Hopefully yesterday was my last night sleeping on a floor! We had a small farewell party in the dormitory and as a highlight in my short student life I got an original Lincoln University t-shirt from the Resident Advisor for helping out over the past two days. Today I offered the students a ride to The Warehouse, they needed stuff for their trip next week. After that I packed my things, said goodbye to new friends and brought N. into the city, she is visiting a friend. On our way I found a gas station and got a full tank of gas – lucky me. The drive to the airport was longer than expected, the city center is still closed and somehow everyone seemed to be a Sunday driver. It was annoying! Once I had finally parked at the airport I went inside and found E. still waiting for his luggage at the bag claim, having arrived just a few minutes earlier.
He collected his bags, we got in Harry and headed to Kiwi Basecamp to see the friends we had made before leaving Christchurch for good. We saw M. and S. and talked over a coffee. E. had brought two bags of apples from Hawkes Bay and we left one at the hostel for them to have. While we were there we heard about the liquor store around the corner which was selling damaged stock from the earthquake for cheap. Of course we went there and stocked up – 3 dozen beer for 10$/dozen and 2 bottles of rum for 20$ each. It should last us the whole trip.
Once we had said our goodbyes and loaded the car up with alcohol we got on the road for Oamaru. Our first stop was at a random beach about halfway through the drive. By chance we chose one that was a wildlife reserve and in addition to fantastic rock pools and rocks covered in mussels, there were oystercatchers and cormorants. The second stop was at a little river next to a bridge. We waded through a small pool of water onto an island and enjoyed the sunset.
It was dark by the time we reached Oamaru so we called and asked for directions as soon as we reached the city. Somehow the woman gave us completely wrong directions and after ten minutes of driving we stopped at a gas station and asked there. The backpackers was not far from the gas station and we arrived there shortly after. The manager apologized for giving us the wrong directions – she realized when she had got off the phone. In addition she had made an error with our booking, but at least she apologized and offered us a 10$ discount. Good to have a local to help haggle. The hostel was so much more boring than Kiwi Basecamp. We cooked dinner in the kitchen and nobody talked with us while we sat and ate it. Still, I was happy to have my first hot dinner since arriving New Zealand.
