Hanging in Christchurch

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Ok so since I haven't really done that much since I got here to Christchurch except look for a job I will put the last week and a half into one blog. Sorry it's a long one.


Nov 6

I had a terrible night’s sleep. An english guy in my room has a terrible cough and when he wasn’t coughing he was snoring so loud! I asked to move rooms which was no problem. I headed into town and looked around Cathedral square. It’s a bit of a pedestrian area where the tram goes through and the big cathedral is there. Looked in at the I-site and then had some breakfast at starbucks. I walked over to the library where they have free wireless internet. But, it’s super super slow so I gave up. I spent the afternoon walking around city center checking it out. There is a pedestrian street called City Mall which is basically just a street with all kinds of shops and a few cafes. Dinner and a movie again. It’s a small hostel with only about 28 beds.

Nov 7

Couldn’t sleep in so I got up early and read the career section of the newspaper. Wrote a few things down and headed into town and found a cheap internet cafe. I sat there for 2 hours applying for every job I could think of. There is a free shuttle here that takes you from the cathedral square to the casino and then down to the supermarkets. So I took the free shuttle around to the casino and then went to the supermarket. You guessed it, dinner and a movie again tonight. Exciting life eh?

Nov 8

Relaxed over breakfast and then found out about an outdoor market at the Arts Center. It was a beautiful day out so I walked down to the arts center. I walked around the market looking at all the things for sale, some cool things, some weird things haha. I watched a busker put on a performance which was pretty entertaining.

They have all kinds of food vendors set up as well, german bratwurst, greek gyros, thai food, chinese food, indian food, czech food and even Hungarian food. Watched another busker and then headed back into the city. Looked at a few shops and then back to the hostel. Trying not to spend any money is hard!

Nov 9

Was on the internet for most of the morning when Audrey called to say that she is in Christchurch. Audrey was the girl from Paris that I worked with in Picton. There was one bed left at my hostel so she took it. We got caught up on all the things we’ve been up to since we last saw eachother and then headed into the city. Went to the bookstore, the internet cafe and then back to the hostel. Ate dinner and then watched a couple of movies.

Nov 10

Audrey left early this morning and it was sad to see her go. I walked into the city again and while waiting for the free shuttle I met two older ladies who were really nice and gave me their ticket for the tram which normally costs $15 which was super nice of them! I looked around the tiny mall and ran into a girl from the Netherlands who I had run into a couple of times before on my trip.

We decided to go for coffee and visited. After leaving her I decided to ride the tram around since it was free. It was a cute little ride but not worth $15!!! I could easily walk around where the tram goes for free. Back to the hostel.

I got a text message before dinner from Jenny, a german girl I had met in Hawaii who studies at a university here in Christchurch. We met up for a coffee. It’s now summer vacation from university so she is headed back to German until February. We had a good visit and it was so good to see her again.

Nov 11

It was cloudy out today so I spent most of the day at the hostel. I burnt a back up dvd of some pictures and then moved rooms. Patty and Carolin are coming today from Picton so I asked to be in their room. There is an italian guy in the room with us. I made a couscous salad for dinner. Patty and Carolin arrived and we got all caught up. Walked with them to Subway for their dinner. This subway was actually a drive thru as well, i’ve never seen that before! Just chilled out tonight.

Nov 12

We walked into town to go to the bus exchange which is like a big bus terminal for all the city buses and you can catch any bus from there. It’s kind of like a big bus station but for just normal city buses, I don’t know why it was so weird but i’ve never seen anything like it. Was cool and a good way to do things!

We caught a bus out to the big Riccarton shopping mall. This is the biggest mall i’ve seen in New Zealand yet and it’s not even as big as Market Mall in Calgary. We spent most of the day there looking around. I bought a cd of a New Zealand Maori guy called Tiki Taane who is really cool!

Looked around at a couple of souvenir shops back in the city and then because we didn’t want to spend any more money we headed back to the hostel and watched a movie.

Nov 13

The weather outside wasn’t so nice but we walked into the city anyways. Took the free shuttle out to the supermarkets again. It started really raining as we were leaving. Patty is leaving tomorrow so we went to more souvenir shops. Carolin and I had a coffee at starbucks to warm up. We didn’t do much in the evening but played a bit of yahtzee.

Nov 14

Patty was off to Australia today at 1pm. So we put her in a shuttle to the airport and ten Carolin and I walked over to the Art center market again. Walked around and had a german bratwurst and then I bought some german style bread which is super good. We walked through a bit of the botanical gardens.

After dinner Carolin and I decided to go out for one last drink with eachother before she was off to Australia. We walked over to an irish pub called O’sullivans. There was a live band playing and it was packed inside. We had a couple of drinks and then decided to check out another place. We met a guy in the street and he showed us where Christchurch’s “strip” is haha. It a street with like 6 or 7 bars all side by side. All of them have huge outdoor patio area in front.

We went into one called The Bog. Another live band was playing who were ok. We stayed for another drink and then walked home.

Nov 15

Today was a pretty boring day! Carolin and I went to the supermarket again, walked around the square again, looked in another souvenir shop and back to the hostel. We played a couple of rounds of yahtzee to kill some time. Watched a movie after dinner.

Nov 16

Said bye to Carolin at 11am this morning. I’m sad to see her go, I really got a long with her. I had to move rooms again so I did that and then ate some lunch and spent the afternoon looking for jobs and trying to figure out what to do. I found a wwoofing job in Oamaru which is a small town right on the coast a bit further south from Christchurch. I may be heading down there next week to work for my accommodations again to save myself some money.

Fruit picking and packing season should pick up in January so I will try to get some paid work then since there doesn’t seem to be much else here.

Nov 17

Woke up early and had some breakfast and was in the city by 9:15am. Headed to the post office and then tried finding another pair of pants. No luck so I walked over to this cool little park in the city with a really cool fountain that looks like those weeds that you blow on and all the little white things go flying, I can't remember what they are called. There was some punters on the river. I headed to the internet cafe to update the blog and upload photos which is where i'm sitting right now.

I talked to the lady down in Oamaru and they desperately need someone right away so I am headed there on Thursday already. It's sounds like a cool little town and the best part is there are 2 colonies of different penguins that live there. You can see them come in at dusk to their little nests. Oh I am SO EXCITED FOR PENGUINS!!!!!! I should have 3 more friends come in to Christchurch today and another one tomorrow so I wont be lonely which is good.

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Comments

[Anita and John]

those weeds!
You probably mean pussy willows (or cat tails)!!! Glad you're having a good time. Hope you find a job soon. We will see your mom and dad at grey cup. We bought their tickets for Megan and Gord for Christmas. We also are planning to go to Mesa in January for a Flames game and stay with mom and dad for a while. E mail us please. Love you.