The Good, the Bad, and the Missing

I spent 4 days hangoing out in Christchurch and it was pretty nice. It's a city of 370,000 people so it wasn't too long before I got the hang of things. That's when things seemed to start falling apart...sort of.

The Good
Based on the recommendations of Becky in Queenstown, I decided to book a tour of Edoras (capital city of Rohan in LOTR) with a specific company. The morning arrived and I was all set and ready to go, bursting with geeky excitement at my day ahead. I got to reception to wait for my pickup and I was informed that the tour was cancelled! It was my last day in Christchurch and I was leaving for Kiakora the next day so this was my only day to do it! Boo...but then the guy said to call the company as they wanted to apologize to me. I called them and they were very apologetic and offered me the tour for another day ABSOLUTELY FREE for my inconvenience! I hadn't planned on staying for another day, but I postponed my reservation in Kiakora and took them up on their offer for the next day! Mind you, this is a $200 tour that I got for free, so how awesome is that? Plus, it gave me a whole day to book my bus and accommodation for the next week and make my plan for hiking part of the Queen Charlotte track in Picton so I got a lot done.


The Bad
The day before my LOTR tour I went to the Crusaders match and out for some beers to watch the Brumbies play afterwards at the bar. I've been very careful to carry my wallet (with cards and money) with me in my day pack and not in my back pocket or anything so not to invite pickpockets or risk having anything fall out. I eased up on this and was carrying my money and Visa in my back jeans pocket - I had noticed twice that my money was partially hanging out and I should've put it all in my wallet, in my day pack, but I didn't. I didn't lose any money, but my Visa was gone by morning. A quick check with the bar revealed that it wasn't left there so I had no option left but to cancel it and rely soley on my checkcard for the last 2 weeks of my trip. Now, I have plenty of green to sustain me, but it still makes me feel a bit unsettled to not have the security of my Visa with me. I should have followed my instincts and luckily nobody went a ran up a tab with it! I don't have too many expenses left other than cave rafting/abseiling, some kayaking, and possibly skydiving, but that's it. Doh!

The Missing
The morning I noticed my Visa was gone, I also noticed something missing from my pack. I had gotten in around 10:30pm and unpacked my pack to get my pj's and got to bed so I didn't have a lot out. In the morning after showering I was looking for my orange ditty bag that contains my undies and bras and for the life of me I couldn't find it anywhere in the room (I was in a 4 share dorm). I was positive I packed it in my bag, that I was certain, so how does a bright ass orange ditty bag with underwear disappear overnight? My theory, although I'm working on proving it, it that it was taken accidentally by another girl in the room. She woke up at 4:30am to pack and catch a flight and I think in her zombie mode, she picked up the bag with my unmentionables and threw it in hers. Afterall, our stuff was sorta next to each other, but not really, but it's possible and the only explanation. It has to be accidental, because why on earth would you steal underwear? Gross! I have way better stuff to steal. The other girls in the room emailed her to see if she has it and I'm anxiously awaiting their email letting me know if she has it or not. In the meantime, I had to go get me some Hanes Her Way bikinis and I luckily have 1 good bra left to wear for the next 2 weeks.

So that ends a crazy 4 days in Christchurch. I don't have anything interesting to report on Chirstchurch other than it was really pretty, very English, and quite clean. Not much else to say about it without regurgitating the whole history, which may leave you falling asleep. The pic you see doesn't give a full view of the city, but it's one of my favorites that I took. Enjoy!