We went down to the city this morning with all our luggage. We were planning to drop off one bag at Eel’s place, and then take the other bag with us to New Zealand. In the end, she called us and asked us to meet up at Sofitel Melbourne, as she was staying there for a few days whilst her parents were still around and staying in her apartment. The view from Sofitel was great, we could see tons of the city from her room.
After that, we met up with Tim, who had just come back from visiting his gf’s parents in Poland. He has a Polish girlfriend! He met her whilst backpacking in Rome, and he just went to meet her parents. Apparently, they don’t speak much English, which makes communication really difficult. They stay in a kampung area, and had never seen an Asian before! Hahaha, must’ve been an interesting visit.
And then, we were off to the airport again, Eel having kindly volunteered to send us. The Jetstar flight was delayed slightly, maybe about half an hour or so, which meant we reached Christchurch at about 1am in the morning!
Coming from Melbourne, it was so SO cold. We had already arranged for a rental car with Omega Rental Cars. Originally, we asked for a 1500 cc Toyota Corolla, but we ended up with a Toyota Corona (not a car I’ve ever heard of before). We had to go and look for the car at the long term parking, and the keys would be kept in a “secret” location. The only thing was, it was freezing! Windy, cold, and rainy…not the best weather at all. We eventually found it, and I just had to take a photo of our first day with the car.
If you’re in a warm country right now, don’t you feel glad?? Haha, it sure was cold that night.
From the airport, T drove to our backpacker place, with me assisting in the navigation (I can’t believe the car rental didn’t provide us with maps!). We stayed at the Dorset House. Because of our late arrival time, we had been given the access code, and the keys to the room were kept at the reception.
I was really impressed with Dorset House. Having recently come back from backpacker hostels in Egypt in Jan, I was preparing myself for similar accommodation. I find it’s good to always prepare myself for the worst, and then I’m never disappointed!
Just like in Egypt, when we booked a cruise, I was expecting something like the Hanoi cruise along Halong Bay, which was so rickety, a teeny room, and water in the shower at only certain times. But I was very pleasantly surprised by the luxuriousness of the Egypt cruise.
Anyway, at Dorset House, we got a really nice, brightly lit place, and it was so warm! There were quite a few shower / toilet rooms, maybe about four on the ground floor, and another four upstairs. The one that I used was fantastic, plenty of hot water (we were always running out of hot water in Egypt, and it was winter there too!), clean and well lit. The price we paid was only about 50+ NZD, cheaper than the YHAs in Christchurch.
We slept soon after showering, as we were planning on leaving early the next day, heading up to Kaikoura, and then to Nelson.
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I want to go for a holiday too ……. No pictures of you the past few days? hmmm .. trying to keep away from the camera. haha