South Island: Arrival and Day 1 - Christchurch/Arthur's Pass

Our flight from Auckland to Wellington was at 9 PM Friday night, so we had a shuttle pick the four of us (Kim, Cate, Lynn and I) up from Empire and bring us to the airport. We literally checked in, checked our bags, went through security and were at the gate in less than 10 minutes. Not once were any of us asked for any form of identification, let alone our passports. While we were waiting, we watched “So You Think You Can Dance – Australia” on the TV at the gate, so at least we were entertained. The flight was only an hour and a half, but they served us a snack: ice cream and apples!! Never before have I had ice cream on a plane – I was so excited about it that I asked the flight attendant for a second one and he gave it to me! Once we landed, we just got our luggage and took a taxi to the hostel.

We knew we were staying in a 5-person dorm, but were hoping that maybe the 4 of us would just have it to ourselves. When we entered the room though, we saw someone’s stuff was there: a backpack, a jacket and Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner. This fact is important because we deduced from it that the person was a girl. We were all talking while we were getting ready for bed ,and Kim and Cate both had these rather detailed impressions of what she would be/look like. When we woke up in the morning, it turned out that we were all very wrong – there was a blond haired guy with a beard sleeping in the other bed! (He stayed asleep while we were getting ready, but it was just a little weird/awkward that we went to sleep just the 4 of us and woke up with a strange man sleeping in the room with us!)

We checked out, but the hostel let us store our luggage while we walked around Christchurch. We went to Cathedral Square, where there is a famous cathedral (and the reason why the city is called Christchurch).

They also have a giant chessboard in the square:

A man from the tourist board approached us to answer a survey and in exchange we got to order something from Starbucks on them! After leaving the square, we walked to see the Botanical Gardens, which are located in a pretty park. It was a beautiful fall day, so we were really enjoying the leaves on the ground and the park in general! We found a monkeybar/swings type thing that we were entertaining ourselves on as well. Then we walked through the Rose Gardens and then headed to pick up the rental car. Cate and I split the driving pretty much equally throughout the trip.

We got our stuff from the hostel and stopped at a grocery store on our way out of town to pick up some supplies. Our drive from Christchurch to Franz Josef (where we were spending the night) took about five hours, including a couple of stops for photos. Even though it was a long drive, it didn’t feel bad at all because we were driving through gorgeous scenery. We drove all the way across the island, along the Canterbury Plains, through the Southern Alps via Arthur’s Pass and then down along the West Coast. The mountains were really pretty, and it was just an overall very enjoyable ride.
We arrived in Franz Josef JUST as it was getting dark and we were getting very hungry. We had a nice dinner of pasta, sauce and garlic bread (plus cheese and crackers while we cooked). Then, we cleaned up and hung around the hostel playing cards. Our 4 person dorm room was ensuite, and we all wanted to shower before going to bed, so we had a little mini Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament to decide the order we would shower in!