From the Mountains to the Sky Act 5: Queenstown Hill

Sunday afternoon, 'I' and I climbed Queenstown Hill for a view out over the city and surrounding countryside. It was about a 600m climb but well worth it for the spectacular view from the top.


We drove home and arrived back in Christchurch around 9:30. What a glorious weekend.

From the Mountains to the Sky Act 4: Open Skies

Sunday was a very exciting day! 5 of us left the hostel to go tandem skydiving! What an exhilarating experience. After paying a rather large sum of money to nZone, they take you out to their private airfield (pretty much just a field) and take you through a quick crash course in how to fall through the air. Essentially, you're supposed to turn your body into a banana shape and with your feet arms and hands well back. There is even a picture of a banana on the instructional material.

My (experienced) jump partner's name was Chris and he had been on thousands of jumps before. We talked a bit and then got into the plane. The plane was very small and very cramped with 4 pairs and one cameraman cramped inside. I was seated beside the sliding glass door and was therefore able to watch as the plane quickly spiraled up to 15,000 feet over Lake Wakatipu. It was quite unnerving when Chris showed me his altimeter at 7800 feet and said we were halfway there. The ground seemed very far away.

Once reaching 15000 feet, a green light turned on at the back of the cabin and it was time to jump. Helmet and goggles strapped to my head, we shuffled towards the, now gaping, cabin door. I slid my feet underneath the plane and looked down at the ground, far below. Only Chris' arms were keeping us from falling at this point. Caleb (the camera man) was clinging to the side of the plane just like you would see in the movies. We leaped.

For 60 seconds(ish), we fell toward the ground. At speeds approaching 200 km/h, it was quite a rush. Beneath us was beautiful Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables (a mountain range). Once the chute was open it was possible to take in this incredible view. I was awed!

We floated slowly to the ground (not really that slow, but it certainly felt slow by comparison) and landed safely in the field. An incredible experience.

From the Ocean to the Mountains - Act 3: Wanaka and a Night in Queenstown

This past weekend, we chose Queenstown and the surrounding area as our destination. Knowing that we would want as much daylight time as possible in the area, M, J, and I left work at 3:30 on Friday and arrived at 10:00 that night at our accomodation, the Hippo Lodge.
Here is a map of our travels this weekend.

On Saturday morning we got up bright and early and drove to Wanaka, hoping to go paragliding. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and low clouds and high winds put a crimp in our plans. Instead, we went to Puzzling World. Puzzling World is one of the strangest attractions I have seen in my life. It is a museum/tourist trap dedicated to illusions and puzzles and general quirkiness. They have clocks that run backwards, rooms that are built on slants so that it looks like water will run up hill, a room that is used to create illusions of perspective like those used in LotR to make hobbits short, and a giant multi-story maze.
Here is a picture of the illusion room.

That afternoon, we decided to go on a hike up Mt. Roy. After climbing about 900m, we were treated to some spectacular views of Lake Wanaka and the town of Wanaka itself. Unfortunately, we were unable to reach the top of the mountain due to darkness.

There was probably 300m of climbing left when we turned around.

That evening, we went out into Queenstown and had some fun times visiting some bars and such. There was one bar that sold mixed drinks in teapots. Very strange.

We went to bed in anticipation of an unforgettable Sunday.

Basketball Game

Today after work I went to a Trimble pickup basketball game. 12 guys showed up and I had a great time playing my first sports in over 2 months! I must say that the calibre of play was not that high but it was still wonderful to be playing again. I miss playing team sports a lot!

I hope to play again next Tuesday!

From the Ocean to the Mountains - Act 2: Dunedin & Catlins

Our trip this past weekend was dictated by the weather. Almost the entire island was supposed to be covered with a low pressure system that was due to drop over 400mm of rain in some areas. Therefore we picked the one area of the country that was supposed to be sunny to travel to, Dunedin and the Catlins.

The weather forecasters were correct and we had a glorious weekend to travel in the sun.

Here is a link to a map of the route we took for the weekend.

