Christchurch - as it was

  I felt the earthquake on February 22nd and thought it was Luna (the cat I'm now living with) moving the couch, but then I realized she's way too small to move the couch like it was on the ocean.  I felt the house shake and saw the curtains move, but I had no idea what a disaster it truly was until about an hour later when the news started to come in.  
  Since the quake, many people have moved down to Dunedin to enroll their kids in school and to start university.  No one knew if/when the schools would open again.  Some have now, but there's still a lot of clean up needed.  Neighborhoods are still trying to get electricity and plumbing restored, but there is a vast number of people who have just left after having experienced both earthquakes.  The whole thing reminds me a lot of what happened after Hurricane Katrina - so many people displaced and students scattered to the winds...and people being forgotten/neglected in terms of basic human services.  It's really sad to see so many people who have lost everything.  I can't imagine losing everything in my home and losing all my co-workers!  One of the women I work with stated that these things just don't happen here.  They see things like this happen in other countries, but New Zealand has, until now, been spared from large scale tragedy and that's a big reason why this has affected everyone so deeply.  

  When I flew out of Auckland, via Wellington, back to Christchurch, I was completely knackered and didn't know that it was my last chance to see Christchurch whole.  I didn't do much after I checked into Jail again, but I did brave the rain to visit the Art Museum.  They had a special exhibit of Ron Mueck's work.  He's an artisit who specializes in the amazingly accurate detail of the human body and plays with scale at the same time.  His pieces were amazingly detailed and, well, amazing!  Sadly, my words are not quite enough to get across the true "wow" factor his pieces impressed.  His attention to detail, on imaginary people, was incredible.  His 8' tall pregnant woman - he included goose bumps and birth marks, moles and REAL hair.  

After having studied centuries of artists' renditions of newborn babies (i.e. Madonna and child), he wondered why no one ever depicted them accurately - they're NOT cute.  He was first noticed when he unveiled his piece "dead dad", a 3' tall, perfectly accurate sculpture of a dead man.  My personal favorite was the woman in bed.  It was done soooo well and so non-descriptly (is that a word?).  She's just a woman, in a tank top, lying in bed thinking about something.  It's so everyday, but the scale makes it truly amazing.  I LOVED this piece.  And I also thoroughly enjoyed the two old ladies chatting to each other while giving the world the evil eye.  It's the lady's sagging nylons that won me over here.  Seriously, the attention to detail is what makes these impressive.  

He also did a large "mask" of his own face.  You can see all the hair follicles in his beard.  Amazing.  Truly.  Sadly, after I went through the exhibit twice (shocking for me, I tend to have the attention span of a newt in museums), I just meandered around Cathedral Square, hit a grocery store, made dinner and went to bed.
 
  
  The next morning, on my walk to the bus stop to head home to Dunedin, I saw my last glimpse of the old Central Business District.  The CBD has been closed off since the quake and only a few days ago were people finally allowed in to see the damage and get critical items from their offices/businesses.  The city is still in recovery mode more than clean-up mode and the timeline to get Christchurch back up and running is long and expensive.  I wish I had more pictures of the Cathedral, specifically the spire that fell.  You always think you have more time to see things!  You always think that it will be there tomorrow.  It's eye-opening to realize that things can change in an instant and I'm very thankful that I wasn't in Christchurch when this happened, my heart goes out to everyone who died or lost someone in the earthquake, and I will happily remember Christchurch as it was these couple days that I passed through on this summer trip.

Auckland, again, and a new friend!

After our adventure filled day in Rotorua, Lorena and I caught a bus back to Auckland...again.  It was a four hour trip that we, shockingly, talked the whole way through.  At one point Lorena got pulled into a conversation with her seat buddy and I started one up with my seat buddy.  He was a lovely older gentleman from Scotland.  It took me a few minutes to get used to his still quite strong accent, but he was rather interesting to talk to!  I got his whole family history and learned that he was heading home further north after visiting his son.  I love how everyone is so friendly here!

As soon as we arrived in Auckland, one strap on Lorena's backpack broke!  There was a brief minute of panic that other straps and important elements to the backpack's integrity might break as well... but she quickly found a way to rig it up so we could walk to the backpackers.  Phew.  Once at the backpackers we decided that we would try the coast to coast walk.  It's a 16km walk across Auckland from the Pacific to the Tasman sea.  There are claims that some of the best views 

are on this walk so we decided to get some exercise and see the sights...but first we were starving.  We stopped at Velvet Burger, a fabulous burger joint throughout NZ with so many AMAZING sounding burgers that it was by far one of our best food decisions to date.  Before we left on our long trek, we washed our hands in the bathrooms and personally, I was thoroughly amused by the bathroom signs, hence the reason I took a picture.  What can I say?  Easily amused :)

