An entry in the TFS Travel Jounal
Another lovely breakfast with Shelly and Neil, this time with a pancake that was more like a baked cake, topped with various fresh fruits and whipped cream.
We said our goodbyes and headed off, choosing the coast route. We first passed back through the wonderful woods we’d driven through to get here, then turned southeast, finally meeting the ocean. We had an hour or so of crashing surf and rocky beaches right alongside (reminding us of the Big Sur drive), including a stop to peer down on a colony of resting seals. There were about 30 or so, all lounging about on the rocks — preening, moving languidly, or - mostly - sleeping. We were only about 25 feet away, and watched for a while as some of them waved their flippers about looking like they were having dreams about flying (or swimming, we suppose). Some of them were quite large, and they all had slick brown fur.
We then drove into Kaikoura, a lovely little seaside town. We lunched at the Craypot and had an overcooked burger and seafood pasta that was possibly the worst pasta we’ve ever tasted, though the seafood was ok. At least the sparkling water was good. We then got back on the road for the remaining 2 hours to Christchurch.
The road turned inland, and we were treated to a late autumn afternoon of brilliant sunshine, gently rolling terrain and many trees of bright yellows and deep reds (and possibly the most deserted road we’d ever driven in daylight!). We pulled into Christchurch and cruised the unimpressive town for a while before stumbling upon our hotel. Rather than being “a charming oasis”, we found it to be on the level of a nice Holiday Inn. We changed rooms twice in a vain effort to have a room with both space for our suitcases and a phone line capable of connecting the computer, and ended up back in the first room we’d been given, and a promise that they’ll keep one of the conference rooms open for us to access and log on.
We ordered up some delicious room service of grilled duck and various vegetables, and caught up on some tv and reading.