Today has been a rather muddled sort of day, and largely taken up with organisation.
We arrived last night, around midnight, the plane having been delayed. We just fell into bed, and slept until about 10.30; our bodies thought it was only 8.30, because Australia is 2 hours behind New Zealand.
We are staying in a historic jail, which has been converted to budget lodging.
I don't know if it will be visible on the small picture, but the sign over the green gates says 'Department of Corrections Addington'. Addington is the name of the suburb of Christchurch where we are staying; we chose it because it is reasonably near the station, and we are making some rail journeys, starting tomorrow. It is a real jail, as you can see.
We are sleeping in a cell, so it isn't very big. I'm glad I'm not in for 6 months!
This isn't our cell, which is full of suitcases, but it gives you an idea. The one above is an original cell which has been preserved complete with graffiti - you can just see some of it in my photo.
So, apart from huge walks round the suburb of Addington, we have seen nothing of Christchurch. We walked to a local cafe for lunch, we walked to the railway station and back to sort out train tickets for tomorrow to Greymouth. And we walked all over the place before finally finding the Telecom shop to buy connectivity for the local phone and the iPad, neither of which is yet working. So, although I have already paid for a SIM, I am having to use expensive wireless. I am waiting to see if it works overnight, otherwise I have to go back to the NZ Telecom shop and shout at somebody.
We've also had to book hotels and organise other things, all those things that were previously done by tour companies, and somehow or other the day has gone.
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