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| Christchurch |
Thursday night we all gathered at Sarah's for a potluck dinner and then made our way to Eunice's house. It was good to see Eunice and everyone again. We all sat around and laughed and talked and had some of Eunice's amazing fruit salad. We also had cake for Andrew's 20th birthday. Afterward Eunice drove a few of us to the top of a hill somewhere where we could see all of Christchurch at night. It was amazing!! When we returned to Ilam, we had a girls movie night in my room and watched Persuasion.
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| TranzCoastal |
The next morning Jessica, Lindsay, Sarah, Cathy, Courtney, Stephanie, and I woke up at 5 am and caught a shuttle to the train station. We took a 2 and a half hour TranzCoastal trip to Kaikoura. The views were spectacular! We saw the sunrise, Kaikoura mountain ranges, and the rugged Pacific Ocean coastline. Not to mention all the cows, sheep, and baby lambs! So cute! There also was an air viewing carriage where we could go outside and take pictures on the train. Kaikoura is located on a rocky peninsula protruding from rich farmland and snow capped mountains. Moa Hunters inhabited the peninsula 900 years ago. In Maori legend, Maui placed his foot on the Kaikoura peninsula to steady himself while he 'fished-up' the North Island. The Maori name Kaikoura translates to 'meal of crayfish' (Kai - food, koura - crayfish), and it is crayfish for which the region has traditionally been famous. Kaikoura is so epically beautiful. It is a cute little town and while walking down the street, the mountains just struck me every time I turned around! We had a coffee in a cafe and I bought a whale bone necklace. They get the whalebone from beached whales. We then walked along the shore to the end of the peninsula. It took forever to get there because we kept stopping along the way to take pictures and take everything in. We all could not stop talking about how crazy lucky we are to be here. On the way back we stopped for an ice cream and ate it on the beach. On the train ride back we watched the sunset and fell asleep. What an incredible day!
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| Town of Kaikoura |
Saturday, the day I have been waiting for for so long finally came!! We watched the All Blacks New Zealand rugby team play the Australia Wallabies at Lancaster Park in Christchurch! We had amazing seats - second row on the field!!!! I don't know how we got such amazing seats for so cheap. Awesome. This game was so exciting and I got to see the All Blacks do the Haka live!!! We were seated right on the sideline so it was cool seeing the players warm up to go in the game. The All Blacks won 20-10! Sweet as.
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| All Blacks game!! |
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| All Blacks vs. Wallabies |
We woke up Saturday and walked to the Seafest. It was packed with thousands of people from all over enjoying Kaikoura and the best seafood and wine there is to offer. Many people were dressed up. There was an impressive variety tents. I tried mussels for the first time and loved them, although I still think they look so gross haha. We spent most of time in the cuisine tent hosted by the Teppanyaki Queens. They showed us how to prepare amazing meals with fresh seafood and meat. The best part was the free food and wine samples!
