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Bay of Islands!

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Back in Richmond, with our beach holiday fresh in our minds, Katie and I decided to plan our next adventure. We started looking for last minute travel deals, but quickly discovered that they don't exist in New Zealand. Here, the early bird gets the worm; plan your vacation 6 months in advance, and you get the bargains. Determined not to let that spoil our fun or blow our budget, we decided to try our luck at flying stand-by. Armed with our carry on bags and in search of some fun, we crossed our fingers and got David to drop us off at the airport. We were off to a good start, having arrived in Auckland a few hours later, thrilled at our luck so far. Lunch in Auckland We quickly decided on an evening flight to the Bay of Islands, and hung out in Auckland for the day. Maybe it was beginners luck, but we both got on that flight and made it to the Bay of Islands by that evening, and couldn't have been happier! We made it! The very cute and very small Kerikeri airport Thr
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Pupu Springs & Wharariki Beach

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Back in February, I was lucky enough to have two good friends from home visit me. First came Katie. It was so nice to have a friend come in and visit me at the cafe, and I was glad to prove to my co-workers that I really did have friends!!! For the first few days of Katie's visit, she got into the slow groove of Richmond life, and had plenty of time to sleep off her jet lag. We spent evenings riding bikes, getting junk food from the corner store, just like when we were little kids, and staying up way too late watching chick flicks. I thoroughly enjoyed this laid back girl time, and David was probably happy to be off the hook to be my fill-in girlfriend, haha! As much as we enjoyed vegging out and pigging out, my time off work couldn't come soon enough, and we didn't waste any time getting out of Richmond to do some exploring. First, Katie, David and I went to Golden Bay, where we stayed in a little cabin on the beach. It was raining the day we got there, but luckily we ha
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Christchurch

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I've wanted to visit Christchurch since I arrived in New Zealand, and was lucky enough to have the opportunity on our way home from Queenstown. Even though I had seen the extensive TV coverage since the 2011 earthquakes, I was still shocked to see the devastation firsthand. Entire city blocks were fenced off, whole streets of businesses and apartments abandoned. Buildings being temporarily supported with stacked shipping containers, and huge empty lots where buildings had been demolished. There was an eerie quiet in the worst hit areas, and hardly anyone around. It was fascinating and very sad at the same time.   At the edge of downtown, there was a striking memorial set up to remember each of the 185 people who lost their lives in the February 22nd, 2011 Canterbury earthquake. 185 chairs sit on the site of a fallen church, each one unique to the person it represents. Visitors are encouraged to walk amongst the chairs, which range from office chairs
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