On to the lans of the Kiwis

After a delayed flight from Melbourne, Eve and I arrived after 1am at our hostel in Christchurch and promptly collapsed into bed. The following day we slept in and decided to spend what was left of our day wandering around town. Christchurch is a beautiful garden city. It has the feel of an old English town (very much like Oxford). There are antique trams that loop around the city and as the name suggests, at the center of the town is a cathedral. Appropriately, Christchurch is known as the garden capital of New Zealand, as there are flowers everywhere. Lining all the houses, streets, businesses are vibrant colors and invigorating scents. Our hostel was perfectly located across the street from the Christchurch museum and Art Center as well as the extensive botanic gardens.

The travelers in New Zealand seem to be a completely different breed than those from Australia. In Australia, everyone seemed to stay at one hostel for months at a time while they worked their way across the country. When Eve and I would wake up at 10am, we were by far the first ones up. In contrast, in New Zealand people were rapidly traveling through the country and as such were up at the crack of dawn and we were constantly getting new roommates as people filtered through the hostel. By the time I was up at 8am everyone had already vacated the room for the day.

On our first evening in Christchurch we opted to follow the advise of our taxi driver from the night before and we went to the free Sparks Classical concert in the botanic gardens. Having been to other such events, Eve and I fully expected to be the only people under 40 amongst a group of about 30 people max. Were we ever surprised to find thousands upon thousands of people all relaxing on the grass of the gardens (the announcer put it at 100, 000 people, but that seems like a bit much). The park was full of people of all ages. From families to teenagers to the elderly, everyone came out to this huge concert. Shockingly, everyone had bottles of wine and beers with their picnics they were enjoying. We found it difficult to comprehend the notion that public consumption of alcohol was accepted (not to mention legal) and widely practiced.

The concert itself was great. They brought in people from around the world and well as some local artists who have achieve success on an international scale. Some of the best performances were when they incorporated the Maori (the local aboriginal) songs in with the Christchurch orchestra. The last performance was accompanied with a lengthy fireworks display. The amazing part was that the entire show was paid for by the city and therefore free for us.

Our next side adventure was out to the suburbs to take the gondola up to the Cavendish Bluffs. From here, Eve and I hiked along the Port hills. We experienced 360o views of the city and the adjacent Lyttleton Harbour. On our return back to the gondola, we watched as across the valley a fire began. As far as we could tell, it was close to houses, but not on them rather just above them at the base of the hill. By the time we were at the base of the gondola, there were helicopters with buckets full of water helping to fight the growing blaze. We later found out that police believe it to be the work of an arsonist. That night, we strolled around town looking for a pub to have a beer in, but found the town eerily dead. Christchurch may be a beautiful city, but it completely lacks any form of nightlife.


Despite the chilly wind, we opted to spend the following day walking along the beach. It was too cold to swim (although there were a few brave souls kiteboarding), but nonetheless, we wandered along the shoreline and the pier. To finish our day off, we went to watch a comedic play on the history of New Zealand in the gardens. I could follow most, but definitely not all the little jokes and side remarks. Either way, it was an excellent introduction to New Zealand and how it came to be the country it now is.

On our last day, we succumbed to the beaten path and did the touristy activities (art galleries, museums and the like). Surprisingly, their museum was engaging and very well done. As expected, they covered the Maori and their past relationships with the Europeans, but there was also a room dedicated to the Antarctic, as well as a fashion through the times gallery. I really liked the Antarctic exhibition for they had set up some of the buildings that used to be part of the New Zealand/USA base back in the 1960ies. Seeing what the explorers used to live in surprised me. The tiny rooms did not look that warm or that well insulated. And so we spent our last day in Christchurch slowly making our way though the museum and ended up reading the paper in the gardens as we savored the last bit of freedom before we were to head off to Dunedin for school.

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