Gee!! Free, Choice-er “Canterbury Tales”

 Gee!! Free, Choice-er “Canterbury Tales” (See what I did there??)

FRIDAY 16 MAY 2025 - MONDAY 2 JUNE 2025

Okay so these Canterbury Tales may not be a framing device for the collection of stories that is a pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas Becket but they still have plenty to share like romance, adventure, missed opportunities, ill health, travel, reunions and family and all of that in just the 18 nights we spent in Christchurch…and they ARE free!

We had planned our drive into Christchurch very carefully as we had a list of specialty places we needed to go to collect things we needed to get sorted while we were in a big city. When we had our COF (Certificate of Fitness) done in Greymouth they pointed out a couple of things we would need to get fixed before our next COF was due and Dave was keen to get these out of the way. This involved a stop at Blackwell's Isuzu for some suspension components called  ‘Bump stops’ , a stop at Bunnings for some plywood and Burnsco for toilet chemicals. We were actually super surprised at how easily we achieved all of this before heading to our very central campground at Papanui. Our original plan was to stay in Papanui for seven days and sort the motorhome and medications for Dave, then stay four nights with Robyn and Derek at their place in West Melton and then shift to a campground closer to the airport for the week leading up to “The Wedding”.  A very good plan but one that got thwarted fairly early on in the piece.

This campground was slightly more expensive but it had sealed spaces for motorhomes and as Dave was going to be spending some time scrabbling under the motorhome this was a definite bonus. It was super close to bus routes, bike trails and shops - like real shops, even a Pak n Save!! (Spot the Aucklander who has not been in a big city for four months!!). It also had a Chemist Warehouse so we could organise a script for Dave to be sent there from our Doctor, for collection.

Christchurch is very bike friendly so we got the bikes down and sussed out a way to cycle into the central city and Hagley Park. Wow, what an amazing asset Christchurch has in Hagley Park. We followed the Avon River and meandered through leaf strewn walking paths and found ourselves exploring the botanical gardens which included a Rose Garden and a New Zealand native garden (amongst many others).

Cycling the River Avon - Hagley Park

Massive Eucalyptus Tree - Hagley Park

The entrance to The Rose Garden - Hagley Park

From Hagley Park we made our way into the central city, ditched our bikes and went for a wander, ending up at a pub called The Little Fiddle for lunch before cycling back to Papanui. 

While Dave was sorting the motorhome, one of the things I wanted to sort was my hair. I had toyed with the idea of letting it grow and letting the curls come back but as we got closer to the wedding my resolve was weakening. Papanui allowed me to check out several salons. I was very nervous as Karina had looked after my hair for more than 20 years!! I eventually settled on Divine Hair and Beauty Salon. This had been recently taken over by a young Indian couple and I liked what I heard as Kumar explained what process he was going to use. If I am back in Christchurch when I need to redo a keratin treatment I will definitely be going back to Divine!! By the time I got back to The Beast Dave had sorted the first of the two things we needed for our next COF. Replacing the Bump Stops proved to be a little more challenging but Dave’s cunning and ingenuity eventually won so both things were placed on the ‘Ta Done’ list.

When James was still living at home he asked if one of his mates could come and stay for a fortnight and Codey ended up living with us for about three years. Codey shifted to Christchurch not long after the earthquake and we had not caught up with him since then. We had got his cellphone number off James and were determined to make contact with him while we were here so we were delighted when he called us back and arranged to call in and visit one night after work. 

It was so so cool to see him and to see how happy he is, he is doing well, in a good job, with a lovely partner AND he had just found out he is going to be a Dad. We asked about how the rest of his family is doing and generally just caught up on ten years of busy-ness.

Codey Dickinson - you haven’t changed a bit!!

A couple of days later and still high from catching up with Codey, Dave noticed that he was not actually feeling that great and when he tested for COVID got a very strong positive result. We didn’t want to share this with anyone we knew, so we contacted Robyn and let her know that we needed to act like lepers and so we would not be heading to West Melton as planned. Instead we booked into the campground by the airport four days earlier and I was trying to remind myself that we were in a motorhome not an incubator.

As usual though we had some time to kill from when we had to be out of the Papanui campground and when we could get into the one by the airport. We decided that we would keep our bugs to ourselves and headed to New Brighton so we could blow some cobwebs by walking along the beach and checking out the pier. We actually discovered we could have been freedom camping right beside the beach and maybe that is something we will consider in the warmer weather??? It was lovely to be on an East Coast beach again, see white sand and shells. The new pier is quite an edifice with little plaques lining both sides with the names of the families, companies, individuals etc that had donated towards having it built. It was really cool to see that it had fishing stations built into it and that there were people there using them.

New Brighton Beach

Meeting the locals at the New Brighton Pier

A special Grandad photo for Vincey - It’s their ‘thing’ at Playgrounds.

While the new campground was a little cheaper it was a little bit further away from shops so we busted out our Gold Cards and got to grips with the buses. Trying to keep our distance from other passengers this did allow us to stock up on food and - very naughtily - we also went to the Motorhome Show, crossing our fingers that we didn’t spread COVID. The ‘Rule’ for using your Gold Card on the Christchurch buses is that you have to physically have the card with you. Dave had his card but my physical card was not going to be in my hot little hand until Laura arrived for the wedding. I do have a photo of it stored with all my other cards on my phone and interestingly the younger bus drivers were more than happy to accept that - the older bus drivers wouldn’t budge so I ended up buying a Metrocard so I wouldn’t have to walk!

The next day saw me test positive - after managing to avoid catching it for five years it had finally got me. The timing wasn’t great but it did mean that neither of us would be infectious by the day of the wedding or by the day that Laura would arrive in Christchurch. We hunkered down and just focussed on getting better for the wedding. 

My Great Niece, Sophie Kemp, was marrying Jamie Sherriff and we were delighted to be able to share their special day. Sophie is my eldest sister, Pam’s, Granddaughter and I was determined to be there to channel my sister for Sophie as Pam had passed away unexpectedly last year.

We were both safe to emerge from isolation on the Thursday before the wedding which meant I could still go to the High Tea for the bridal shower on the Friday. It was great to meet the wedding party, Jamie’s Mum, Sophie’s friends from school and her workmates.

The day of the wedding dawned with blue skies and not too chilly. Laura arrived from Auckland and it was so good to catch up with her. Four months is the longest time we have gone without seeing our gorgeous daughter! My lovely niece, Sandi, had loaned us her car so we were able to get Laurie from the airport and do a bit of retail therapy. 

Last year Sophie attended a bride show in Christchurch and her name was selected as the winner of the door prize which was a $32,000.00 wedding. Part of the prize was the reception would be at The Tannery which is a boutique shopping area that has restaurants and bars and was the perfect place for this wedding as Sophie is ‘into’ antiques. It did mean that the wedding didn’t start until 6:00 pm but at least we had tons of time to get ready and find our way there. The service was beautiful, it was super to catch up with relatives and it all went without a hitch. Sophie and Jamie have a VERY old Burmese cat called Brynn and he sponsored the cocktails while the formal photos were being taken. Clever cat, he really knows his cocktails!

I wrote a wee poem for the couple trying to focus on what I thought Pam would want to say to her precious Granddaughter and her new husband, Sophie and Jamie have asked that they be the first ones to put any photos on line so no photos yet and to be honest I forgot to take any photos on the day anyway. Luckily Laura took a few!!

Laura, Kim, Vicki and Shannon hit the dance floor!

Waiting for the bride to arrive - she was fashionable late.

The rest of the weekend just flew past and all too soon it was time to take Laura back to the airport. Have I mentioned how much I hate saying goodbye to people at the airport?? November will be the next time we see Laura and her family - it seems ages away!

I hate farewells at the airport!

Our time in Christchurch hadn’t exactly gone to plan and the COVID brain had certainly affected the amount of photos taken for this blog but at least we caught up with friends and family, found our way around the city, sorted out the COF requirements for The Beast, got to hug our daughter and we made it to the wedding. We have to come back through this city when we head to Otago a bit closer to spring so we can tick off some of the things we didn’t manage to do during this visit. For now we are heading up the Island to spend the worst of winter at the warmer end of the South Island.