Being Busy in Otautahi Christchurch

Friday 28 February

A busy Friday in Ōtautahi Christchurch - RV Super centre & UK Caravan shop for (you guessed it) caravan stuff, pharmacy in Riccarton for Louis’ prescription drugs, Ballantyne’s for more TeaTotal Earl Grey, Aceomatic to get engine advice for the Pajero and finally Papanui so Louis could have a swim.

Since the big quakes there has been a movement to Fill the Gap but painting murals and adding street art to any blank walls or spaces. My favourite two are at Riverside Market using eye deceiving Trompe l'oeil effects - the wall you see in the central montage below is actually flat as a pancake, as can be seen in a side on view - but it doesn't appear that way!

I found a blood testing centre nearby where we'd parked at Papanui and queued for my rather overdue quarterly blood testing (way busier than Blockhouse Bay) then accidentally popped into ShineOn and even more accidentally bought another dress! It wasn't entirely my fault as a) there was a 30% discount on all sale rail items, b) I was looked after by a lovely and very convincing sales assistant, c) I called Ella for her opinion, d) said sales person turned out to be her ShineOn bestie Ange and e) because Ange took my photo and put it on the ShineOn VIP page I got a further 5% discount. Extenuating circumstances, your honour!

We then headed back to Banjo, packed up and towed her over to see Steve at DCB to get quote for a couple of small warranty claims then on to the Alpine View Holiday Park. It’s a chaotic place and there’s no Alps in sight! No sign of our confirmed booking but at least they had space!

After a quick siesta we headed back across town to see Ella & Josh and the hoodlums for dinner - but as no-job-nomads we’d not factored in Friday rush hour - oops! Got there eventually... with the help of Ella Maps (better local knowledge than Yahoo or Google Maps!)

Lovely evening out at Woodend Beach with them all 🥰