Inundated in Christchurch

It was quite a relief to awake to a significantly improved weather situation. When we tried to venture out last night for dinner, the wind was blowing so hard that it immediately blew our umbrellas inside out. As well as the wind, we also battled freezing rain. It was so bad that we just couldn't help laughing at our comical situation.

When ordering dinner, I somehow thought I was ordering a pizza, when I was actually in a hamburger restaurant, Little wonder the guy looked at me weirdly when I asked him whether they were big enough for two people. He probably thought I was an escapee from the Institute for the Criminally Insane.

This morning Maggie and I walked from the hotel in search of a place to buy a warmer coat for Maggie. We walked and walked and she got a little excited when we saw a sign with the familiar TARGET label. "They will sell clothing" she exclaimed. The problem was that, when we arrived, we discovered that the New Zealand Target only sells lounge suites. Not exactly what we were looking for.

Fortunately Maggie is recovering her walking legs. It is amazing what a little retail therapy does for the female health. Later in the day we found a Kathmandu outlet. Sometime later she emerged with a big smile and a warm jacket. I emerged with a significantly lighter wallet.

As the day wore on the weather steadily improved. The wind dropped, the temperature rose and we even had some bursts of sunshine. Maggie did not seem to care what the weather was doing, as she just kept telling me how warm she was.

By the end of the day our watches reported that we had walked over 10000 steps. What a huge improvement on two days ago when she struggled to walk even 50 metres.

Tomorrow we leave Christchurch to ride the Transalpine Express to Greymouth.

Side Note - When we arrived back to our hotel room in the afternoon, we found that the room had flooded. A corner of the room was soaking wet, saturating Maggie's case and everything in it. There had obviously been a serious leak in the wall. The manager was very apologetic, but explained that they had no spare rooms to switch us to. The next couple of hours were spent drying the contents of the bag. The carpet is now covered with towels, Not exactly ideal, but we don't think that anything has been ruined.Read more