World Buskers festival and more.

Trip Start Sep 01, 2005
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Trip End May 11, 2006


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Flag of New Zealand  ,
Sunday, January 22, 2006

I chose a great time to come to Christchurch. The city is currently hosting the annual World Buskers Festival. It's not music buskers but rather street-theatre, comedy, and circus; which is all good in my book. Wondering through the city you stumble across numerous shows and acts that take place throughout the day. I spent Sunday afternoon in the grounds of the arts centre watching a Swedish bloke perform under a very hot sun. On Monday evening myself and Paul, a Dutch guy from the hostel, went to watch comedy at a small theatre near the main square. The second act, Chris Gibbs from England, was absolute genius and had the whole audience in stitches for pretty much all of the show. It's only $5 per show and he has a different one on tonight that I'm definitely going to go along to.

Christchurch has to be my favourite city in New Zealand. There's so much going on: music, theatre, art, culture; and the city seems to have sole to it. Other cities such as Auckland seemed to be the one main shopping street and not much else. Christchurch is also very English. Having been settled in 1850 by the Church of England the focal point of the city is naturally the cathedral and surrounding square, aptly named Cathedral Square. From here the tram line runs down Worcester Street, past the art gallery, art centre, and theatre to the Botanical Gardens. The Avon river snakes through the city and its surrounding parks. Street names such as Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham pop up all over the city.

The art gallery here is fantastic and it's totally free. They had an exhibition called Alchemy of Daily life that consisted mainly of pieces by Korean artists. An Eagle made from motorbike parts, a snake made from keyboard letters, and two bicycles covered in test tubes filled with chop sticks were among some of the pieces. All the pieces were very pleasing to the eye but one I particularly liked consisted of toy cars with wings stuck to them hanging by fishing line from the ceiling. A yellow light shone from the ceiling through the cars and onto the wall behind creating a moon with the "flying car" shadows on it.

I've been hanging out with Paul and a big group of Americans that are staying in my hostel. We've been going out to bars and chilling on the sun deck at the back of the hostel.
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