New Zealand Part I: Christchurch

G’day everyone!

I just got back from over 2 weeks worth of adventure both in New Zealand, and on a field trip to Lady Elliot Island, which is part of the Great Barrier Reef. I’m pretty exhausted, but I couldn’t be happier!

I started off my trip to New Zealand by flying into Christchurch, which is the biggest city on the south island. I got in late because my flight was delayed, but the next morning I was ready to go and explore the city. The day began with my first bagel since arriving in the southern pacific. It only rated a “fair” on the international bagel ranking system, but because of the scarcity of bagels on this side of the world, its rating was inflated to a “very good.” After eating my bagel in what the guidebook called the “bustling” Cathedral Square, but I would describe more as “deserted,” I realized with a sinking feeling that I was in a city called Chirstchurch on Good Friday. I started to walk around the city, but pretty much everything was closed. I ended up talking to a very nice guy at one of the few open coffee shops who pointed out that the very touristy things were probably still open. As luck would have it, I was a tourist, so he told me to take a bus out to a gondola that would take me up to a mountain from which I could view the city. An hour later, I found myself at the top of a mountain looking at Christchurch. The views were very nice, and it was harder to tell everything was closed. After hiking around for a while, I ended up talking to the gondola guy, who recommended a boat tour in the neighboring town of Lyttleton where I could see the endangered Hector dolphins. I was a little skeptical, since I could see Lyttleton from the top of the mountain and it looked like a busy industrial port, but since there wasn’t much else to do, I hopped on another bus to Lyttleton in search of the elusive Hector dolphins. I saw so many dolphins it was RIDICULOUS! They came right up to the boat and were jumping around and everything. Even I, the worst picture taker in the world, got a semi-good picture of one. I don’t thing I have ever been more happy/seasick. On the boat, I ended up making some friends with two guys from Ireland. We had a good time together even though I couldn’t really understand their accents. The rest of the day I spent at the huge botanical gardens back in Christchurch. Christchurch is considered the most “English” of all the cities in New Zealand, and is also known as the “garden city,” so needless to say, the gardens were fantastic.



The Cathedral of Cathedral Square. Alternate caption: The Church of Christchurch.



A "punt" on the Avon River.



They had a tram that went around the city, which made everything seem even more old fashioned.



View of Lyttelton from the top of the Gondola. Christchurch was on the other side, but it wasn't as pretty from afar.



I can't believed I hiked for an hour just to see this stupid women's memorial. All the sign says is "They Passed This Way."



Lyttleton from the dolphin boat. Back in the day, a ball would drop down the pole on top of the castle-like building everyday at a certain time to help sailors set their clocks.



View of the harbor from out at sea.



Hector dolphins! I'm very proud of this photo. I think I have a future working for the National Geographic photography department.



My Irish friends who weren't too excited about being in a picture.



Fountain at the Botanic Gardens.



More punting.



Why is there a UFO in the middle of the gardens??????


The next day I had plans with two girls (American and Scottish) I had met at the hostel the night before. Because it was raining, we decided to go the Canterbury Museum, a natural history museum, which was very nice. Afterwards, we decided to warm ourselves up with coffee from a famous coffee shop creatively called “The Coffee House.” My cappuccino was very pretty, but more importantly it was very yummy. After saying goodbye to them, I went off on a search for Rutherford’s den. For those of you who aren’t aware, Rutherford was the scientist that discovered that the atom had a small, dense, positively charged nucleus. When I read a two-sentence blurb about his den being located in Christchurch, I knew that my afternoon’s mission was to find it. His den (and lecture theatre!) was located in the old University of Canterbury, which has now been turned into the city’s Art Centre. There was a great crafts fair out in front, and all of the different buildings had been turned into artists’ workshops that you could go and observe. After spending some time poking around the center, I finally found the entrance to the little wing of the center dedicated to Rutherford, where I spent a happy hour reading the displays and playing with the self-timer on my camera in order to get a shot of me in the lecture theatre, since (obviously) no one else was there. Cathy, I think Frye would be proud. It was a climatic ending to a great two days in Christchurch.


The Canterbury Museum.



The coffees were so pretty it was kind of sad to drink them. Not too sad though- yum!



My two friends Katherine and Claire outside The Coffee House.



The Art Centre/ Old University of Cantebury.



They jazzed things up a bit.



In Rutherford's lecture hall. (One out of 8 self timer attempts)



When I walked back through Cathedral Square, a huge chess set had appeared.

I have so much to write, the trip is going to have to be written about in sections. More later!