It is hard to imagine anything better than waking up for a sunrise run on the beach, followed immediately by a cool ocean plunge. Luckily, this was no figment of our imagination – we made it happen! This is the point where you may ask, are Brian and Anna moving to a beach in the near future? Stay tuned!

With only a half day left in Auckland, we checked out a few of the parks the city had to offer. First stop was Shakespear Regional Park – a combination of protected bird land and cattle pasture. Next stop was Cornwall Park – we checked out some panoramic views of Auckland and stopped at the Cornwall Park Cafe for some chill time and refreshments. After our park fill, we said farewell to our wonderful hosts and headed to the airport for a quick pop over the Christchurch. Our time with the Chamberlin’s was short but very very sweet. There is something special about the bonds formed during college and sport. We hope to cross paths again soon.

We arrived to Christchurch in the afternoon and were pleased that our AirBnb was cutecutecute and had great walkability. We ventured out for an afternoon on the town, but were surprised to find the streets fairly quiet. The recommended New Regent Street had a few shops but was small, so we pivoted our strategy to the “get lost and see what we find.” Anna manifested some major warm dumpling vibes before we stumbled upon our first gem find – Little High Eatery. Imagine Denver’s Avanti or Milwaukee Public Market, but x2! Little High Market ended up having SUCH good soupy dumplings and stir fry. On the walk back to our AirBnb we stumbled upon a second group market called Riverside Market. It had almost 30 unique food stalls, but was just about closing up. Since we were pretty full, we decided to bank it for the next morning. Another great day in the books – sleep came easily.