Day 4 - Thursday, 9 Oct 2014 - Christchurch

9 Oct 2014 - Thursday - Drove out to the  beach to find where we would stay on our last three days of our trip. It was not a beach front property  as I had hoped, but about a block away from a beach park. We were underwhelmed, to say the least.

We parked in the park, and I was able to walk up a boardwalk to view the South Pacific Ocean with Lauren. The boardwalk had wooden rails, so I could hold on. No wheelchair access to the beach, but we could have overcome that, if necessary.

Took a few pictures, and later ate lunch at an Indian restaurant.

Found the train station in Christchurch - sort of "go through a mall parking lot, find a little 'drive road' on the other side of it, go around a few circles," and there it was. (We often create little quests to add additional interest to our travels while we explore. We once spent a nearly a whole week in the Hungarian countryside trying to find a real grocery store, as opposed to a little in-house corner store. We were successful two days before we were to leave the area, but the exercise led us from the Slovenian border to Pecs in Hungary and back again.) (Lauren and I have different recollections about when we went to Pecs. He thinks it was while we were in Heviz.)

We decided to take a leap and purchase a round trip on the Transalpine from Christchurch to Greymouth and back for Fri, Oct 17. We will be an hour in Greymouth, so I doubt I will get off the train , but the ride should be spectacular for the beauty we will see as we travel from coast to coast through the Southern Alps and back. The cost was about $190 each - expensive!

We liked this addition to our plans so much, it overshadowed our disappointment with the beach property.

We decided we would see if we could find lodgings in Christchurch Central instead of the beach for our return stay in Christchurch. Christchurch Central has much easier access to everywhere than the beach property, and we figured we'd had all the enjoyment of the beach we were going to have.

Searching the internet, I found that Merivale Manor had those 3 days free, so Lauren walked across the drive and was able to reserve them for us. Yippee! We think it was a good decision.

Driving through the congested city, on the "wrong side" of the road, sitting on the "wrong side" of the car, is stressful for Lauren. And for me. Even though we are working well together, it's still stressful. Staying at the Merivale, we are closer to the airport and to the train station.