Friday, February 15th

Our day began catching our flight from Queenstown to Christchurch, which is not as automatic as a typical flight out of a major airport when it is cloudy and raining because of the towering mountains which surround Queenstown.  The Queenstown airport necessitates pilots to be able to visually execute take offs and landings (with limited use of flight instruments) because of the surrounding terrain and such.  We arrived safe and sound in Christchurch and checked into the second half of our New Zealand adventure.

 After checking into our Hostel, we quickly made our way to the Town Hall to purchase tickets for the evening’s rugby match.  The Super 14 season was kicking off in Chirstchurch at AMI Stadium and Shawn and I were determined to get our hands on some tickets.  Much to our surprise we easily were able to purchase tickets (for cheap too) and we ended up sitting by the 5 meter line near what would be called the end zone in American football.   It had been raining pretty well for the majority of the day so the crowd was not as robust as I would have imagined; get this –the game didn’t even sell out! Equipped with a trusty trash bag, which with a little creativity doubled as a poncho, Shawn and I were ready to bear the elements. 

Despite the rain, I had a great time introducing (and at times explaining) the sport to Shawn and we were excited to watch the Crusaders hand the Australian based Brumbies their first loss of the season, 34-3.

Aside from the rugby, the edible highlight of the day had to be our discovery at a local restaurant named, Winnie Bagoes (http://www.winniebagoespizza.co.nz/default.aspx).  Our waitress suggested we order the Chilli Pesto Bread as a starter and Shawn and I immediately fell in love.  It’s amazing.  It is a round focaccia-type of bread, which is served warm with a pesto sauce and a sweet chilli sauce smothering it over top.  Let’s just say that we ate there for lunch… and dinner.