April 5 - 9:30pm

Sitting in the living room of a charming little hostel in the charming town of Akaroa, with 9 other guests, all of which are German. For a while they were speaking English and now they've switched to German, so I can't understand a thing that's going on, but it's okay. We just finished having our baking party. But I'll get to that in a minute. Let me start from the beginning..
Left Christchurch early this morning and took a shuttle to the first European settled town on the South Island of New Zealand - a French settlement on the Banks Peninsula called Akaroa. Really beautiful place. Small, old buildings line the main road which runs along the waterfront. My hostel, Chez La Mer, is a pink old villa. Very homey. The manager, Sara, was so friendly and welcoming. The people around the place all seemed to be friends, but not cliquey at all. Just really comfortable. After checking in I wandered around town. It began to rain a little, and it was actually really cold outside today, so I wasn't out long. But long enough to get fish and chips for lunch, and then stop for a hot chocolate in a cute cafe.
When I got back to the hostel, Sara decided that we would have a bake party tonight. Potluck goodie grab at 8 pm. They have flour and sugar and those things to use, so I looked at my food supply and decided that I could contribute banana bran muffins. All I needed was an egg and a few more bananas. So then I was able to make my muffins. And they actually turned out pretty good! It was fun to bake something! I haven't done any baking in a long time!
I was done around 7:00 so I just hung around with everyone, listening to Lykke Li on the stereo until 8. Sara proposed a riddle and said she'd give $5 to someone if they solved it. I thought about it for a few minutes and had the answer. So I got $5 back! It had to deal with a dog and it's owner in human/dog ages in human and dog years. Math stuff.
Anyway, then we all gathered to consume the treats we had prepared. I was worried mine wouldn't be that good. They definitely didn't look the best, but they were good! They all got eaten. so no leftovers for beakfast.. That's okay. The other goods consisted of tomato/cheese scones, vanilla cupcakes, apple/cinnamon muffins, icecream muffins, and nasty lemon cupcakes that tasted like baking soda. So mine definitely weren't the worst. Maybe even third best. I think.
Kinda wish I could stay another day, but I opted to have the security of booked hostels and a set itinerary instead of the freedom to go with the flow. Oh well. I have until 4 pm tomorrow. Then back to Christchurch.