Mark and I decided to spend some time in downtown Christchurch today and get a feel for the city. We drove to city center—where the Cathedral was truly the center of attention, and headed towards the Art Center near the Botanical Gardens. We didn’t know exactly what to expect but were pleasantly surprised. As with so many of the towns and cities we’ve seen, the architecture is wonderful, and the streets are clean. There was a flower show going on at the Gardens, so everywhere you saw evidence of flowers.
The Sunday farmer’s market was going on at the Art Center, so Mark and I checked it out, only to see that this market was more artisans and craftsmen rather than farmers selling food. No worries; we checked out the wares and decided to have a coffee. We wandered about the downtown area for awhile; checked out the Punting on Avon, and decided to give it a shot after lunch. We ate Crepes and Paella from carts at the farmers market and then took a punting run down the river. It was quite relaxing; we’d have fallen asleep if our trip had been any longer.
Leaving Christchurch, we headed north again, our goal to stop in Kaikoura for the night. The East coast is not as mountainous as the West coast, so we made much better time. We saw a lot of cows and sheep and deer farms. As we got closer to Kaikoura, we started seeing wineries and vineyards, and decided to stop at Pegasus Bay. We met Matt pouring in the tasting room and tried several wines. We really enjoyed the conversation, and they made a fantastic late-harvest Riesling. It was nice meeting Matt, who is originally from Vancouver.
The Sunday farmer’s market was going on at the Art Center, so Mark and I checked it out, only to see that this market was more artisans and craftsmen rather than farmers selling food. No worries; we checked out the wares and decided to have a coffee. We wandered about the downtown area for awhile; checked out the Punting on Avon, and decided to give it a shot after lunch. We ate Crepes and Paella from carts at the farmers market and then took a punting run down the river. It was quite relaxing; we’d have fallen asleep if our trip had been any longer.
Leaving Christchurch, we headed north again, our goal to stop in Kaikoura for the night. The East coast is not as mountainous as the West coast, so we made much better time. We saw a lot of cows and sheep and deer farms. As we got closer to Kaikoura, we started seeing wineries and vineyards, and decided to stop at Pegasus Bay. We met Matt pouring in the tasting room and tried several wines. We really enjoyed the conversation, and they made a fantastic late-harvest Riesling. It was nice meeting Matt, who is originally from Vancouver.
No comments:
Post a Comment