Christmas in New Zealand – Day 215

Today we’re gonna have a very merry Kiwi Christmas.

T’was a couple of days before Christmas when we toured Christchurch by bus, we had only an hour to buy each other presents but we didn’t make a fuss, we scouted in Warehouse, we scouted in Dress Smart and picked out the cheapest wrapping paper so our presents didn’t look like art. With our backpacker budget, we bought puzzles and booze, so we have something to open for Christmas at Jucy Snooze.

Ok, so long story short, it’s Christmas a couple of days ago Laura and I spent about an hour shopping for each others presents and we’ve got to find ourselves something to do because on the 25th of December everything is closed in New Zealand but Laura and I have a bit of a tradition.

Because we are both big kids we love to give ourselves challenges or games so Laura’s challenge this year is to find her presents. She got a couple of clues she also has some options to get some advantages if she solves some other riddles or brain teasers and judging by the amount of time that it takes her to find her presents in our tiny campervan she will really need them.

And just like that the brain teaser is solved, the advantage is given, and the present is found. I have to be honest I was a bit of a b and I hid it really well.

My presents are also a bunch of brain teasers that I have to solve before I go to bed tonight so I’m getting right to work.

But one of the best things about spending Christmas in New Zealand is that in the Southern Hemisphere it is summer so we head to the beach. That’s a Kiwi tradition. Most people actually head to the beach apparently not this beach because there is almost no one but a bunch of people have decided to go surfing which is really cool that’s what I want to do for Christmas every year.

We find ourselves an awesome spot to have our Christmas Dinner right here on this huge beach in Christchurch called New Brighton Beach. We don’t exactly have the traditional Christmas dinner but because it is summer we have more of a lighter Christmas Dinner lots of chicken, grapes and we seem to have a few visitors to come join us for Christmas Dinner as well.

In no time our Christmas dinner becomes a stand off between us and the seagulls but there’s no way they’re gonna win. This is our Christmas Dinner. I am definitely not in the Christmas spirit of sharing.

It has been a really long year we’ve done so many activities we’ve done so much we’re pretty much exhausted right now so having a day to relax by the beach is pretty awesome and I welcome the fact that everything is closed in New Zealand on Christmas Day.

So for our activity today we’re literally having the most Kiwi Christmas every. We go to the beach, we stuff ourselves, and then we just relax.

There are some people flying kites around there are a lot of people walking by the beach. It’s really awesome how everybody is just relaxing today.

New Brighton Beach is one of the many awesome surf beaches in Christchurch but it’s more famous for this 300m pier which stretches out into the ocean and it can be seen all across this huge beach.

After five minutes of exercise we take a classic Christmas nap for the rest of the day until all the surfers have decided to leave and that indicates that it’s a good time for us to leave too. We’ve had an epic Christmas in New Zealand. It’s totally different from what we experience back home and another awesome activity in New Zealand.

And about an hour and half later, Robin comes along sees how I’m doing and I’m just like a heap on the floor. I’m a mess I’m sweating my hair is everywhere I’m just like in despair like I can’t find the advantage. This is killing me. usually with the challenge he gives me I get it done, it’s easy enough to solve, but this year is just a whole new level.