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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Christchurch and travelers v. tourists?

Yesterday we had a long drive from Queenstown to Christchurch. We explored the city some when we arrived and went around some more today. We ate a good dinner in an Irish pub last night. I can't believe how many Irish pubs are in this country! They've been everywhere, but they are very noticeable here and in Wellington.
We slept in this morning for the first time since our first day in Auckland. Every day since we've had to either catch the bus or get up for an activity. We went out for kebabs for lunch. I realized yesterday that Mark had probably never had a kebab before and I was right. He tried the lamb and I had the falafel.
Christchurch has some nice aspects to it- there's a tram that we rode around the city, you can punt in the Avon River, and we took a nice walk through the botanical gardens. It's a ways from city center to the beach, so we didn't make it out there today.
We are staying in another All Seasons Hotel. This one is pretty odd. The bathroom is part of the room, not a separate room, and it's see-through! Not completely, but enough that the other one of us needs to face the other way. Very odd. There is "free" wireless internet that was so painfully slow that I opted to pay for the "high-speed" in-room internet. Also very slow, but a little better.
I wanted to reiterate how nice Kiwis are. Mark and I looked a little lost making our way to our hotel yesterday and two locals stopped and kindly offered their assistance. :)
Tonight we finished up the day with a few games of pool (of course!).
Travelers versus Tourists? Mark and I have decided we are travelers as opposed to tourists. We noticed the difference on our trip to Milford Sound when there were a number of tourists on other buses and on the boat with us. Tourists have suitcases (and probably more than one bag!), clean clothes, umbrellas, video cameras, they don't smell, they stay in hotels (we splurged a few times), and don't cook their own meals. I've enjoyed my traveler experience!

1 comment:

Kt said...

Travelers? Like gypsies? I like it!!