (and rented cars multiple times) and even showed his Swedish driving license to authorities and that went just fine we wouldn’t be hassled when renting a car, would we? Of course we would. The small text on the back of the driving license explaining that the historic date is when you got the license and the future date is expiry date, also that the images depicting a car actually means there is a car. The woman at Jucy was despite adhering to the rules completely helpful since Jucy had a discount at a translator service (which I’d checked out before) so after waiting almost an hour and spending 104.40 NZD we were finally ready.

We were going for a shorter trip to Akaroa to see that – and on the way we stopped at Hilltop Tavern which was a nice restaurant with a lovely view (even given the grey skies and rain).

Akaroa looked awesome, and we took a stroll by the waterfront, but more or less pouring rain didn’t really seem like the best weather for the location. The weather forecast indicated this would go on for a few days so instead of waiting it out we headed towards Ashburton, home of high quality Ashford weaving handlooms to mothers delight

Mother booked a nice motel on the way and after an emergency drive to Burger King Mona and I had a nice hot tub with Juni – who enjoyed splashing more than relaxing though. And to have two humongous infrared lamps in the bathroom to create a tropical feeling is another idea I think New Zealand should spread.

Christchurch Cathedral was not spared by the Almighty during the earthquake

When Mona, myself and Juni woke around 12 we realized parents had been rather quiet as they left five hours earlier. We had a slow breakfast, chilled and in the end left the apartment after some last minute research around 14:30.

We started with a tram tour on some old line they kept running – it was shorter than expected but nice to get a feel for the city centre walking around. I showed Mona some of the areas I walked by yesterday and then we headed out to the botanic gardens.

Christchurch is a bit strange with some weird post-apocalyptic aura with broken buildings, the container-built centre, but not end of civilization style since there are lots of ongoing building projects – as well as tearing down old unsafe structures. New buildings are not allowed to be higher than 28 metres (with one or two special exceptions) – which makes an interesting skyline.

Not sure if this is restored or not – looked rather empty though.

2011-02-22 23:50 the quake hit Christchurch with a registered 6.3 on the Richter scale. 70% of buildings in inner center was destroyed. 185 casualties, 1500-2000 wounded in a city of 360 000. About 10k people left that year after the quake, which made Christchurch drop from being the second biggest city to the third (Wellington is now second).

After being (semi) cultural we went home about the same time as my parents got back from their trip. They had had a great time, although going both back and forth the same day was potentially a bit overkill. They were kind enough to babysit Juni while Mona and I went to have Indian food at Corianders – which was really really good and to top it up had nice drinks. I also love the whole ‘no tip’ culture, there is no requests for tip, and most places don’t even allow you for providing tip and if you try they find it almost more of a hassle than gift so we simply paid prices that were put on price lists and the staff still were able to live on their wages – amazing concept which I would like to see conquer the rest of the world at earliest convenience.

Apartment view

Before landing there were a bit of paperwork to fill out, and after checking with the cabin crew it seemed to be excessively careful so “food” was filled out for candy that had never been unboxed etc. We quickly found all our luggage and now was to go through the customs with our paperwork. We presented our papers and luggage and they explained that it was fine with the candy, Mona had a moisturizer that got caught in the x-ray but it was still permitted so all in all we were let in and everyone were happy.

After us was a family from a culture where one often responds with “yes yes” to questions even if one doesn’t know or understand. Combine that with your helpful wife packing a dozen clementines in your backpack and you have a failsafe way to get a hefty fine of 400 NZD and strong wording.

With all paperwork sorted out we only had 5 hours to kill before we would have access to the AirBnb apartment in central Christchurch we booked the day before, and not having slept more than half an hour on the plan the original plan of strolling the cafes and shops seemed less pleasant. We bought two prepaid sim-cards with decent dataplans (only name and e-mail wanted – no registration with id here) and then secured a space to doze off until lunch at the airport. The ladies got some sleep and then we had a shuttle into Christchurch.

World War I memorial repaired and strengthened after the Earthquake in 2011

At the apartment we rested a bit and then took a stroll in the earthquake struck city while Mona continued sleeping. We got some food at a supermarket and went home to make a quick late dinner. My father, per tradition, configured Tintin and friends and after a family dinner with some beers we felt at home.

A few hours of reading and writing blogs before hitting the beds – Mona and I felt lucky we weren’t scheduled for an early taxi at 07 as my parents who were going to the Tranzalpine.