Christchurch Exploration

29/1/10 - Sat outside a bar in Sumner with a pint of Tui, not quite a lager but tasty nonetheless.

I'm in love, partly with the French girl I met last night but mostly with New Zealand and travelling in general.

Last night was a great night, the only thing missing was some dancing like a mentaler. I was first invited out by two German guys who were staying in the same room as me - Mike and Chris were their names and the first thing they did was to say they were going out later and did I want to join them which straight off makes them pretty good blokes in my book. I was feeling quite nackered after the flight so I said I'd see how I feel later.

After popping to the shop I made myself some pasta and got chatting to a lovely French girl called Astrid and we ended up going out for the evening together. Our first stop was a park to watch some of the World Buskers Festival which, by jolly coincidence is taking place in Christchurch this week. The act was a sort of trapeze, circus, acrobatics number which was nothing spectacular but watching it for free on a summer night with a beautiful stranger can't be bad. Once the swinging, twirling and jumping had finished we avoided donating any money and found a bar where we happily chatted the evening away before heading back to the hostel around 11 to say our goodbyes and exchange names for facebook, then off to bed for some much needed sleep.

Or at least that was the plan until Chris came in to the room and said they were just heading out and again asked if I wanted to join them. I'm not great at saying no to a night out and so I did join them and made lots of one night friendships with: An 18 year old German girl who had been living in a car whilst travelling; a brummy called Dave who was dangerously horny and two English girls who were staying in the same room as me and the Germans who were a bit annoying.

Today I have walked 3 and a half hours, partly in the wrong direction, from Christchurch to Sumner, a small seaside town with a beach and some picturesque rocks with caves in right on the waterfront. The walk was cracking, or at least the second half was, following the river estuary out to the sea past cliffs and caves and some pretty houses. I like travelling.