In Dunedin we did the Cadbury tour on our day of departure, albeit the shortened one due to visiting on a weekend. The factory is only active on weekdays. Overall not a bad tour, but of course you miss the most interesting bit which is seeing how everything is made. Instead they show you DVDs of some of the processes. And of course there are chocolate rewards for answering questions during the tour.
Compared to the Hershey tour we did in the US, I would say this one was better and would have been much better had the factory been active.
The next few days were basically road tripping around and checking out the scenery, there is no planned activity. The drive from Dunedin to Christchurch was fairly long at around 4.5 hours and rather uneventful but not unpleasant. In Christchurch we rocked up at our accommodation and my first words were "oh dear". But my worries were unfounded, it was actually not a bad place. Just seemed to be located in one of the dodgier neighbourhoods, and again this is purely based on appearance.
The room was actually not bad, we had sofas, fridge and even a hotstove and microwave. The laundry had standard appliances, not the ones you operate with coins. So they depended on the honour system of paying the laundry fee.
For dinner we first looked at the Hell Pizza franchise, but research showed this to be a rather average place. So I found another pizza place called Winnie Bagoes Pizza Bar. Turned out to be a nice place with good food. We had mussles to share as a starter and then pizzas. The green mussles they have here are meatier and tastier than the black ones we have at home.
Simone had a Kiwi pizza (lamb, sweet potato, roast potato) and I had a half and half Grand Chicago/Marinara. Both were delicious.
Today we left Christchurch for Arthur's Pass and Greymouth, through the mountains from the east coast to the west coast.
Unfortunately most of the drive it was raining, so we passed all the scenic lookouts without stopping because visibility was poor. For lunch we stopped at the Sheffield Pie Shop, a place we chose pretty much at random. They had a road sign saying "famous pies" and there were a bunch of cars and motor bikes parked up front so we thought it can't be too bad.
Their pies were nice, probably the best pastry I've come across in a pie. But I would say stick to the western, traditional pies because the "butter chicken" one I had was not butter chicken and was pretty average. But the Sheffield pie was very nice (steak, bacon, onion, cheese).
Before it started raining, we managed to stop at Castle Hill for some shots and also a rather amazing valley that must look even more stunning in the proper light, without all the mist.
Castle Hill
At the valley I took a 360 degree panorama shot, it came out really nice! (click for larger version, like all photos).
Tomorrow we're off to Hanmer Springs, and the forecast is still rain :(
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