Christchurch: The Land of Gardens, Prostitutes, and Free Fudge

Our last destination on the north island was the capital of NZ, aka Wellington, where we stayed for a whopping one night before getting on the ferry to head further down under. From what we gathered, Wellington was somewhat of a sister city to San Fran. It was windy, pretty, and right on the water. So yeah, that was Wellington and our farewell to the north island.

Enjoying the Wellington rose gardens, which would have been far more scenic had we shown up while they were actually in bloom.





We continued our journey south from Wellington and hopped on a 3 hour ferry ride, followed by a 5 hour coastal train ride to Christchurch. In a nutshell, we were in transit for over 8 hours and had a rather lazy day. We managed to entertain ourselves with multiple meals, snack sessions, food related activities, and, from time to time, some photo shoots of the lovely sheep that littered the countryside outside the train window.
Christine chowing down on yet another snack right after commenting, "I'm so full, I feel ill." This pretty much sums up our journey south.







We don't know what's more pathetic: getting entertained by these sheep for 20 minutes as they escaped to the wrong side of the fence, or taking multiple pictures of them in the act



Our first night at Christchurch was spent at a rather shanty hostel, so we were more than ready to set out on out hunt for a home the next morning. By noon the next day we were no longer homeless and had found a great place on the outskirts of the city center. We moved in that night, and were ready to tackle the job search. Three days later we were all employed at popular and trendy restaurants. Christine is currently strutting her stuff as a hot foreign waitress while Nick impresses the drinking crowd as the new hot bartender, both at the Dux de Lux. Caitlin and Maggie are also working their moves and getting a work out as they carry flaming fajitas up and down the stairs of the new and "most popular restaurant in Christchurch", the Flying Burrito Brothers. So far we have had a run of fantabulously good luck and can only hope that it continues as we embark on our mission to find and make friends.

Nick finally shaving off his homeless beard. He refused to shave it off until we found a home.


















Excited about having a fridge and a home, we loaded up at the grocery store, which is quite evident in this photo. Look a little closer and note the improv use of the side pockets, more commonly used for nalgenes, but also useful as storage space for ketchup, peanut butter, dressing, wine, and many other grocery treasures.





Celebrating our new home with a feast fully prepared without any food from a hostel's free food shelf.