Christchurch

The road to Christchurch was lined with signs warning, not of drousy drivers, but of speed: “The faster you go, the bigger the mess” ?? Why they worried about speed with the twists and turns of Route 1 was a mystery. Route 1- the only North/South road on the island was enough to make anyone motion sick. With no guard rails and white and yellow lines on the road with no rhyme or reason- with one lane bridges and bridges shared by both rail and cars, it was quite a drive.

We decided to try the youth hostel in the center of town and checked into “BaseX”, the home of every X’er in Christchurch. It was 14 floors of mostly youth hostel rooms with a few real “hotel rooms”- shared bath. But, the price was right. We had a laugh at the “Book Exchange”- the only book on the shelves was the Book of Mormon.

Christchurch is known as the most English of NZ’s cities. Cathedral Square Is at the center of the city and the area around the cathedral was packed with people enjoying the sunshine and clear skies of the south island. We took the standard city trolley tour to get an overview and spent the rest of the day walking the city streets.