After having numerous messages from people saying how awful Christchurch was, we weren't very optimistic.

Arriving at 12.30pm, our driver took us for an hour tour around the city centre to show us the damage and tell us some of the backstory about the earthquake. We were quite lucky with the weather so once we dropped our bags at the hostel we headed straight back out to explore Christchurch by foot in the sunshine.

Wondering around I was surprised by how big Christchurch was! The vibe around the area was quite strange too as some streets were completely unaffected and other sections, such as the cathedral, were just ruins. David thought this made the city eerie, but I personally thought it added more character and a sense of survival to the place.

On our exploration of Christchurch we also went into the Quake Centre to learn some more about the earthquake, feeling pretty impressed with ourselves for being so cultured! Other places we visited included the Re: Start mall which consisted of shops made out of shipping containers, the cardboard cathedral and the empty chairs tribute.

Next we headed to Westfield shopping centre to grab some essentials (one being a Starbucks obviously) and for me to get some passport photos done for my temporary passport in Wellington. Fun fun.

We rushed back to the hostel to put on some more layers before going to the Crusaders vs Cheetahs rugby game at the AMI stadium. As you can imagine, David was ridiculously excited about it. I wasn't convinced, especially when the Crusaders mascots came out who were knights riding around the stadium on horses - very Merlin, very strange.

After a pretty standard first half, the second half finally redeemed the game with 4 tries being scored by the Crusaders in 8 minutes. Everyone went absolutely crazy! Although this meant the game was pretty much over, we stayed right until the end to see the score finish as 14-57 - the Cheetahs were absolutely crushed.

Feeling completely shattered after our first full on day in a long time, we went straight to bed when we got back to the hostel, remembering bitterly that our bus left at 7am the next morning!