After completing the loop around the South Island we were back in Christchurch and spent some time driving around in the area of Christchurch; Geraldine, Ashburton, Oxford, Sheffield, Rangiora etc. Robert sampled through the home made pies such as the ones we found in the Sheffield Pie Shop. From the local town names, it is evident, Robert isn't the first Englishman to have set his foot on this island :)

Another famous pie shop from...... 2002!

We spent a few nights in Christchurch itself and took the opportunity to enjoy the modernities of a large city by going to the cinema, shopping mall and catching a rugby match. Victoria's first rugby match ever! She got a crash course in rules, regulations and the point of the whole game about 30 minutes before it started. Not ever being a big fan of American football it first looked to her as this would be a very similar experience to those dreadful hours endured during university in the U.S when she was 'forced' to attend football games (with no clue of what was going on). Well, perhaps she has 'matured' or perhaps it was because the game is actually different, but she has to say that it was quite enjoyable and exciting! Good experience in all!

Rugby at the stadium in Christchurch

Rugby match!

After Christchurch we decided to go back to Akaroa on the Banks Penninsula about an hour an a half's drive from Christchurch. Our plan was to rent a holiday home for at least a week and get a feel for the small holiday town.

We found a beautiful house that is located on the hillside of town with magnificant views of the bay, mountains and the sea. It's a large house with a total of six beds, so we could have a party here, but it also has a nice fire place, a barbecue and a large sun deck that overlooks the surroundings. From the master bedroom, the French doors open up to the sun deck and it feels like luxury to wake up and having such a wonderful view!

View from the bedroom

Sitting room

kitchen

living room

We have also been very lucky with the weather and it is around 20+C in town and on the sun deck it must reach at least 25+C during the day. So Robert decided to pull out the sun chairs. It took him about 10 minutes to figure out how to assemble them and after Victoria was laughing herself silly observing it all, they finally came together. Well, of course Victoria was left on her own to put her chair together after having laughed so hard, so Robert got a bit of the fun as well, watching her go through the same ordeal.... FINALLY, both the chairs were up though!

Robert about to start the assembly of the chair

Hmmmmm.....

Victoria's turn to struggle with something that seems VERY simple

Robert finally enjoying his chair

Akaroa is a beautiful spot and it's been very nice to be able to cook our own meals instead of eating out. Victoria got elaborate and have tried all sorts of things in the kitchen. A few nights ago it was time for lasagna. We had all the ingredients except for canned tomatoes and the lasagna noodles (two very essential ingredients for lasagna...). So we popped down to the store to get that and discovered that it closed at 6:30pm.... Home made cooking from scratch got even more down to the fundamentals when Victoria had to make her own tomato sauce from fresh ones (they had that at the only cornerstore that was open) mixed with ketchup and make the lasagna with regularly shaped pasta instead of the large noodles. It all turned out to be some kind of.... lasagna casserole....

Robert's hobby here in the house is to feed the little hedgehog who lives under the deck. We saw him the first night shuffling across the yard, so Robert promptly went inside to see if we had any food we could give him. We had some left over egg salad sandwiches from lunch and decided to see if Mr. Hedgehog would like that. Well, the next morning we discovered that hedgehogs really like bread, but not egg salad as he had pushed it off the sandwich and then proceeded to eat the bread. The next evening Robert gave him milk with bread in it and later that night the hedgehog came out and stuffed himself silly on which apparently was more of his cup of tea. We observed him quietly from the kitchen window.

As you can see, not much is going on in our lives if the most exciting event of the day is to make tomato sauce out of fresh tomatoes and feeding hedgehogs..... well, it is probably not harmful for us to take it easy. Victoria has taken up a new hobby of knitting and has gotten quite into it. So far the results include a hat and one sock. Hopefully the enthusiasm won't wear off before she has completed the second sock....

written by  Victoria & Robert on April 21, 2010 from Akaroa, New Zealand
from the travel blog: The rest of the world
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Everything looks wonderful and relaxing, beautiful scenery again. You could get used to all this! We're impressed with the domesticity and even more so Victoria with the knitting - was the hat and sock for Robert?? or someone smaller.
Love Mum and Dad

written by  Fay ryan on April 22, 2010

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Glad to see you two are really busy! What a life. Looks a great pad there in Akaroa. Make the most of it. A possible family-bringing-up-type spot? Or too remote? Is anywhere too remote for you guys? Getting towards the end of May already and you guys back in the proper hemisphere next month right? Trust all is well with bump (both of them Bob - hahahaha!). Looking forward to a catch up when you passing through next. All well with the me and the girls. Girls doing school tests etc and looking forward to the summer. I'm submerged in a really dull tax fraud case - at least I'm picking up ideas (To the Inland Revenue chap with nothing better to do: that was a joke!). F in good form. Skiing over easter was fab. 140 of us in a converted sanitarium in Switzerland - carnage! Speak soon. Ciao, H

written by  harry on May 21, 2010

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