Advertisement
Published: August 9th 2017
Edit Blog Post
Geo: -43.5316, 172.637
It was quite a nice contrast to be flying into New Zealand from South East Asia, a considerably less populated country, cleaner and organised. I was excited to be able to see my parents and enjoy a Christmas together especially with Anna and to show Anna around my birth and childhood country.
Christchurch hasn't had the best of luck recently with four major earthquakes crippling the city over the space of over a year, and it is sad to see the destruction of some places and heartbreaking to hear the effect on peoples lives.
We arrived in to Christchurch with Air Asia from Bangkok via Kuala Lumpar and picked up by my Aunty, Cousins and Grandmother after spending a long time trying to clear customs with seeds bought for Dad.
I was especially excited for Anna and her first time in New Zealand, even flying over the Southern Alps created excitement but probably more nerves for her.
Our first night in New Zealand was great, we tucked in to a healthy roast dinner (overlooking the picturesque Lyttleton Harbour), which was a culinary delight from the constant rice in South East Asia. Also a good start to regaining the 4 Kilo's lost.
We were pretty
tired and it showed when we woke up at 1pm the next day, haha, but probably not the best thing. We managed a walk up the hill from my parents house with some beautiful views looking North and towards the mountains.
We had pretty good weather most of the time, the next day we managed a trip around the local area where we drove up Dyer's pass to emerge at the aqua coloured inlet of Lyttleton Harbour. The day was picture perfect and we found it hard to stop taking photos. We continued along the coastal drive of the harbour to Lyttleton and hoped to hop around the hills to Sumner beach but the roads were closed due to past earthquakes. So we detoured through the tunnel to Sumner Beach and along the shipping container walled road to prevent rock falls from earthquakes spraying on to the road.
It had been about 6 months since the fourth and most recent earthquakes hit Christchurch so the three big ones (5.8, 5.2 and 6 magnitude) on the next day were a bit of a surprise. The first one struck as I was attempting to stuff my mouth full of grapes and shook the
house with decent force. Luckily nothing was damaged. Later we were watching a movie in the lounge and the third quake of the day at magnitude 6 was enough to make me grab Anna and run outside and enough to cause dust to rise from the CBD (Central Business District).
Not a nice feeling and definitely not a good time just two days from Christmas.
The following day was low key, my parents had a neighbor gathering in the evening and we picked my aunt from the airport, and then the next day was Christmas.
It was so good for Anna and I to spend our first Christmas together even though it was a different feel for Anna. The day was very nice, amazing food for lunch and desserts afterwards making the older guys very sleepy.
For boxing day, Anna and I drove in to the city with the aim of a bit of shopping. We went to Cashel Mall which is the only active part of the whole city. Due to the recent quakes the whole CBD had been fenced off with only a sign indicating entering at your own risk. The Cashel Mall shops had been transformed in to a
colourful and neat shipping container arcade.
We proceeded to continue to Riccarton Shopping Center to snap up on some Boxing Day bargains.
The following day I joined Dad and my uncle for round of golf over in Charteris Bay on the otherside of Lyttelton Harbour. Dropped into a competition when I hadn't played in six months sure showed, but the day was beautiful and Anna got a little bit of future "mother-in-law" treatment.
We are fortunate to be able to have the use of my parents car which makes a difference seeing as there are so many nice spots to visit here. We plan to make full use of the free car and do day trips to Hamner Springs and Kaikoura etc before heading to Queenstown and tackling the Milford Track
Advertisement
Tot: 0.046s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0242s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb