Home sweet home - there’s no place like it! The house and cats have been well looked after by the Austrian house sitters 😊
Thanks everyone who followed my 2-week #NoFly #SlowTravel holiday. You will have seen that I had a wonderful time! Saw lots of interesting places, caught up with lovely old friends and celebrated my sister’s birthday.
I was nervous about my 1st trip of more than 2 or 3 days in over 5 years, but all the travel went smoothly & I managed my fatigue okay.
My location for the next few hours - the Intercity bus home to Ōtepoti. Happy to see we have the same driver as my trip up 2 weeks ago, because that was a very smooth journey.
It’s wet here in Ōtautahi - my good holiday weather luck finally ran out on Friday, day 11 of my holiday, so I can’t complain about that! Still had some warm sunny periods over the weekend too.
Well, just as well I went to the doc today as I have an infected foot and have started antibiotics. Possibly from a splinter but that’s not visible - hoping I can avoid surgery 😬
At least it didn’t get noticeably bad until the last day of my holiday, so it hasn’t stopped me doing all the exploring I wanted to do! My foot will get a good rest this evening and on the long bus trip home tomorrow.
I’m now resting up, though I may venture out for food later, as long as the promised thunderstorms don’t arrive! I’m also contemplating going to the urgent doctors, as I have a sore foot which has been developing over a few days - perhaps an infected splinter or prickle 🫤Maybe it can wait until I get home - tomorrow!
I wandered around Lyttelton a bit before catching a return bus to the city. Such a cool place of old buildings, cafes, shops and public art.
Aotearoa people will recognise the Covid tracer app sign - I haven’t seen one in ages. I guess it’s been kept as a memorial to the days when people actually tried to avoid spreading/catching it 🫤
The ferry from Lyttelton to Diamond Harbour is fun and you can take a bike along at no extra cost. I wandered along one of the walkways and the village, and had a pot of tea and snack at a cafe. The pier is a popular spot for swimming and some young’uns were dive bombing off in good manu style!
Today I’ve been using Ōtautahi’s public transport system. Happily my Metrocard, not used in over 5 years, still works! For the princely sum of $12 I did a return trip to Diamond Harbour by bus and ferry, a great wee outing.
The bus interchange is good and puts Ōtepoti’s to shame. You can actually wait for a bus indoors! It’s especially spacious before 9am on a Sunday 😆
This sign had me very confused. Because it was partially obscured when I first walked by I thought it said “fated” something. When I saw the rest I read “fated dies” 🥺 It is of course Fat Eddie’s, a jazz club/bar! Is this a deliberate choice, I wonder 🤔
Today I joined the hordes exploring central Ōtautahi - the river, the market, the fabulous street art. There were plenty of tourists, plus people attending the World Busking Festival!
In the afternoon I wandered around the lovely Botanical Gardens catching Pokémon - IYKYK 😆 Met a couple of people I know online IRL 😊
We’ve now moved inland from the wild Pacific coast, which really was the highlight of this train journey. I didn’t get any good photos, sorry - I was too busy spotting wildlife! I saw lots of seals, a pod of dolphins, a great variety of seabirds, and a whale 😍
We’re due into Ōtautahi in a couple of hours - I’m spending the weekend there.
Ali Clarke 