Blogs from Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 24

End of ski season oct 23rd til now Nov 30th. See map for route. Just a little road tripping then back to my Home town Ohakune for a couple weeks. Now im in Auckland to pick Josh up from the airport in the morning. So heaps more pictures to come over the next 6 weeks!... read more

Christchurch NZ has been been through alot the last year, over 700 quakes, 2 severe, loss of nearly 200 peoples lives and many billions of dollars in damage. The second largest city in the country, and the business and tourism hub of the South Island, has ground to a halt in many respects. the CBD, central business district-downtown- is completely inside the 'Red Zone', uninhabitable, over a new fault and unstable. Over 700 buildings are or will be demolished, including many of the 'skyscrapers' ,cafes, and all the major hotels and banks. Although many look fine, they are not. its a very very eerie feeling to walk along the 'red zone' fence for many, many blocks, staring into an empty and quiet city, seeing no one there, and noticing a tall glass tower leaning ever so ... read more

The last leg of our journey...we're really going to miss New Zealand (N-Zed), but we are looking forward to being home again. Yesterday morning, we wandered around town a bit more. It's quite sad, but Christchurch was pretty much gutted by the earthquakes. There are so many homes and businesses that still aren't safe to enter. We ate lunch at a Thai place that can only have customers outside on the patio - the inside of the building is only for essential use/access. Many of the streets appear deserted and it's eerily quiet in parts, punctuated by the occasional sound of jackhammers. Our heartfelt support goes out to the town - we hope it rises better and more lovely than ever! In an effort to get some shops, cafes, and banks up and running again, they've ... read more

Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - Day 13 Jim checks online to ensure we have everything we need for our flight out tomorrow morning and we arrange for a taxi to pick us up at 5:00 am the next morning. Adelaide has a central market similar to other big cities where local produce, meat, cheese, and other wares are sold . Central Market in Adelaide was no exception as it too had a wonderful selection to choose from, including small cafes to get a bite to eat. We ate our way through the marketplace including fresh baked bread, pastries both savory and sweet. This market also has many stores attached to the facility and we ended up in Chinatown. This was the only place we found cheap eats in Adelaide. Jim has commented that there has been ... read more

The morning we left Queenstown we were partly relieved and partly gutted. Relieved to not spend as much money as it is expensive there, but gutted as it was like having a holiday within a holiday. The Stray bus picked us up at 9am and we met our 4th Stray driver of the tour - Seagull. They all have funny names, so we had originally Gollum, then Scratch, then sideshow Rob, and now Seagull. On the bus was our German friend Felix again, who had caught up with us on the trip so we chatted away all morning. Once we left Queenstown we headed towards Mount Cook, doing our usual stop offs for toilet breaks and scenery pics. Once we arrived, we were informed that due to the freak winds we experienced in Queenstown, the roof ... read more