Day 11 - Dunedin - Christchurch

We woke this morning to rain – and that is what it did all day !!!!  I suppose we can’t really complain given the fantastic weather we have had since we arrived here.  We certainly weren’t expecting the good weather that we have had and we have certainly appreciated every minute of it.

We got up, packed the car and then walked into Dunedin to the Cadbury’s factory for our tour.  I cannot believe how manual so many of the processes are – I guess it keeps lots of people employed.  I also couldn’t believe the volume of chocolate that they produce each day / week / month / year – it was phenomenal  !!!!  We were given some chocolates and we bought some before we left – enough to keep us going until we leave the country I think !!

We left Dunedin in the rain and drove for 4.5hrs or so to Christchurch and arrived in the rain – it rained the whole way – definitely not used to that !!!

I am so thankful that we stopped at the Moeraki Boulders yesterday as it would have been bloody miserable going to see them in the rain today.  We had thought about going to Lake Tekapo on our way to Christchurch but with the weather the way it was, I don’t know that we would have seen much.  Between the rain and the mist we couldn’t see too much for most of the way anyway.

We found one night’s accommodation in Christchurch.  Tomorrow we are going to look around town and the drive down to Akaroa and possibly stay the night before heading north of Christchurch on Wednesday and then back to Christchurch on Thursday by lunchtime for our flight home in the afternoon.

We had dinner at Robbie’s – I had a chicken and bacon stack with mash and roast veggies and Al had a great steak and chips.  It was so filling I didn’t even have room for dessert which I was rather sad about as they had a lovely gingerbread pudding that I had already decided on before I had chosen my dinner !!!!!

After dinner we drove around Christchurch itself – so sad to see these absolutely beautiful old buildings that have been shored up or fenced off with signs saying they are now a demolition site – so very sad to see that architecture lost forever. 

We have had some really lovely accommodation on this holiday.  It has been so far out of my comfort zone – coming on holiday with only the first night’s accommodation and the timeshare booked – but it has been great because it has allowed us to change plans as things came up that we hadn’t thought of doing i.e. going to Doubtful Sound – definitely one of the high-lights of the trip.