Starting at 7am Saturday morning, we left Christchurch for Dunedin, about 5 hours away. Along the way, we stopped at the Moeraki boulders for a break. They are a set of spherical boulders only viewable at low tide. They weren't really all that exciting but it was a good break from driving. Here is a picture of me inside a boulder.

Arriving in Dunedine we checked into our hostel and set about to wander the town, exploring the Octagon, the Pioneer Museum, and the most photographed building in New Zealand, the Dunedin train station. Mostly by obligation of tradition, we took a group photo in front of the train station.

Next, we headed out to the Otago peninsula, to search for local wildlife including albatross and yellow-eyed penguins. We didn't find any albatross, but we did find a penguin in Sandfly Bay. The bay itself was tons of fun with sand dunes to run around on and a big sand beach. It was beautiful. We were told to stay far away from the penguins because they were moulting and are easily disturbed. It was difficult to take any pictures. Here is our best effort. Conditions were made even more difficult because the penguins only come out of the water at dusk.

That evening, we stayed in Dunedin and went out for dinner and to some clubs. This was an interesting experience for me as it is not really anything I had done before. The busy times for the clubs are from 1am to 5am. We got there at midnight and it was too early to be full yet. I didn't stay for too long but some of those I was with stayed for quite a while.

The next day, J, M, and I split off from the others to travel further south into the Catlins to explore some trails there. We visited Jack's Blowhole:

Purakanui Falls:

and Matai Falls:

We also tried to visit the Cathedral Caves but they were closed because of rough seas.
M, J, and I then drove back to Dunedin to visit Tunnel Beach. Tunnel beach was built by a rich mining magnate a long while ago as a present for his daughter's 21st birthday. He cut a tunnel down through the beautiful sandstone cliffs to a sheltered beach below. The beach is only accessible at low tide and is quite delightful. We spent an hour or so there watching the waves (it was very windy) and enjoying the waning afternoon sun.

Our final touristy stop of the weekend was at Baldwin St. The steepest street in the world with a grade of 1 in 2.28 at the steepest sections. Naturally, I had to run up. It was quite exhausting. The locals hold races here called the Baldwin St. Gutbusters. It would be fun to participate.

By this point we were ready to go home so we set out north on Highway 1 hoping to arrive in Christchurch around 10:30. Unfortunately, the highway was closed due to flooding (remember the 400mm of rain that was supposed to fall in the mountains) so we had to take a detour away from the coast. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. At one point we stopped for a break on the side of the road and looked up at the sky to see the most brilliant array of stars I had seen in a long time. We were in the middle of the country and there were no lights for miles. It was spectacular.

1000 km and 18 hours of driving later, we were home. It was a good weekend.

Gone (But back again)

This morning I woke up, got ready, and walked to work as per normal. My roommates (who usually drive and show up about the same time) show up about 20 minutes later than usual with an interesting tale to tell.

When they walked out of the house this morning, our car was missing! It had been broken into and stolen. Fortunately, as they were walking to work, they spotted the car about two blocks away on another street. The car still works fine although the driver side door lock is broken.

A very curious circumstance. It does not appear that the car was hot-wired or that anything was taken from inside. It was simply moved 2 blocks away. Very strange!

From the Ocean to the Mountains - Act 1: Kaikoura

Today, we traveled to Kaikoura, about 2.5 hour drive away. It is the closest major town to the north of Christchurch. Kaikoura is a small town of about 3500 people. It is a former whaling town and the site of many former Maori settlements. We went there for the beautiful scenery, seals and other wildlife in the region.


After arriving in Kaikoura we headed up to the lookout to look out over the town and up at the beautiful snow-capped (~2500m high) Seaward Kaikoura Range. The mountains were incredible and so very mountainy. More mountainy than any other mountains I had seen previously. Here is a group shot of us on top of the lookout with the mountains in the background.

After departing the lookout we headed out on the coastal track for a look at some aquatic life like seals...

...and climb around on the beaches and cliffs looking at beautiful colours and mountains.



