Got up 6:40, and Jess insisted that we exchange prezzies immediately. She was delighted with her greenstone pendant (as Jer had forgotten her emerald ring at home). Jer received a piece of paper describing a set of balancing kiwi toys. They looked like great fun, but being a big douf, he didn’t realize what was coming. Jess pulled out a 9x12 envelope, and dawn finally broke over Jeropolis. Jess had turned her wedding gift of a highland cow sponsorship into a tradition of animal sponsorships. Jer was now, and until Sept 16, 2005, the sponsor of Tamaki, a kiwi bird at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in Christchurch.
Eventually, Jer coaxed Jess out of bed, headed down for a full cooked breakfast of mueslï, fresh kiwi fruit, scrambled eggs, bacon, and tomatoes. Yummy and filling! We both had weird dreams, and blame the previous night’s ill-fated dinner.
Wandered over to Cathedral Square, stopped by the info center to get bus timetables. There was a little market in the square, Jer got new sunglasses to replace the ones he broke in the Tasman Sea, Jess got a new wallet to replace her thoroughly destroyed one. Hopped the Best Attractions bus, which seemed to think that the Antarctic Center, Willowbank, and the Christchurch Gondola were the best attractions. We were a little put off on the Antartic Center, on account of their penguins and leopard seals being not of flesh and blood, but everyone swears that it’s great fun.
We then went to the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. There were too many cute photos of fluffy mammals and pretty birds (and a trout) to fit on this page, so we made a new one.
After a quick stop back at our hotel (the stunning Heritage Christchurch) to check the guidebook, we set off across Hagley Park (our bus driver earlier in the day claimed it was the second-largest urban park in the world, but we are highly skeptical). We wandered through the Botanic Garden, which was lovely. Then we crossed the cricket fields, finally arriving near our goal, the Kapiti cheese and ice cream shop. Though their cheeses are delicious, we had come in search of one thing: hokey pokey ice cream. Happily enough, they had single-serving containers. We got a hokey pokey and a kiwi fruit and honey, and two spoons. The kiwi was good, but the hokey pokey was excellent. We got about 10 meters before we turned back to get another. And, yes, on our walk back, we did turn ourselves about. More than once. Hokey pokey ice cream is honey ice cream with oozy bits of carmelized sugar in it.
Took a slightly differnt walk back. Went through the netball courts, which are like basketball except there’s no backboard. Saw some more gigantic trees in the gardens, then went back to the hotel to relax a bit.
Went out to Retour, a converted bandstand, for dinner. Service was amusing, our first waitress got horribly flustered and forgot to give us napkins or menus. She was, however, adorable. Anyway, she disappeared halfway through dinner, to be replaced with a somewhat more composed gentleman. Jer had witloof soup to start, which was excellent. (Witloof, also known as Belgian Endive is a bitter cabbage-type veggie.) For his main, he had monkfish, which was pretty tasty, but a but too heavy. Jess started with lobster and crab ravioli in soy butter, which was tasty. She then had a beef and mushroom casserole, topped with flaky puff pastry. It would have been excellent, but the beef was a tad gristly. For dessert, Jess had a lemon tart, and Jer snuck bites of it, plus he ate the accompanying lemon-passionfruit ice cream. We finished the evening with coffees, since we’d heard how good NZ coffees are. Jer had a short black, which is like an espresso, and Jess had a flat white, which is 1/3 coffee and 2/3 steamed milk. Turns out there was something wrong and they were bitter, so the waiter didn’t charge us. Nevertheless, quite a good meal.
Walked back to the hotel. Asked them to deliver our champagne. Put the laundry in the tiny, single-door washer/dryer combo, but couldn’t get to work. Called the desk for help. They sent someone up to help, turns out that we hadn’t slammed the door hard enough, apparently it likes the rough stuff. Drew a bubble bath in the tub and drank the champagne there. Very silly and fun. Eventually got to bed a bit after midnight.