We briefly gave Ken a bit of a rest from hosting us and drove out to Castle Hill Natl Pk west of Christchurch. This was a strange set of rock outcroppings nearish the base of the Southern Alps at this latitude. We had a nice hike through the area. We observed a Maori carving/symbol representing this gathering area and of the giant eagle pouakai, long extinct. This giant eagle once was the largest eagle in the world. The hike back to the car also captured views across the valley of another impressive, rock covered mountain range.
As we headed back to Christchurch for a nice dinner outing with our hosts we passed through Sheffield where the "world famous in New Zealand" Sheffield Pie shop is located. We stopped and enjoyed an unusual Camembert/apricot/chicken pie (we still sense the standard steak & cheese is better). I heard the funny world famous phrase a number of times on this trip.
We primped and headed back out for an evening with Gill & Alan at the excellent 5th Street restaurant. Killer food was accompanied by beers and some fine NZ Hawke's Bay reds. On the way Ken parsed an app on his phone to ultimately get some of the street art in CCH to interact ~ so he said.
The debauchery continued when we found live music on the way home. Ken & Alan explained to expect little but I'd found precious little live music on our trip around New Zealand. Yet, we were granted some great performances from nearly the front row with hardly anyone in the house. Even the house sound was pretty good from our spot. We found out later that we were at a wake and that a local musician friend of this night's performers had died. Bummer... but the beers and bands were good. There were three main bands with the first two also playing a song with stand-in friends. Band #1 was just plain good. Band #2 kicked out some keen SKA; with the stand-in they played Jethro Tull. Band #3 leader was the dead musician's closest friend. We were very lucky and NZ was on the map for me as to live tunes.
We stayed all night without regret ~ but for any early rising on the next day.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.