We tried to get a detailed map of the walk from the Information center, but there were a lot of people in line and we didn't have a lot of time or patience to wait, we decided to wing it based on the Lonely Planet map.  There were markers along the way attached to signposts and lampposts, so we tried to keep our eyes peeled for those... although we did miss one when we detoured into a garden... and then we were rather lost for a while, but eventually we figured it all out and tried desperately not to veer from the path any further as we didn't want to be walking back from the other end of Auckland at midnight.  We walked through the Auckland Domain, a huge garden area (a similar idea to Central park except it's huge and not obvious you're still in a city) that holds the Auckland Museum and the Winter Garden and Fernery.  We decided to take another "quick" detour and look at the large greenhouses and fernery.  We may have gotten a bit distracted with picture taking because an hour later, as the sun was nearing the end of its descent, we realized we wouldn't have time to finish the coast to coast walk before dark.  So, instead of views of the city, I give you a SMALL sampling of pictures we took in the greenhouses, also known as "Elena figures out what the macro setting on her camera does"

Lorena loving ice cream

After walking and bussing it back to our backpackers, we were hungry again and might have hit up Velvet Burger for the second time in the same day - but only after we checked to see there had been a shift change and no one would recognize us.  Then it was on to the Ice Bar: Minus 5.  Lonely Planet mentioned it - a bar made completely of ice.  I had grandiose visions of the James Bond Ice Hotel so we walked down to the pier and went in.  Because it's so cold in there, we got suited up in big winter jackets with hoods, gloves, and Uggs since I was wearing flip flops.  Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but here's a link to Minus 5, it's the one in Queenstown but they're about the same.  It was actually really small!  Essentially we paid money to be ushered into a meat locker, but it was pretty cool.  The seats were all ice, there were some cool ice sculptures, the bar was all ice and the walls and floor were covered with ice as well.  Pretty impressive, but I can't imagination the refrigeration bill they must have!  The glasses were made of ice too and fortunately there were grippy things on all the tables so your drink didn't hydroplane away.  We were there with another group of 4 people, but they left and we chatted up the bartender since there wasn't much to do in the bar.  He was from England on a working holiday as well.  More people came in and the bartenders changed (so one doesn't freeze on the job), so we smashed our glasses (you're supposed to!) and left to get back to the summer air outside.

On our way back to the backpackers, we ran into 3 random guys who wanted us to join them at a bar somewhere.  They were all quite chatty and we ended up standing on the sidewalk talking to them for a good long while.  One got distracted with another random couple walking down the sidewalk, so Lorena and I chatted with the other two, taught one how to dance a little waltz and quizzed another on his lack of knowledge about Auckland.  Pictures were taken of the group - but on one of the guys' cameras... so there's no photographic evidence I have of these randoms, but it solved Lorena's and my problem of what to do with the remainder of our evening!

The next morning we lazed around over coffee and breakfast and then Lorena caught a bus to the airport to fly home :(  So, after big hugs, I waved her off and decided to try and do the coast to coast walk since it was my last day in Auckland.  I got a photocopied map and picked up my sneakers and a backpack and started out again.  This time I made it past the flower garden!  The markers were a little hard to find sometimes, so it all rather felt like a treasure hunt, trying to find the next marker.

after crossing a huge field, this little 4" circle was most welcome to see!

I climbed up one hill and got a nice view of the city:

Do kids who don't go here get a complex?

 I passed a girl doing the same walk and shortly thereafter came across a tire swing.  Sadly, I didn't want to be caught swinging on it by the girl I'd just passed so I unwillingly walked by.  The map got a little fuzzy in a couple places so I backtracked a few times and by the time I got to the base of One Tree Hill, the girl I'd passed had caught up.  To climb up One Tree Hill, there was a turn off and the girl and I consulted each other to make sure it was the correct way, and then we just started talking and walking together.  Her name is Nicole, she's from Italy and is here for a working holiday too! 

We hiked up One Tree Hill together

not actually a tree on top of one tree hill - the took it down since it was a pine and not native - ha, oops

And then we hiked back down and didn't stop walking and talking until we reached the end.

The end was rather disappointing, kind of a crap view, but that could have been because the tide was out so we were looking at mud.  After that, we weren't sure which bus to catch or where to catch it, so we walked back and stopped for fish 'n chips since she hadn't had them yet.  We cut off some of the meandering parts of the walk and then realized we were staying at the same backpackers.  Crazy small world.  We swapped numbers and email, and now we are not only facebook friends, but she has since visited me in Dunedin and we have plans to hike the Milford Track and to meet in Melbourne.  Yay new friends!!

HOBBITON! White-water Rafting and ZORBING!!!!!!!

