New Zealand- Day 6: Sunday, October 5th

We got up a little later today and headed over to the Vudu Café, which I had read about in our travel book. I had eggs benedict with smoked salmon and capers and Jordan had a croissant with a sweet filling and almonds. Both were very good and the café lived up to its good reviews. After breakfast we walked around the town a little more and then leisurely made our way back towards Omarama where we were planning on spending the night.

On our way out of town we stopped at several wineries and a cheesery for tastings. We had a couple of Pinot Gris and Rieslings that were very good (this coming from someone who doesn’t like wine). The cheesery had some really good stuff, including a few cheeses made with local sheep and goat milk. Once out of the wine country we came upon a juice/fruit stand. I had a brilliant thought so we stopped in for a minute. I talked to the lady operating the juicer and sure enough she said she could make me fresh apple juice made only with Granny Smith apples! Now to many of you this is no big deal, so I’ll give you the story behind it. I’ve never really liked apple juice. It’s too sweet and I don’t like the flavor. When I was 10, my mom took me to Paris and they had Granny Smith apple juice there. I loved it. I haven’t been able to find it since that trip, though I often look. The juice was amazing and tasted just like eating the apple. Plus it had an appealing bright green color. Just one more reason to love NZ.

We got into Omarama around 4, but there was very little there. Literally a few hotels, a gas station, and a restaurant or two. We decided to press on and get to Christchurch instead of waiting until the morning. On the way to Christchurch we got to see Mt. Cook at sunset and Lake Tekapo. The lake is supposed to have this brilliant turquoise hue, but it was a little hard to see because of the light. I’m a little disappointed about that, but the lake was still gorgeous with the mountains around it and the sun setting.

Around 11 we drove into Christchurch and hastily booked a room at the hotel we were going to be staying at the following night. The hotel was very cool and modern. The room was very small and windowless, but one of the walls was a giant mirror, which helped open it up a bit. There was a very nice LCD TV and a control panel where you could control all the lights and alarm clock. I think the alarm clock was probably the coolest part. 5 minutes before it is set to go off an artificial sunlight above the bed starts to glow and gets increasingly brighter. When the alarm goes off the TV also comes on and is automatically tuned to the hotel’s ‘wake’ channel, which is beautiful scenery from around NZ and some soft music. Though small, the entire space was very modern and comfortable and is probably the best sleep I’ve had since coming to Australia.

Since we hadn’t eaten dinner yet, we grabbed some food at a fast food place and took advantage of the free wireless at the hotel (the only free spot we’ve found anywhere). After that it was time for bed so we could be ready to go for our final day in Christchurch.