The Joy of NOT Hitchhiking

– Demon Killa Cola: it’s what New Zealanders crave!

After much deliberation and monetary calculations, we have decided to rent a car for the month. Buses were pricey, hitchhiking wasn’t very practical, and walking was out of the question. So, for 14 bucks a day we got a little Mazda with room for four, and kamikaze’d our way out of Christchurch, driving on the left side of the road. Also, the windshield wiper gadget is on the left and the turn signal handle is on the right, so we keep wiping the windows every time we want to turn. It’s rather disconcerting when you’re trying to see, turn into the opposite lane of the road you’re used to, and have the wipers suddenly start going and smearing bug residue all over the place.

But so far we feel like the rental car was worth the money. We’ve been able to visit numerous places that we never would have seen hitchhiking or busing from city to city.

– In the small french town of Akaroa, at the edge of the harbor

We’d heard about a gorgeous place called Akaroa, where we could see a great penguin colony, that was only 2 hours away from Christchurch. We knew the distance from Christchurch to our next destination was four hours, so we assumed that we’d have two hours to go from Akaroa to there. And so, we took the trek through the Banks Peninsula, a gorgeous piece of land which plays home to three harbors. We drove through lush hilltops capped with fog, stopping for breathtaking views of the unimaginably blue waters. Akaroa itself is an old French Settlement of only one street that is lined with cute little buildings and a gorgeous beach. We popped into the info center to ask about what to do there, and discovered that it would be 4 hours to our next stop! With it already beinbeing 4:00, we knew we needed to get out quick, so we grabbed some coffee and ice cream, shot a few pictures of the water, and drove on to Oamaru, New Zealand’s only Victorian Town.

After arriving in Oamaru we showered up quick and walked about 10 minutes into town. Along the way we stumbled upon what we’ve aptly named the “Obesity Trifecta.” It was a KFC next door to a Dominoe’s Pizza, with a McDonald’s across the street. The best part is that as I was about to take a picture of the scene, an obese woman came down the street. It’s truly sad to see these craphole fast food restaurants in beautiful cities around the world, in which people can find delicious, affordable, fresh local foods that aren’t poisoned with chemicals and pesticides; there is no High Fructose Corn Syrup in anything. Fortunately, there are no Wal-Marts or Mega strip malls that we could see.

WIth two nights to stay, we saw everything the industrial-era town had to offer: We kicked off with a pint of cider at one of the local watering holes, the Criterion Hotel, where we chatted up a couple of local characters while a guitar player serenaded us with some New Zealand folk tunes. The whole place reminded me of the Australian Roadhouses I visited years ago. We had a tattoo-off with a very drunk Kiwi. He was quite a pleasant chap, but we could not understand about 75% of what he was saying due to his thick and slurred accent.

The next day we tooled around the old town and discovered a limestone sculptor, and an old Whisky Distillery where Alan had a tasting and I admired the top-floor art gallery. After that we popped into the Whitestone Creamery where we got some delicious cheese so that Alan could concoct another famous cheese plate. Then we went down to the very cold and windy beach to see the Yellow-Eyed Penguins coming in from the water to feed their young. We saw a few from afar, but actually a baby penquin came right up to the path and posed for some headshots before scuttling back into the brush. We also saw some seals from afar, basking on the stormy beach.