Christchurch - read the safety notice

After arriving in the early hours of this morning; (02:30 local time or 23:30 on Friday evening after being up since 08:00 Wednesday morning), we dove straight into bed for a few hours. 😴 After which, we decided to have a slow start and walk 🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️into Churchtown centre to get our bearings, find out the meeting point for our excursion tonight, and find something to eat as well. We were a bit surprised to realise just how small and compact the city centre was. After finding something to eat at the Riverside Market; which is a haven for foodies, we made our way to Cathedral Junction where we needed to be by 19:30 that evening. As the name suggests this tram-stop is very near the Christchurch Cathedral (built between 1863 and 1904) and virtually destroyed during the 2011 Earthquakes along with many other buildings, in fact our driver told us that the city centre was closed to the public for more than 2 years. One thing that did fascinate me was; once again, all the street art that we saw dotted around the city on our way back to the hotel for a rest.
In the evening, we were booked on the Tramway Restaurant, which served us a lovely 3-course meal plus appertizers. Oh, did I mention the wine pairing with every course. Jayne went for the Tai Tapu Venison whilst I had the Charred Octopus 🐙 and Squid for Entrees with Muddy Water Deliverance Pinot Noir 🍷. Main Course we went for Canterbury Lamb 🐑 Rump and for Jayne the Baked Akaroa King Salmon 🐟 this time accompanied by Te Mata Estate Merlot Cabernet from Hawke's Bay. For dessert, I went for the New Zealand Cheese Plate with Torlesse Reserve Tawny Port from Waipara. Jayne finished off with the Manuka Honeycomb & Spice accompanied by a glass of Forrest Botrytised Riesling from Marlborough. We thoroughly enjoyed the meal and the tram 🚊 ride experience as we travelled in around the city centre for around 2 hours.Read more