Going to Church - Christchurch that is
Trip Start
Mar 28, 2010
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97
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Trip End
May 31, 2011
Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand
Saturday, January 29, 2011
What can I say about Christchurch? Well, for starters it’s damn cold. It’s the middle of summer here and I had to bust out a toque not long after arriving. Madness. I should put the temps into perspective though because I’m not talking below freezing here or anything like that. What I’m talking about is temps in the 15 degrees Celsius range. You’re probably thinking, ‘ah that’s not cold at all you pansy’, and ‘shame on you guys for not being tougher Canadians’. Both fair comments. I fully realize it’s kind of sad that 15 degrees is now considered cold by us. What can one expect though after spending so long in 35+ degree temps? The body adjusts. I imagine going home will be a bit of a slap in the face too after we spend a few months in South America. I say that because the climate here is not all that dissimilar to Calgary - if you step out of the sun into the shade for just a second you really feel it.
The other thing that struck me early on during our visit to Christchurch is that it doesn’t seem to live up to the `ŭber-English look and feel` label that so many people seem to give it. I can’t quite put my finger on why exactly but Christchurch seems to remind me more of Calgary than it does any English city that I’ve been to. Call me crazy if you want to, I can take it. Perhaps it’s the just the weather that’s gone to my head and has me questioning the label. Or perhaps it’s the skateboard /snowboard/outdoor enthusiast attire that so many people seem to be dressed in. It also seems to be a very exercise-oriented city, which may also have a little something to do with it. Lyndsey says the city has a different vibe now from seven years ago – perhaps it has something to do with the 7.2 magnitude earthquake it suffered back in September, perhaps things have just changed.
Now that we have weather and general aesthetics out of the way I can get to the usual high level overview of our time here that we seem to give. I`m not sure if we need to or should do this but it`s the template that we seem to have adopted. It is what it is I suppose. Anyways, I`m rambling again...
After dodging a near anal cavity search at the airport because I forgot to declare some peanuts that were in my bag – declare everything if you ever come here because they do not mess around – we made our way into town where our first night was spent in a very cosy little hostel – complete with hot water bottles to keep us warm at night – is this the 50s? It was our first night in a hostel or hotel in around 35 days which was a little weird but we adjust pretty quickly and actually quite enjoyed it. Perhaps we`re feeling recharged after our time in OZ? Tough to say at this point so let`s not speculate.
After visiting Lyndsey`s old pad and a couple of her favourite hangouts the next morning, we decided to take in one of the shows from the annual World Buskers Festival that just happened to be taking place while we were in town. Who knew such a thing existed? Do these people pay to fly to New Zealand to busk? Is it all part of a traveling road show? I have no idea but I`d like to know. I just haven`t had a chance to dig into it. I`m sure Google knows the answer – can someone help me? Anyways, we watched a couple lads from Texas do a cowboy-type show a for while. Think lassoes and whip cracking. It was fairly interesting for a few minutes but I got bored pretty quickly to be honest. More for the kids I think. Buskers bore me in general come to think of it. Just not my cup of tea. They have to be doing some pretty mind blasting stuff to keep me around for more than a few minutes. This is probably not the right forum for that discussion though is it? Moving on...
After poking around the city a little more we made our way over to the Wicked Campers depot to pick up our home for the next month. That`s right, another campervan my friends. We loved it so much in Australia that we`re going to give it another go here. In case you are wondering, we`ve named our new campervan Zuul in honor of the Ghostbusters theme it`s been decorated in. Ghostbusters wouldn`t be our first choice for a van theme but we`ll work with it. On the plus side, Zuul is actually a very nice upgrade vs Floyd (from van quality perspective). It`s newer, cleaner (i.e. no cockroaches), brighter inside and can actually handle speeds in excess of 80 km/h – major bonus! Oh, and it`s an automatic, which is awesome for me.
Before pushing on south we spent a little time exploring the nearby Christchurch suburb of Sumner and the Port Hills south of there where we were treated to INCREDIBLE views of the South Pacific Sea. See the pictures if you think I`m lying. Actually, forget that because I just had another look at our photos and they`re crap. I blame poor lighting. Anyway, the colour of the water is like nothing I`ve seen. Kind of a murky jade-type colour. I want to know how they do that. Amazing.
Well, this has been fun my friends but all good things must come to an end. I leave you with 2 additional observations I`ve made during our short time here in New Zealand:
1) Gas (petrol over here) is very expensive - 2 Kiwi dollars per liter for these poor people
2) Radio here is horrendous. I`m very glad Zuul is equipped with IPod capability
Comments
Hey guys - your blog is fantastic, but it's making me jealous! I love how you commented on the airport security in New Zealand - isn't it crazy? We used to always warn people when they would come and visit - DECLARE everything!
Would like nothing more than to check out some rugby but we'll be gone by then:(