March 10, 2006
Christchurch, New Zealand
I promised I'd catch up on my blogging once we got home, and catch up I will. Expect things to be out of chronological order from now on, largely because I'll write as I remember, and it's easier to start with the most recent.
And so we begin the way all good stories begin...in New Zealand.
Upon departing India, we flew back to Australia for about a week, take a several thousand mile detour to allow us to unwind before our New Zealand travels. Yes, I know, it makes absolutely no sense to fly from India to Australia and then back to the United States, but then again, many things we do don't make sense. So, we spent a week in Australia with our wonderful friends, getting various bugs out of our system and thoroughly enjoying being back in a country where we could drink the water and eat the food, before leaving Australia for the last time, bound for Christchurch, New Zealand.
We flew over on Emirates. Let me tell you, if the UAE can run ports the way they can run an airline, they're more than welcome to take over our ports. And all our airlines. And our buses, trains, boats, and even automobiles. Emirates was the most luxurious airline I've ever flown, and the cheapest one flying between Sydney and Christchurch. It was a wide body plane and we had incredibly comfortable, wide seats, with personal video screens. But unlike all the other airlines with personal video screens, Emirates had 600 movies and television shows on demand. This may not seem important to anyone else, but when you've been flying as many 12-18 hour flights as we had, you've seen the same dozen movies time and time again. I could go my entire life without seeing another Adam Sandler movie and die happy.
We arrivied into Christchurch and took a shuttle bus into the city. Christchurch reminds me a lot of central Florida. The airport is relatively small. You walk out front, and you're greeted with palm trees and a blast of humidity. And it's friendly.
Christchuch itself has a population of about 350,000 people; it's a fairly suburban town, spread out and designed much like a U.S. city, expect that it has a true downtown city center, with a pedestrian mall, parks, and an arts center. Much like Australian cities, several of what would otherwise be main streets in downtown Christchurch have been converted into pedestrian-only areas and are lined with stores, cafes, restautants...and acrobats. At least, they were the week we were there. Upon our arrival, we discovered that it was the World Busker's Festival, bringing together the best people on Earth at convincing you to drop a dollar in their hat. They're also, it seems, pretty entertaining. We got to see a Japanese acrobatics team, a San Francisco-based street comedian, and a woman who makes a living dressing as a Greek Statue.
As with all the cities we visit, we spent most of our time wandering around the city. Christchurch has some great cafes, a beautiful town square (...with the Christchurch), and is just a very comfortable place to spend a few days. There is a beautiful botanical gardens, including an enormous number of random North American trees, like a very tall California Redwood. It's also got a river running through the heart of the city, upon which you can apparently punt, though we missed out on that. It's also got fantastic restaurants, like Cook N With Gas. New Zealanders believe in feeding their cattle a little known substance known as grass and, because of it, their meat is about significantly tastier than anything you'd find in the U.S.
Our final stop in Christchurch was the International Antarctic Center. Christchurch is the staging point for the vast majority of trips to Antarctica, and they have an center devoted to showing tourists (for $20 a piece) just why Antarctica is so cool...and cold. It's actually one of the cooler centers I've seen. In additon to tons and tons of material on the various bases and teams working in Antarctica, they have exhibits on animals and environmental issues. They also have a polar room, designed to mimic the Antarctic environment. You are required to put on foot coverings and large jackets before going in. The temperature is a constant 23 degrees fahrenheit, and there are ice blocks and snow in the room for people to play with. And every so often, the send in a storm, where they drop the temperature to -2 or so and they turn on giant fans. I'm sure it's a lot tougher actually being in Antarctica, but it was pretty darn cool to begin with.
Once we finished up our Antarctice experience, we grabbed our rental car and began our whirlwind tour of New Zealand, starting with a town with only French names on the streets and a hostel/sheep farm. Tune in tomorrow for Akaroa...
Posted by aglazer at March 10, 2006 09:08 PM | TrackBack
