A Celebratory Dinner

To Christchurch, New Zealand

The clouds were gone this morning giving us distant views of the Southern Alps through the sea mist. It was neat to hear the rounded rocks clattering against each other with each surging wave.

Dex and Kylie could think of nothing better than staying put on the beach while the adults drove to town for coffee and scones. Kylie even enumerated all the things they could do: play with the rocks, splash in the waves, add to their driftwood fort, and see the animals at the little camp farm (alpacas, pigs, goats, ducks....)

Our only goal today was getting back to Christchurch. The biggest excitement was when, at an impromptu picture spot beside the river, De Ann fell down the embankment.  We're blaming the raspberry vine that grabbed her leg on the way down.  Even worse, I lost my hat and glasses trying to carry Kylie across the shallow, fast flowing river. Thanks to Dex, the hat was rescued.

One interesting aspect about New Zealand roads, at least on the South Island, is that the bridges are, almost without exception, a single lane.  Since there is no shortage of beautiful rivers, particularly on the west coast, we’ve gotten used to slowing before each to make sure someone is not already on their way from the other end. Apparently, with the low level of traffic, there was just no reason to spend the extra money for a two lane bridge.

Along the way we stopped for a snack and to stretch our legs at an amazing cluster of giant, sculpted rocks. We spent an hour up on the hillside exploring the small little alleys, archways and lookouts -- an absolutely fantastic place for a kid or rock climber.

As it was our last night together with De Ann, we planned for a celebratory dinner out -- no camp pasta or quesadillas this time. We could have opted for more spacious sleeping accommodations as well, but knew how much De Ann enjoyed our cozy van. For dinner, we settled on Fiddle Sticks in the town center, which we hadn't actually had a chance to see yet. It has apparently been a long road back after the devastation of the 2010 earthquake. Everything looked ship shape with the exception of a couple buildings still with scaffolding.

The restaurant was busy and had one of those fancy menus where everything sounds good, but you’re not quite sure what half the words actually mean. That, along with our waitresses kiwi accent and the background noise (or my just my hearing perhaps), meant I had really had no clue what the special was. Eh, all for the best, it was probably over the budget anyway.