Christmas Eve! We had a pretty good breakfast at The Vicarage, our bnb in Oamaru. It was just down the street from Countdown (a supermarket), we walked down to get groceries for the next couple days, as we weren’t sure what would be open over Christmas and Boxing Day.
We’re in the heart of Otago, a major fruit growing region, and so stopped at roadside pick-your-own raspberry farm about 20 minutes outside Oamaru. They also sold pre-picked fruit which we got.
There was a constant stream of traffic heading out of Christchurch. Our bnb was off Montreal St, one of the major streets in Christchurch, so it was easy to drive to, the opposite of our Dunedin experience.
Our bnb in Christchurch is a full unit in a row of townhouses. It came with its own garage too! The area was residential but minutes away from the main pedestrian areas. No chimney though for Santa.
Later in the afternoon we walked into town. Over 80% of the buildings in the CBD were destroyed by the earthquakes in 2010 & 2011, including the main cathedral and other historical buildings. The restoration is planned over many years. Right now it reminds me of the waterfront development in Toronto - lots of urban planning in the design, just waiting for things to be completed so people can move in and bring life to everything.
There were a handful of restaurants open today on Christmas Eve, although we planned to cook at home. The weather was perfect, about 22C.
We also walked down to Pedro’s House of Lamb, a Christchurch institution. They have a Christmas Day special of slow-cooked lamb shoulder and sides. I had ordered back in October as they only take 80 orders and as you can imagine it sells out quickly. Today we just wanted to check out where it was. It was also conveniently located beside a Liquorland which had a ginormous selection of local wines and craft beer.
We got back to our place and cleaned up. We had salmon again for dinner, getting our fix of King Salmon while we’re in NZ, along with a local white.
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