Pshaw. Did you think I could go on vacation without finding airplanes? Please. The Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum is located right in Christchurch...and it's free.
Definitely made time for the detour.
^^ rotating gun turret...too. fun.
Then we wandered around downtown to kill a few hours before our flight.
Part of that involved eating meat pies while sitting in a park watching Cricket. Like a local! I took pictures and Greg answered all my "so how does this game work?" questions. I think I understand it now? One thing I do know is their uniforms are a bit too formal for me...dare I say cute?
^^ duck bum
Christchurch is still recovering from the earthquakes and it's kind of humbling to walk around the epicenter and witness all the destruction...even a couple years later. But it's also inspiring. Just outside of all the ruin is a massive shopping center, assembled from brightly painted railroad cars. The whole area is so creative and fun to experience. It's helping to bring people back into town and fund recovery efforts. Pretty cool.
^^ toothpick decor
^^ the rotting snail
So this gem right up there is the culprit behind my stank bag. I could not for the life of me figure out why my bag smelled so rotten. We'd both catch whiffs of it ever so often. (did you catch that rhyme there?) Hiking on a trail. Sitting in the car. Lying in the tent at night.
It haunted us.
And then, as we were repacking everything for our flight, I found it. This. This shell that looked very much abandoned and which I'd decided would be my little keepsake from Abel Tasman. It had been tucked safely away in a mesh pocket, just out of eyesight but not out of nose reach. Yes, I murdered a snail. But it wasn't pre-meditated!!
He had a proper burial, all tidied up in a Ziploc and carefully placed in the car rental trash bin.
Sorry little snail dude...
Moment of silence?
...
PS my bag still stinks.
^^ every airport should offer free luggage carts.
The flight from Christchurch to Auckland was gorgeous. I don't mind the clouds so much when I'm above them! It was such a bittersweet time of reflection though, filled with sun and puffy clouds and the gentle roar of airplane engines. Joyful, but still the ending of one adventure.
I couldn't pick my favorite cloud pictures, so here's all of them...
^^ aotearoa, land of the long white cloud
^^ abel tasman from the air!
^^ so sad to see it all go...
^^ volcano peeking up thru the clouds
Shoot. Never has two weeks seemed to pass so quickly! The memories are still so fresh, yet so far away. If I could only have one vacation spot for the rest of my life, it would be New Zealand's south island. I sure hope to get back there again!
The technicals: we finished the drive from Lake Tekapo to Christchurch, adding another 225 kilometers to our trip total. Then a quick, one-hour flight and we were back on the north island in Auckland. There we were able to stay with family and sleep on a bed for the first night in 2 weeks!
Have a great day :-)
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