Christchurch, New Zealand

I made it to Christchurch and it has been raining all day. I was sad to leave Melbourne and wonder if I should have just stayed longer then headed back to Sydney. After arriving I wandered the entire town in a very short amount of time in the rain. Luckily I found the one open shop down in St Kilda yesterday and bought a turtleneck and sweater, Melbourne was chilly and I knew Christchurch would be even more so. I visited one of those places that helps you book all your tours but there wasn't anyone there that could really help they said the woman that could help me would bein at 9:00 AM tomorrow. So I guess I will book things tomorrow, Easter Sunday, again everything will be closed. I have been informed that Easter Friday, Easter Sunday and at times even Easter Monday can be quite dead in New Zealand and Australia, just my luck. So I have looked at brochures and have decided on 3 things maybe 2, an adventure trek, a hot air balloon ride and maybe a wine tour. I am not sure about the wine tour, maybe I can find something that does a hot air balloon ride and wine tour combined. PE my friend at work told me that I need only look at the New Zealand whites when tasting them. I am thinking about heading back to Sydney a day early and need to call Irene to see if that is a possibility. My Dutch friends will be there when I returned and we have planned on meeting up. The only problem is I didn't get their number and I only gave them my e-mail so I am at their mercy. Last night was quiet after traveling with 21 people. I went down to St Kilda with the Italian, Tobias and he helped me pick out a nice sweater, I really like it and he was right it was the best one and I didn't even want to try it on. Leave it to an Italian farmer to have better taste than I do. After that I headed to Quidam the Cirque show and planned on meeting back up with Tobias for dinner. Quidam was weird and it had this theme of a child's imaginary world while her parents were consumed with work, social functions and affairs. I thought it was one of the darkest shows I had ever seen. I liked some parts, I would have to the talent was amazing but it left me feeling a little empty. After that I walked along the Yarra river that runs through the middle of town and met back up with T. We found a small little Italian restaurant in the Italian section of town and ordered some wonderful food. We first walked through China town but I wasn't very interested in having that so after a Mexican restaurant was closed... T wanted me to introduce him to the cuisine even after I warned against it... Back to the Italian restaurant. We ordered a plate of Gnocci, Fettuchini Bolganese and Fettuchini with bacon, egg and cracked pepper. I had one plate and he had 5. I passed on coffee because I was tired and wanted to go home. I had to leave for Christchurch early this morning and wanted a decent night sleep. The previous night after dancing and staying out way to late I never seemed to fully catch up. Once I arrived I also found out that there are not trains anymore only busses and that the trip to Queenstown is 12 hours round trip which would consume almost 2 days, I have decided not to go there. Christchurch will just be a taste of New Zealand and I will have to return. I guess I made a decision at the last minute without doing my research upfront. Hopefully I will book my tours and change my plane to head back to Sydney and maybe convince Irene to head out to the blue mountains with me. I am now heading to the pub to write post cards... the ones I never mailed from Australia.