DAY THREE

Today was pretty relaxed. I met up with Felicity, a 15 year old raw vegan. We ate lunch at a raw vegan café called Eternal Delight. Felicity had a feast of sushi, salad, hot chocolate, and a chocolate pie, all raw vegan, of course. I got the hummus wrap and a salad, both very good and pretty simple.

some of Felicity's meal:

the hummus wrap i ate... nut-free:

*Note- As most of you know, I typically don’t eat gourmet raw food but when I come across a raw vegan café and a chance to meet a fellow raw foodie, its hard to pass up! I don’t personally recommend a gourmet raw food diet, basically because it’s really complicated, typically high in fat (nuts), hard to digest (unless chewed VERY well), and expensive. However, I also believe that a once-in-a-while indulgence won’t kill you, and it can definitely be enjoyable. I’m also opening my mind to the fact that everyone is on a different journey, and the way I found my diet may not be the way you found yours. So, if eating this way is helping you stay away from fast food or junk food, then good on ya! Keep at it… just listen to your body and judge by results not by theory. For those of you who don’t know, I follow a low fat raw vegan diet consisting mainly of fruits and greens. I’ve been eating this way for over 2.5 years and I’ve never felt better in my life. To read more about my way of eating, click here.

But, with all of that said, I will definitely say that if you’re in Christchurch, you MUST go to this raw vegan café. There is lots to choose from and the food is absolutely delicious and made with love. It is also the cheapest raw café I’ve ever seen! And if you have a partner that absolutely won’t try a raw food creation, they also have some cooked food options. And… on top of it all, they have smoothies, and I got one later that day. Strawberry-banana to be exact! I ate it with a few bananas for a snack:

The owners of the raw café were super friendly and they said I could keep my heavy backpacking pack in their shop while I traveled around for the day… and they even offered me a place to stay!!! So I ended up walking around Christchurch quite a bit, as I hiked to my couchsurfer’s house to pick up the rest of my stuff.

Things keep falling into place on this trip… after doing a really long trek to his house, I was not looking forward to hiking back. Right before his house, I ran into a couple walking on the sidewalk. They ended up being my couchsurfer’s relatives, and they told me they could give me a ride back! That’s not the first time something like this has happened on this trip. People are nice. Not to mention, tomorrow I have to catch a bus in the morning from Worchester road… and where do I happen to randomly be staying!? Worchester road!!! With the owners of the raw café. How cool is that?!

Anyways, after hours of walking around Christchurch, I decided that I wanted to go somewhere. I’m so used to being on trips with family or friends where everyone always has an idea of what they want to do. I usually do what everyone else wants to do… but today, I realized that I could do anything I wanted, because I was in charge of my trip!!! It was truly a liberating feeling!!! After talking to some locals, I decided to catch bus number 28 to Lyttleton, a small city on the ocean, just 30 minutes away from Christchurch. It’s a very cute little town.

I ended up walking to the rose gardens, which were in full bloom. It was beautiful.

Next I took a ferry to Diamond Harbour Bay…

mystical, right?!

...I didn’t really know what to do from there, so I just started walking. I saw a path up the hill from the ferry that seemed to lead to the woods, so I started hiking. It opened up to a pretty park, and I found another trail from there. It ended up being a cliff walk at the edge of the land, with the water on my left. It was beautiful. I kept walking and walking and the more I walked, the more beautiful the views became.

beautiful lime green on this tree:

Eventually I got to the point where I couldn’t quite tell where the trail went, so I hiked up hill and it led to a cemetery. Creepy. At this point I started to worry about time… because I didn’t know when the last ferry left back to lyttleton. But then I realized that time doesn’t matter when you’re in charge. Anyways, I just decided to keep hiking, because it definitely became more and more beautiful. Each view was unique and jaw-dropping. I started seeing some signs but I couldn’t find them on my map. It was a little scary, because I thought I was lost. I walked a little farther and then things started looking familiar – I had just made a giant loop and I was exactly where I started, in the big park. I literally started laughing out loud, saying “no way.”

I had 30 minutes before the ferry went back so I decided to lay down on a bench in front of a beautiful panoramic view of Lyttleton and the surrounding mountains. I sat there, listening to the birds chirping and admiring the view. It was so peaceful.

Then a cat came by and kept cuddling with me and kissing my face. I’m a huge animal lover, which is why I’m vegan… sometimes I think the animals know that too. =) Actually, funny story… As I’m typing this, a cat just passed everyone in the room who was trying to call for it and it just hopped in my lap and is purring happily. See what I mean!? =)

Then I hopped on the ferry and then the bus back to Christchurch, where I was staying for one more night before I headed south.

Tomorrow: Lake Tekapo.