Shake it like a polaroid picture

We have arrived in Christchurch.

We made it to Kaikoura with a couple interesting rides: an older guy with a beret who in the first 5 minutes gave me his opinion on muslims, israel and american foreign policy and continued for the next hour detailing the history of New Zealand's forests as well as what he saw on Fox news. He was a renaissance man of sorts. The next driver was a tourist from China who agreed to take us and even stopped to show us a seal colony along the way.

When we arrived in Kaikoura it reminded me of a Wasaga or Sauble beach but with snow capped mountains right behind the town. We checked into our sketchiest hostel so far but also our cheapest and spent the afternoon and night wandering the town, walking along the beach and avoiding the rain when it came. We left this morning passing surfers gearing up for cold weather surfing and lots of dogs running along the shore.

We only needed one ride to get us all the way to Christchurch. We actually laughed as the car came around figuring we had no chance: a tiny car with a small, solo older woman driving. Then the car pulled over and the woman started making room. She was very nice and friendly, asking all about Canada and our homes and our family. Then asking us about our Christian affiliations, whether we believed in God and our opinion on evolution. The usual niceties one would ask upon first meeting someone. She told us she was a seventh day adventist and was most disgusted when I ventured that I thought evolution had some merit. I quickly changed the topic to the shear (pun?) amount of sheep around and thought I had avoided any more problems. She continued to tell us later about a trip to australia she had been on where they saw beautiful birds and flowers, something you would appreciate if you were into nature and creation she said with a disdainful look towards me.

We got out in Christchurch and haven't seen much in the way of earthquake damage. Many shops are closed because the insides are a mess. Mark has his bag repaired and my knee and shoulder are starting to feel a bit better after a few days rest and a healthy dose of pain killers so we are trying to make our way to the west coast in a couple days to continue tramping.