Final Full Day

I was up early and after Faith made me breakfast and said goodbye.  I managed to leave just before 7am.  It was a long journey and I saw Lake Ellesmere, which was enormous and I could see birds feeding on the edge of the lake.  I stopped for a break at Little River

I tried to find out what gluten free options there were on the menu  but there was a rude man behind the counter, who was most probably Italian, didn’t understand what I was asking so I slow down and pronounced my words then he retorted, ‘don’t shout.’

There was an interesting art shop next door to the cafe and I bought a fantail necklace which had been made by an new artist from the North Island.

The road became very twisty roads to aikora and wound up to the mountain and then back down again.

When I arrived in aikora, I parked in a free parking area and started chatting to a young lady who had worked in China and we discussed the problems that the coronvirsus had caused and how her friends who were still stuck in China were not allowed to leave their houses.

As I started to walk to the shops. I felt a sharp pain at the lower part of my back and at the first shop I came to, I asked if I could check the area using their mirror.  The shop keeper kindly agreed and also offered to apply some cream on the area.  5 minutes later there was still shooting hot pain and a bite mark had appeared on the side of my back.  I took an antihistamine and put more cream on the bite which thankfully calmed down after 10 minutes. 

I saw a scarf with paua shells design on it and decided to treat myself and after admiring the various shops.

I went to a French style cafe and ordered a house salad.  I asked for the tomato, cucumber and parmasan to be taken off.  A huge bowl arrived and even when I asked for it to be reduced as I was overwhelmed by the amount of food, it was still huge.  The restaurant suggested that I order a side salad next time.

I chilled at the harbour until the Red II Fox sailing boat appeared, it gently chugged up to the pier and after the morning tour has disembarked, I boarded the small ship and stayed at the front of the bow.  As we manoeuvred out of the harbour into the bay, the captain pointed out various landmarks and the history associated with them.  He also pointed out the 1 million NZD houses which I thought were a bargain compared to Chester House prices.

A Hector dolphin approached the boat and then swiftly swam away before I had chance to take a photo.  The sails went up and the engine was switched off after 20 minutes into the cruise, the captain started playing sail away with me by
David Grey and as if by magic Hector dolphins appeared.  The music carried on and I noticed that the dolphins didn’t like Lionel Ritchie or Rod Stewart but appeared for the pogues and Bob Dylan , they also loved swimming at the bow to the themes from superman and raiders of the lost ark.

The wind became stronger and we started to head back.  On the way back, we saw baby seals who were playing in the nursery rock pools, one penguin who was bobbing about on the water and lots of shags including a black shag that was quite rare to see in these parts. 

Towards the end of trip I spoke to a lovely lady called Ankica who was Dutch and her sister in law Karen

It then took me about 2 hours to get to Airbnb which was on the other side of Christchurch but it was a lovely room with patio doors that over looked a long garden.
The Airbnb owned small yappy pugs with claws and one called Audrey who kept scratching my legs.
I was directed to a dinner nearby called and was seated in a corner table. I thought I would be ignored by the staff but thankfully they were very attentive.  I had a delicious meal and even treated myself to a creme brulee that was not too rich. 
I came back and sorted my luggage.  I successfully managed to get everything in including the wine.