New Year's Day, we drove out of Auckland (again) south to Matamata where they filmed the parts of The Lord of the Rings based in the Shire.  We went on a tour of the set... and it was amazing!  Fortunately, since they're filming The Hobbit, they're updating all the hobbit holes so it looks just like it did from the movies (except teeny tiny).  Here's all the pictures I can show you of Hobbiton - otherwise Peter Jackson will have to kill me.

After our tour of hobbiton, there was a sheep shearing demonstration and then we got to feed the lambs!  The guy who sheared the sheep did the whole thing in about a minute.  It was rather impressive and the sheep didn't really seem to mind.  Apparently the trick is keeping the sheep comfortable and off their tailbone.  The man who owns the farm where they filmed LOTR can shear 600 sheep in a day.  There's a guy in NZ who can sheer over 800 in a day!!

After we fed the lambs we climbed back into the cars, stopped for some quick lunch and headed on to Rotorua and the mud pools and hot springs.  Laura and Todd and the rest of the Americans went to the mud pool wonderland but Vanessa, Graham, Lorena and I went to a free place on the side of the road that only the locals know about (and were surprised the Vanessa and Graham knew about it!) where a hot spring mixes with a cold spring.  
Soooo coool!!!  The closer you got to the left (of the picture) the hotter it got...and it got seriously hot!  All the way on the right it was rather cold.  You could sit in the middle and have your left side be nice and toasty hot and your right side be cold.  Trippy but cool.  However, we were all hours from death.  There's a type of amoebic meningitis in some geothermal pools and if it gets into your nasal passages you have a day to live while the amoeba travels to your brain causing it to swell until you die.  None of us got it :)  We all kept our heads above water and life has since continued unabated.

The next morning, everyone except Lorena and I left early to continue their trip down to Wellington and then further down the west coast of the south island.  Lorena and I had other plans - mainly white water rafting and zorbing.  We booked our trip and wandered around downtown Rotorua playing the tourists until our 12:30 rafting trip.  While waiting for the rafting company to come pick us up, we met Nina, another girl going rafting who was staying at our backpackers.  Nina's from England and is thoroughly awesome.  I've already made plans to stay with her for the 2012 Olympics in London.  Hopefully she'll remember she said ok when I knock on her door next year.

We picked up several people and when we got to the rafting place, we all got life jackets, helmets, and wetsuit booties.  OH - so attractive those booties were.  Anyways, we took a bus to the river and were briefed on how to raft en route.  At the river, we broke out into groups and Lorena and I added Nina into ours since she was on her own traveling through NZ.  We practiced a bit in the calm waters at the start of the trip and then we were on our way!

We went through several rapids and down a couple 3 meter drops (so fun!) and had chances to rest between the rapids.  One of our guides was Maori and told us about the history of the Kaituna river.  Maori warriors had been buried along the river and he and the other guides called out to the river a prayer of safe passage and respect before we went down the biggest drop.  The biggest drop, apparently the biggest in the world that you can commercially raft, is on this river - 7 meters!  Here's a series of pictures of our raft heading down the fall...
 
After the big drop there was a place where we could hop out and float by the boat.  Obvs I did that :)  We caught up with the sledgers and tried not to run them over, and then sadly, it was all over.  For my first rafting trip it was so much fun!  AND I didn't have to get up super early to do it.  So, now, my mind may or may not be wandering to the possibility of becoming a rafting guide when I get back to the states...
After rafting, Lorena and I planned to go zorbing and based on what our backpacker lady told us, we'd have plenty of time to do both in the same day.  What she didn't tell us was that we would need a car because the buses weren't running and the Zorb company doesn't pick you up from the backpackers like the rafting company does.  Fat lotta good she is at her job.  So, upon learning from the rafting company, that Zorb does not pick you up, we asked the guy dropping us off at the backpackers if he could drop us off at the bus stop.  Once we got to the bus stop, Lorena ran into the nearby store to double check if buses were running (good thing she did since they weren't).  

art on the wall next to the bus stop

When she came out, she informed me that we needed to hoof it and hope that we could make it in under an hour and a half (before it closed).  Fortunately for us, one of the guys who worked in the video store Lorena ran into was about to leave and offered to give us a ride up there.  So nice!  He drove us to the first imitation zorbing place, Lorena checked if it was the right place, and when it wasn't he drove us to the right one.  We thanked him profusely and ran up to the Zorbing place!

