We got up late, after putting in a bad night due to Jess’s bad dreams. After showers, a quick breakfast (the last of the rolls, butter, and jam, with tea) and packing, we headed into town. We breezed through the Queenstown Gardens, which were small but charming. While we were there, it started to sprinkle, so Jess hurried us into town, to the shops. On our way, we saw a rainbow over Lake Wakatipu.
We started at Goldfields Opal and Jade, where we purchased two small greenstone elephants (but no opals, as they had only a small selection in white gold). Next up was the Opal Centre, which had quite a good selection. There were a number of pendants in Jess’s price range. Jer narrowed down the selection for Jess, and one black opal stood out. The nice saleslady assured us that it was an excellent deal, and Jess agreed, so it came home with her.
We stuck our heads into a few other shops, but didn’t see anything else we felt compelled to purchase. So we made our way back to Turkish Kebab, where we each ordered our own scoop of Deep South hokey pokey ice cream. Next, we made our way to a Japanese restaurant, as Jer was determined to try decent NZ sushi. (This place was recommended by the guidebook, thankfully.) Jer had decent (better than Pittsburgh, but not as good as NYC) eel nigiri sushi.
We popped into Global Culture, an inappropriately-named t-shirt shop, where Jer found himself a lovely Maori-inspired long-sleeve tee. We then caught our Super Shuttle to the airport, and after a brief delay, boarded our flight to Christchurch. The flight was less than smooth, and it made Jer feel awful, but we made it.
After checking back into The Grange, Jess tucked Jer and Tamaki into bed for a nap. She then set off to buy something she’d seen that would make a good gift. That acquired, she popped into the [urlhttp://www.christchurchcathedral.co.nz/]Christchurch Cathedral[/url] to admire the architecture (especially the tilework). She returned to the B&B and roused Jer, who was still feeling icky. Nevertheless, he got up and we headed out into the cold, wet afternoon.
We stopped by the Arts Centre, a craft complex, only to find that it was closing (so we resolved to return the next morning). We trekked to a few souvenir shops, but were disappointed by their selection (they stocked plenty of woolens, sheepskins and chintzy novelties, but few of the other things we’d seen in our travels and hoped to purchase at the end). Defeated, we walked to Winnie Bagoes, a pizzeria with a good reputation, but Jer wasn’t feeling up to waiting for a table, so we headed back towards our B&B.
Eventually, after a bit of wandering, we settled on Le Café, a bustling bistro attached to the Court Theater. Jer had homemade minestrone and ginger beer, while Jess had spaghetti carbonara, chai and a Florentine (all of which have been staples of her NZ diet). Dinner was tasty, though Jer felt too achy to really enjoy it. (He suspects food poisoning.) Immediately afterward, we returned to the B&B and tucked Jer in around 9:15.