It is past noon on Saturday, Feb 9 in Christchurch, NZ. My flight leaves at 4:30pm for the long journey back to New York. Sigh...I really don't want to go back to the noise, smell, and chaos. I love where I am now where there are clean waters, fresh air, and relaxed atmosphere. Although, I will not miss the sun here -- the UV index is at 11 today (that's the 2nd highest on the scale). This is what you have to deal with when the ozone layer over you is depleted.
I haven't had the chance to update the blog in the last few days but I might do so when I get back home. I wonder if that's possible so that the updates will show the appropriate dates?
Last night, we arrived to Christchurch and went around town looking for a place to stay. There weren't any campsites so we settled on a motel. The nice Indian woman behind the counter said she had one more room left that we could have for $99 NZ. So $25 per person was quite the deal. She makes a phone call to someone and tells us we could look at the room first. We go off to the side of the building and go up a narrow metal staircase which led up to a metal roof. The roof had random clothes either hanging on clotheline or on the ground. We walked across the roof slowly in single file since the pathway for walking was also narrow. There was a glass sliding door to the room. When we entered, we were astounded to see 2 beds that looked like someone had recently rolled out of them (Alice said she should've checked to see if it was still warm). One of them had crumbs on it and the carpets on the floor consisted of several pieces laid down haphazardly. We thought we were entering through her house (it wasn't). But nooo, we continued on through to another room with 2 more beds in the same state. This second room had a kitchenette. Around the corner was a very nice, clean bathroom with a nice shower. Yep, this was our room. Of course, we asked the lady if she was going to clean it first and vacuum. Her reply: "yes yes. 2 minutes!". Oh boy, that was dodgy (sketchy) but we took it. We were hoping she wasn't going to just make the beds and leave it as that. Good thing is when we came back after supper, we noticed she did indeed change the sheets and everything looked presentable. If only we did not see it's initial state. Hahahaha.
One thing I will miss about NZ is that tipping is NOT done here. No tipping waiters and yet they are still friendly. How about that, eh? Whatever the price is written, that is how much you pay (No taxes added in the end like back home. Everything is included already). The unfortunate thing though, is there is a 15% surcharge on services during public holidays. How unlucky for us to hit very town holiday while traveling through. I was also amazed at the cleanliness of the campsite facilities and public toilets!
New Zealand is truly a wonderful country and I had a blast here. It sure was mighty expensive but I couldn't have asked for a better birthday!
See you all soon.
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nellie! so glad you had fun on your trip. by the way, yes, you can go back and retroactively date your posts if you want (i can show you how if you need help). we miss you at the dojo (actually, what am i talking about... i haven't gone all week due to work! haha). can't wait to catch up with you soon.
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