After a quick chat with the receptionist lady we decded to do the zig zag track, separately, and with water in the zorb.  It was ridiculous and so much fun!  The zorb is HUGE and the sphere that they stick you in, in the middle of the zorb is surprisingly small but can fit up to 3 big guys!  They throw maybe 1/2 a gallon of water in the small sphere, you dive in after it and then they zip the little opening closed.  I'm not claustrophobic, but it was a slightly bizarre sensation to be zipped into a plastic spherical cage where you know there's a limited amount of air.  I got over it pretty quickly because they opened the gate and then I had to play "hamster" and get the ball rolling down the hill.  I started out standing but as soon as I hit the first grass berm on the course, I got knocked on my bum and spent the rest of the ride swishing around in the water with no idea what was up or down and I laughed myself silly.  It was amazing.

that's me playing hamster, and lorena and I at the bottom of the hill

Once we were changed again, we started to walk slowly out of the car park looking for people headed back to downtown Rotorua.  Fortunately, we asked this guy and girl if they were headed back and they were and gave us a ride.  Everyone here is soooo nice (and not mass murderers thank goodness - although Lorena and I totally could have taken them) and they dropped us off at our backpackers.  We showered and head across the driveway to the bar next door.  We met up with Nina and some of the people she'd met on the "hop on - hop off" bus tour she was on and by the time darkness fell we had gathered a huge group of backpackers at our picnic table out on the patio drinking beers, sharing stories and learning how to roll our clothes up in burritos to help with packing.  It was an awesome day and I met some super cool people.  Backpacking is totally the way to travel!

New Year's Eve: a Winery, Tea, and Skytower Fireworks

New Year's Eve we intended to drive back down to Auckland to pick up more Americans (friends of my sister's), but Lorena and I had spent a bunch of time in Auckland already so we were in no hurry to get there.  We slept in as much as you can when sleeping on the ground, and found a cute cafe for breakfast.  Huevos rancheros were on the menu - we found this entry particularly amusing.

We also saw crumpets on the menu.  Lorena and I both thought crumpets were an English Tea myth since neither of us remembered ever seeing crumpets after spending time in London.  Apparently they do exist and they're yummy!  My eggs benedict came on crumpets and Lorena just ordered tea and crumpets.  We felt as though we should be in Jane Austen novel or something...

Lorena with her tea and crumpets

Our waitress was from Canada.  We noticed the lack of accent and chatted with her for a minute.  She and her husband and kids sailed down from Canada.  Holy adventure, batman!
 
On our way south, we stopped in Matakana to visit some wineries.  We ended up at Hyperion, the oldest winery in Matakana.  We entered the wine tasting hut (it was just a tiny room with a staircase down to the cellar - sadly, we didn't get to visit that) and met the older woman who did the tastings.  She was very nice, but she talked really quickly and quietly so Lorena and I did a fair amount of smiling and nodding.  My favorite was a chardonnay (surprisingly) that was pretty sweet.  Weird for a chard, but I bought a bottle cuz it was yum!

We then stopped at the tea room just down the road, but it was closed for the holiday :( so we pulled out the Lonely Planet and looked for another tea room.  There is one in Puhoi, just north of Auckland, so we got back on the road with a new mission.

Lorena and me and the line of Hyperion wines

A little way down the road to Auckland, we got completely sidetracked by pink sheep.  Yes, pink.

Sheep World has a flock of pink sheep that draw in tourists, like us.  Honestly, could you really keep driving?  So we went into the gift shop and I found sheep shaped stamps.  Amazing. 

Back on the road, we followed signs to Puhoi and found the cutest little tea house ever.  We walked in and this older gentleman welcomed us to the oldest tea house in New Zealand.  He then asked if we wanted to have a true Devonshire tea with scones and cream.  We nodded vigorously so he disappeared to make it and we sat down under an umbrella in the garden.  He brought out a tray of tea and scones.  It was the cutest thing ever and the day was perfect for it!  We were the only ones in this lovely secluded garden in this quiet tiny town tucked into the woods.  We began drinking our tea and eating our (amazing!) scones, and the man started playing his guitar in the house and suddenly we were surrounded by mellow music that made the scene quite perfect.  It was an amazing afternoon.
We left the tea house and drove back into Auckland where we met up with Laura, Todd, Graham and Vanessa and the newest Americans, Katie, Jim and Mijin.  After a picnic pasta dinner and pan-fried strawberries over ice cream for dessert, we checked into our hostel and met up with David - our friend from our last stay in Auckland!
We went to the Skytower where they had dancers and a drum band playing outside.  The drum band reminded me a lot of the Venice Beach drum circle - great beats!  However we went inside the Skytower to one of the clubs.  Despite the sign saying that there was a strict formal dress code, they let us all in in jeans and flip flops.  I love low standards!  We danced until the music turned techno and then we tried a different club in the atrium area.  A couple of the songs the cover band was playing were perfectly acceptable for dancing hustle, so Lorena led :)

Outside again, we danced to the drum band and then tried to find a good spot to watch the fireworks.  They were set off from the top of the Skytower, so we figured we'd be able to see them pretty well from the base.  Aside from the crink in our necks, it wasn't a bad idea!  Altogether a very memorable New Years :)