What a glorious day! The sun came out to greet us for our second day in Christchurch, and we were thrilled to lace up our walking shoes and explore a bit before heading out of town. Our hotel was located adjacent to Hagley Park, which is a huge, 405 acre park located in the center of Christchurch. Hagley Park has a golf course, croquet grounds, rugby fields, cricket grounds, fitness park, playground, numerous running/walking/cycling paths, and the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, which are free.
One of my favorite things about being in different cities is exploring their urban parks, and Hagley Park is exceptional. We meandered down the path, along the Avon River, and then went in to the Botanic Gardens. Aly and Chris checked out the playground and the rock climbing for a few minutes, and then we took in the various conservatory buildings and the rose gardens. If only we could get plants to grow like this back home!
We also wanted to check out the Cardboard Cathedral while in Christchurch. This building replaced the Anglican Transitional Cathedral of Christchurch that was significantly damaged in the last major earthquake in 2011. The cardboard version was designed by a Japanese architect, and is constructed of 24 inch diameter cardboard tubes, along with some wood and steel. They incorporated the cardboard tubes everywhere, even constructing the cross from cardboard! The building itself was somewhat controversial in Christchurch, and they are currently fundraising to eventually build a new cathedral, but having seen many churches/cathedrals around the world, this one was definitely one of the most interesting!
We walked to a nearby food hall for lunch, and this one did not disappoint. I often miss fresh foods, and just basic fruits and vegetables, when we are traveling and eating out constantly, but in Christchurch there are a ton of vegetarian/vegan restaurants, so we decided to try one in this food hall. Barefoot Eatery in Christchurch was delicious! We ate a Nourish bowl with falafel, and a berry smoothie bowl (blackcurrants, banana, and raspberry-yum!) and they hit the spot for sure. We took some quick snaps of the cool street art scattered around Christchurch on our walk back, and then started the drive to the West Coast.
The drive to Hokitika said 3 hr 15 min without stops, but we wanted to get out and explore a few places. The first stop we made was Castle Hill Conservation Area, a scenic reserve where these massive boulders are erupting from the hillside. There is a trail that winds up into the boulder field, and many areas where others have tramped through the grass to explore on their own. Aly loved running through and climbing on top of the stones.
A few minutes down the road, we came upon our next stop, the Cave Stream Scenic Reserve. You can actually hike through the 594 meter long cave here, though it requires walking upstream in sometimes chest-high waters, and we definitely didn’t bring a wetsuit or waders on this trip, so we just walked down the short path to see the exit of the cave. At the end of the hike, where the exit to the cave is, there is a 3 meter waterfall that you ascend next to, using a rung ladder and chains to help you get out. It did look quite fun, though I told Chris I’m not sure I would have been able to do the hike once you got to the darker, more enclosed areas.
Continuing on the beautiful drive, we opted not to stop at Devils Punchbowl, a 430 foot tall waterfall. You can see a portion of the magnificent waterfall from the road, and I would have loved to stop, but we were on a mission to get to our beachfront motel before the sun went down, so we continued onward.
We made it to Hokitika about 40 minutes before sunset, just enough time to get into our room and walk down to the beach. My girl is happiest when she can feel the sand between her toes, and she could not wait to explore. Right outside of our room, we were greeted by the two horses that live on property. After a quick hello, we ran down to the (freezing cold) ocean. Aly had to jump in, but quickly assured us she would not be swimming. We explore the sand, checking out all of the beautiful, smooth, ocean-tumbled rocks that had washed ashore. Aly and I watched the sun go down together before trudging back to our room.
We ate pizza from Fat Pipi’s in our room, apparently the place to eat dinner in Hokitika. It was good and the garlic bread was dripping butter, as it should be. We all read for a bit, with Chris and Aly taking a quick cat nap before I woke them to go across the street and explore the Hokitika Glow Worm Dell. The glow worms are actually fungal gnats that are bioluminescent during certain life stages. They use this to attract their prey. What it means for us is a beautiful, twinkling glow, much like little fairy lights. We just so happened to be staying literally across the street, and ended up having the dell to ourselves. It is not in a cave at this location, so it must be completely dark when you go. We used our phone flashlight to walk up the path most of the way, then turned the light off and let our eyes adjust to the darkness. The longer you stay in the dark, the more you can see the glow of these tiny lights. It felt like we were in a magical, twinkling cave all by ourselves. Aly loved the lights, but wasn’t a huge fan of standing in the dark, so after a few minutes, we walked back to our room and fell asleep to the sound of the ocean.
