Samandthe Next Chapter: On News from New Zealand

We'll fast forward a bit and then jump back to the last days in Sydney in a few days, since I have yet to compile all the pictures from those outings...

So, I went to New Zealand! Christchurch and the Canterbury region for the most part. This here is the aptly named Cathedral Square, and I lived across the street from this very nice and quaint centre of town. I arrived in the afternoon and proceeded to climb to the top of the tour there, where you can see the whole of the city centre and get a nice glimpse of some of the mountains around it, along with large amounts of green.

Christchurch is a relatively new city, some 150 years old or so, so the city planning was really extensive, including lots of "green areas," this being the time when the British were really keen on parks and what not (I'm trying to remember my Brit history class, but I can't really - sorry Professor Vernon!). They took it to an extreme--there are over 900 parks in Christchurch, and one of them, Hagley Park, is the same size as the entire CBD (Central Business District)!

Anyways, Cathedral Square itself has a large chess board, some interesting "sculptures," and is the basis of the "cultural precinct." There's an art gallery nearby (also part of this cultural precinct), but it wasn't that impressive. I did like the water installation outside, though, with the city lights being reflected. As much as we try, I feel like the "newer" countries can't really compete with Old Europe in terms of art culture. I am biased, of course, because I can't really seem to appreciate modern art, with only a few exceptions.

But I digress. The second day, I went skiing on Mt. Hutt, which is a good hour away from Christchurch, and then about another 45 minutes up a very scary unpaved access road to the actual base of the ski field. But, this was one of the first (not from a car) glimpses of the Southern Alps! Quite pretty, no?

Southern Alps of New Zealand, Trail map at the summit of Mt. Hutt

Mt. Hutt itself is not a very big skifield, and I didn't think the summit felt as high as it does at home in Lake Tahoe, and if you look at the trail map, it looks super extensive, but only a few runs (3 from the summit) were open, and only the centre area was open. The conditions were okay (I like them kind of icy), but they had the snow making machines on, so there would be patches with large amounts of power that made it inconsistent, and it would make me slow down too much or whatever.

Anyways, a few views from the summit. The sign, I just found really funny. I don't know why, but there were a bunch of these posted everywhere, with the little rocket-thingys in different colours. And more of the Southern Alps.

As for this, I think some car might've driven off the access road when we were leaving the ski field in the afternoon. They stopped everyone and told them the conditions were extremely icy, and then on the way down the mountain, there were a bunch of ambulances and a rescue helicopter, along with a bunch of people in rescue gear looking down the side of the mountain. I hope everyone was okay!

The next day, I went on a Lord of the Rings Tour! Laugh all you want, I like those movies (The Return of the King in particular), and so I wanted to see some sights! On the way there, we ran into a traffic jam--New Zealand style! Look at the onslaught of cows being herded by men in orange on these mini-tractors! They were next to us, in front of us, beside us, so many cows! Then again, New Zealand is the land of the cows/sheep, right? Oh, and kiwis, of course. I didn't get to see any, though.

New Zealand traffic jam!

A nice view from the Rakaia Gorge, looking up at the Southern Alps. We stopped for morning tea at this little town called Staveley, which is literally just a general store and a school for all I could see, and then a few farms scattered here and there. I tried this "World Famous in New Zealand since ages ago" drink called Lemon & Paeroa, which was actually pretty darned good, much better than your normal Sprite or 7up. I think I'll crave it every once in a while when I get home.

Rakaia Gorge, L & P mmmm

Then, we drove into the mountains, stopping at this place called Lake Clearwater. There are a bunch of vacation homes up there (196 or something), built years and years ago when this guy donated the land up in the mountains for people to build their vacation homes, on a few conditions: 1) you can't live in it year-round, 2) you must generate your own power, and 3) you must have your own water tank. These vacation homes were pretty small, and pretty old. Apparently they're passed down in families, and since you can't build anymore, they're very hard to come by. But look at that view! I wouldn't mind spending a few weekends up in the mountains with that view, even if it's freezing cold. Notice how part of the lake has frozen, so you can't see all the reflection of the mountains anymore.

And then, there we were! Our first glimpse at the "rocky knoll, surrounded by mountains, with a silver river winding by," which is a paraphrase of the Tolkien description of Edoras. The red arrow indicates Mt. Sunday, which is where the Golden Hall was built. Unfortunately, because of the terms of the Tolkien Estate, no movie locations still have the buildings, with the exception of the Shire, I think. So we'll use our imagination, and screenshots from the movie?

Closer to Mt. Sunday, I am wielding the sword of Isildor, a la Viggo Mortensen. Tehehe. It's a beautiful place, no?

In front of Mt. Sunday, wielding the sword, and Mt. Sunday in all its glory

We hiked to the top of Mt. Sunday ("hiked" is an extreme term, it was more like 20 minutes of vigorous walking), where we could see a rusty old nail sticking out of a stone. And that was all that was left of the Golden Hall. That pile of stones, incidentally, was where the guard tower where they had to light that big signal fire to see if they could get the other kingdoms of man to join in the war. And the top of the mountain had this old surveyor's marker, that was pre-graffitied for me. How kind of them.

Site of the signal fire, graffiti for me!

To get to Mt. Sunday and to get back to the other side of the river, we had to drive through shallow rivers and some frozen little ponds. A four wheel drive experience, for sure. Made me feel like I was going to fly out of my chair, and very thankful for seat belts.

I went skiing again on Saturday, and then prepared to leave on Sunday. In order to give a proper farewell to Christchurch, I got up super early, before the sun rose, and went out to take fun pictures. Here I am running around on the chess board; it was so early that they hadn't let the pieces be taken out yet.

Running around like a little kid, how juvenile.

If Stockholm is so depressing that their cars commit suicide, then what does this mean for Christchurch? I don't know about you, but it looks like that car is trying to dance and getting its legs/wheels tangled together. Perhaps Christchurch is such a happy city that its cars try to dance? Or what about this one? That bike doesn't seem happy. Yeah, I would make a horrible comedian, I should leave the jokes to Jon Stewart.

Dancing cars? Murderous bikes?

This is the Arts Centre, which is the original site of a Christchurch College or something like that. Now they have a market where you can pick up some crafts, a theatre, and some museums and stuff. Oh, and a Fudge Cottage. Good thing I was there early so they hadn't opened yet.

Arts Centre

Then I took a walk through the Christchurch Botanical Garden, which is rather gloomy, seeing as it's winter and all. So I used my camera to "warm" it up a bit. Doesn't it look so much more inviting and all? It's the Avon River, another homage to the good ol' Brits.