Day 37, in which we decide we might quite like New Zealand

We arrived at Christchurch in the early afternoon, and the contrast with Japan was immediately obvious. Everyone in New Zealand was happy, smiling and relaxed, the sun was shining, and outside the airport was a wide stretch of verdant countryside.

We hired a car from the most laid back man we've met all holiday and drove down to Akaroa, a small town on the east coast which will be home for the next couple of days. In any other country the drive from Christchurch would be a tourist attraction in itself: we passed soaring mountains, lush valleys, dense forests and sparkling blue lakes, all in quick succession and with not a blot on the landscape. Paul noted one bit was like “the Scottish Highlands in technicolor”, although during the 70km drive we also passed bits that looked like Wales, the Pyrenees, Rio de Janeiro and the Yorkshire Dales. In technicolor.

Arriving at Akaroa Harbour itself felt slightly unreal. The sat-nav was being experimental and had us creep up a steep mountain road rather than trundle straight to our destination, so we approached the town over the top of a mountain and our first sight of the harbour was from high above, looking down on the landscape laid out before us, the sea a strangely vivid blue colour and surrounded on three sides by huge and beautiful mountains, the sun shining gaily on all. It quite figuratively took our breath away.

We checked into the Bon Accord Backpackers hostel – a big old house with a superb garden, just a short walk from the sea – before wandering down to the harbour for a nose around, where again we were stunned by the sheer beauty of the place. We ended up having dinner at a restaurant called Ma Maison just as the sun began to settle across the waters, in what we agreed was the most spectacular place either of us had ever eaten dinner. The food was thankfully superb too: fresh fish, fruits and vegetables, and the wine weren't bad neither.

After a mooch along the beach and a bit of a paddle, we realised we hadn't slept in 32 hours and so went immediately to bed and - after three weeks on hard futons - were thankful to be reintroduced to the sprung mattress.


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