Staying Still
Trip Start
Sep 10, 2008
1
52
71
Trip End
Sep 03, 2009
Christchurch,
South Island,
New Zealand
Sunday, May 10, 2009
My first roommate in the hostel was the lovely Marem, who happened to be German, which was pretty handy as I'm trying to learn to speak German. Although I'm far from the stage of actually being able to converse at the moment! We decided one night that we should go for a day trip the next day with her friend Carina. Carina's van is one of the backpacker vans you see regularly in these parts, all of them spray painted up graffiti style, this one was no exception. I was quite impressed by the fact the van had a proper double bed in the back, wooden frame and all, I had always imagined people slept on roll mats or camp beds in the things.
In Christchurch it had been a beautiful day, but soon after we got on the road, the fog descended. We carried on, hoping and praying that it would lift as we got into the mountains. Thankfully it disappeared just before we got into the small village. After watching a group of tourists desperately try to take pictures of a pair of Keas that had descended upon the tourist block we stopped off at the tourist information to find out how to get to the start of the trail, and to check the weather reports as it gets very snowy in these parts.
Christchurch Botanical Gardens 1
The woman in the center painted quite a bleak picture. "People have died up there, lots die every year. We're in an alpine climate here. Its very steep, you need walking poles. Are you wearing thermal underwear?" She made it sound like we would be trekking through Antarctica, rather than going for a day hike. Taking the thermal underwear comment in mind, we wrapped up in all the layers we had brought, it was pretty cold down in the valley. Pretty cold, it was bloody freezing!10 minutes into the walk we had to stop so we could peel all our layers back off. It was boiling. I was very glad I was not wearing thermal underwear because I would have passed out with heat stroke by this point. The track was very steep, which didn't really help, but we were fine once we had stripped down. None of us were feeling particularly energetic, and actually, it was very steep, so we took it pretty slowly as we climbed our way up the path. It gave us time to really enjoy the views of the snow covered mountain caps in the sunshine. Erm, yeah. It had turned into a perfect day. We stopped for a bite to eat just before we got to the snow. Well, we stopped a lot of times before that too, but as mentioned before, none of us was feeling particularly fit. We decided to turn back after a few hours, concerned that we would start loosing the light on the way back if we stayed much longer, as it gets dark pretty early here, and we really had been taking our time all day. We were all satisfied however, it had been a very relaxing day.
Transport for the day - Corina's van
Our legs were grateful for cutting the walk short, but we were all still feeling it for a few days after!Other than that, I didn't really leave Christchurch much. Except to go to a place called New Brighton, that I'd heard about from a couple of other backpackers saying it was nice there and it had a pier. Weirdly, on the drive up there, it looked exactly like St Anne's near Blackpool and for a second, I almost thought that was where it was. Now, I've never been to Brighton, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't look like this. There was certainly a pier. But that was pretty much it. I took a walk along the beach, before heading back to the Library building, which looked like it had been built as part of the Pier. It was actually a lovely building, with comfy chairs overlooking the ocean, it was full to bursting with people reading, listening to music, doing jigsaw puzzles. I think some people there were even doing some work! It also had a really nice cafe, and a restaurant that opened in the evenings. If all libraries were like this, then everyone would go to them! It was great!
I spent the rest of my time here applying and waiting for visas to come, dancing in the studio here, and getting my blog up to date, which for once, it now is! I've actually really enjoyed my time here, and will be quite sad to be leaving. But I'm happy to be heading in the direction of home for a change. It has been nice being in the same place for a few weeks, rather than just a few days. People have even started asking me for directions, and I actually knew where the street was without needing a map!