(Please remember to click through on any image for a higher resolution version)

All in all, it was an awesome first adventure into the wilds of New Zealand. The only downside was that with all the tramping my ankle got very tired and sore. Still, this will probably be a good strengthening exercise for the future.

80 Minutes at AMI Field

Tonight, we went out to see the Christchurch Crusaders play against the Reds in Rugby Union play. It was a big game, potentially determining the Crusaders' playoff hopes. On Wednesday at work I saw an ad in the paper for this game and we decided to go watch. On Thursday, we purchased two 4 for $40 packs (I still have an extra ticket) for seats in the Tui (a New Zealand beer) Stand, the lowest cost area. Friday (today) was game day!

We arrived amid a sprinkle of rain and took our seats in the Tui Stand, located at the home end of the pitch with the big screen TV behind us. The strangest collection of fans surrounded us, most fitting into one of two categories: the 18-25 year olds who were obviously planning to be quite intoxicated by the end of the match judging by the number of Tuis they had, and the 6-10 year-olds who were very excited to be at the match at all. Unfortunately, mostly because of the rain this evening, the stadium was not packed but there were still plenty of raucous fans. Also seated in the Tui Zone were what appeared to be an entire brass band, including a sousaphone, 3-4 trombones and many trumpets. They played many songs throughout the game.

For the first half, we sat pretty high up in our assigned seats, and I enjoyed the game immensely, trying to work out the nuances of the rules from watching events transpire. By halftime the Crusaders were up 20-0 with the game well in hand. At half-time we moved down to within ten rows of the front and had a wonderful up close view of the Crusaders end zone for the second half. They scored two more tries and gave up two for a final score of 32-12. I hope to go to an All-Blacks game in June.

Go Crusaders.

An Evening on the Pier

Immediately following work this evening we headed down to New Brighton to catch the sunset. Unfortunately, traffic was bad so we missed sunset. Still, the beach was nice and there was a long pier stretching out into the water. The group shot below was taken from the end of the pier looking back at the town (my apologies for the blurriness of these photos).

A Day of Excitement and Adventure

So, as yesterday's post hinted at, this morning we purchased a car. A 1991 Subaru Legacy with 4 Wheel Drive and filled with pizazz. We bought it from a friendly Irish fellow who was very kind for the rather low price of $1850 (NZD). It should be adequate to the task of taking us on quite a few adventures. To the left is a picture of the vehicle. It has quite a few features, like power windows and locks, an auxiliary input on the stereo (great for iPods) and a large boot.

In the afternoon, we took the Legacy out for a spin, climbing up Port Hill for a view of Christchurch from above. Afterwards, we went for a short hike on Godley Head and ate supper on the beach in Sumner. All in all an excellent day!

Adventures on a Saturday Afternoon

Today was quite a day. After waking up, we said goodbye to the current co-ops and sent them on their way home. It is strange to think that in a few short months, I will be in their position. I hope to come to end of my term having had as great a time as they obviously enjoyed here. It will be quite a task.

The main adventure for today was a walk to downtown Christchurch. This included wandering through the park, Botanical Gardens, Cathedral square, and most importantly, visiting a used car dealership for backpackers in New Zealand. We may have found a very reasonably priced vehicle to buy for our time here. More on that tomorrow.

We went out for dinner at what appeared to be a reasonably authentic Japanese restaurant we took the bus back to our house and went grocery shopping. The grocery store was fairly similar to one in Canada, the main difference being a substantial alcohol section.

44 hours of Subjective Time Later

Arrival. With only one minor transportation problem. Due to the dreaded Swine Flu we had to clear customs and get screened in Auckland rather than in Christchurch. Fortunately, I had avoided the dreaded scourge and was allowed to enter the nation unhindered.

One of my favourite experiences from the trip over was simply sitting on the Air New Zealand plane and listening to the flight attendants talk. Every time I heard one of their voices I would smile extra big.

My least favourite part of the trip was waiting in LA for 8 hours between planes. For some reason, sitting in an airport is far more boring than sitting on a plane.