New Zealand: Day 10 - Christchurch still...

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Not much to say about today. I wanted to head to Lake Tekapo, but there was no vacancy at the hostels there, so I was forced to stay another night in Christchurch. Sadly, there was no vacancy in Christchurch either, so I had to walk 10 km to a new hostel and pay $38 for the night. The bus stop was right outside where I was originally staying, so this was really out of the way.

From now on I am booking my hostels ahead of time.

New Zealand: Day 9 - Christchurch

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Christchurch has been shocked by large earthquakes over the last few years. The shadows of these quakes still loom throughout the town.

Much of the city looks like this. Many buildings are closed down and being reconstructed. Almost every street is blocked or detoured due to road construction (this part reminds me of Kitchener). 

The kiwis are strong-hearted people and there are efforts all over to restore Christchurch back to its former glory. For example, the mall here is closed down, so they brought in dozens of big shipping crates, which they set up in the parking lot. All the shops from the mall operate out of these crates in an outdoor mall. They are calling it the "Restart Mall".

I tried going to the museum today, but got sucked into the Botanical Gardens beside it. I am glad I did, because it was beautiful and huge. I was lost in there for over an hour.

White-headed duck?

The Peace Bell.

This massive tree (which I am calling 'Mother Tree') was the biggest tree I have ever seen. I put my backpack there for perspective.

It twisted upwards as it thrust from the ground, clenching itself tight like a giant wooden fist.

There were little ponds like this all over!

Some sort of art. Looks like garbage to me.

There was a big greenhouse in the centre, but it was closed down due to earthquake repairs.

A magnificent rose garden with a stone sundial in the centre.

A little taste of Canada. These are exotic here.

Sundials seemed to be a central theme to the park. These were all over.

New Zealand: Day 8 - Trip to South Island

Tuesday, November 25, 2013

I decided to leave Wellington early. The original plan was to stay five nights but I decided to take off after just three. Big cities are not really my thing and I couldn't really see any of the surrounding LoTR film sites without either renting a camper or paying for a $200 tour.

The temperature dropped and it decided to rain today, which made the walk to the ferry rather unpleasant. It was a long walk too, much more so than I expected at about 15km. Carrying around a 40 pound duffel bag made it even worse. Next time, I'll bring proper backpacking equipment.

The ferry was huge at 180 meters in length. All my clothes were soaked and they cranked the A/C, so the ferry ride was also unpleasant. 

I was plowing through hot teas the whole time to keep warm. The ferry ride was three hours in total.

Connecting to the bus was easy as always. It was a five hour trip down to Christchurch along New Zealand's beautiful eastern coastline.

I checked into the YMCA Hostel, which is really nice. I was surprised to find another Canadian and an "almost" Canadian in my dorm room (he was American, but right on the border).

The YMCA is a really well-funded hostel/gym/club. The hostel attracts all kinds of people, I even met some travelers in their 70's staying here.

New Zealand: Day 7

Monday, November 25, 2013

I went for a stroll along the waterfront today. There was some big Scottish festival happening called "St. Andrew's Day". 

I guess it is the Scottish version of St. Patrick's Day, but didn't take off as much on a global level. Maybe because it isn't based on excessive drinking.

The waterfront had some really nice scenery.

All the museums here are free so I toured the Museum of Sea and City. It had some interesting information on the history of the City of Wellington.

New Zealand: Day 6 - Weta Cave

Sunday, November 24, 2013

I caught a bus to the Weta Cave today, Peter Jackson's special effects studio. It was well worth the trip.

There were huge replicas of Bilbo's trolls from The Hobbit right out front.

They were kind of freaky...

On the inside there was a gift shop that had some more life-size replicas.

Lurtz, the leader of the Uruk-Hai.

Gollum.

Harry Potter I think.

And some LOTR weapons and armour.

Sauron's armour.

Rohan armour.

Bilbo's "Conditions of Engagement".

Some District 9 weapons.

A whole wall of figurines.

Some weapons and equipment from Avatar.

King Kong

Kingdom of Heaven.

Chronicles of Narnia.

Halo short film.

Feebles

Mirkwood Gaol Key for $45. I am not sure why anyone would buy this...

10K gold "The One Ring" for only $1800!! Soul of Dark Lord not included.

Thorin and Fili's pipes. Although, I would rather have Gandalf's pipe.

And then the tour started. This was where the REALLY cool stuff was. 

Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures as they were working on unreleased/unannounced films in there. But there were full-scale models of many characters from Jackson films.

It was a really enjoyable tour with a fantastic tour guide. I would highly recommend it to anyone. The gift shop was free, but the 'behind the scenes' tour was just $20 and well worth it.