New Zealand - Day 21 Christchurch

We spent our last full day (and our New Year's Eve) in Christchurch. I had read about the severe damage of the 2011 earthquake. A lot of things of places of interest are still closed. However, this was part of what I loved about Christchurch. It is also a city where people live. And these people are doing everything they can to re-build their city.

I really enjoyed checking out the creative, temporary solutions business owners came up with to keep their business open. For example, Re: START mall has stores and restaurants housed in large shipping containers. The bright colored containers, plenty of people milling around, and a great selection of stores made for a perfect afternoon. The General Store had amazing, unique gifts and souvenirs (not cheap airport gift shop kind of stuff) to bring home to friends and family (and of course I got a couple of things for us). Another example is the outdoor bar, Smash Palace, with it's bar in an old bus and cute seating set up all around the bus. Loved it!

 The shipping container mall, Re:Start, backs up to chain link fences, blocking people from going into the neighborhoods that are still devastated by the earthquake. We saw plenty of rubble, broken windows, and many of the roads were still very damaged. 

Smash Palace

Steeple to the church must have fallen off!

We stayed at The George right across the street from Hagley Park. It was a great treat for New Years Eve. When we arrived, they sent champagne and brownies to our room. The room was a spacious suite with a huge bathroom with a jetted tub and a separate shower. My favorite little perk was coming back to our room to find our bed folded down, robes laid out, and a little stuffed bear named George that we got to take home! 

Our New Year's Eve was pretty mellow considering how tired we were from 21 days of traveling and adventuring. However, it was nice to get cleaned up and dressed up and go out on the town for awhile. We had dinner at the 50 Bistro right in the hotel, and then out to Smash Palace for drinks.

The following morning, we took a beautiful run around Hagley Park. I am sure there are other neighborhoods worth exploring in Christchurch, but I feel like a day was a good amount of time to spend there. The bottom line is there is so much to explore in New Zealand and although we saw a ton, there is so much we didn't get to see. Our next trip would need to include more places on the North Island and Kaikoura, Mt. Cooke, and the Catlins on the South Island. I also would've liked to spend more time in certain places, like Wanaka, Queenstown, Abel Tasman, and Nelson Lakes. Allyson and I talk about spending a year in New Zealand after she finishes grad school. That's only a year from now, so I guess we'll see. Otherwise, we will definitely get back there after we check a few more places off our bucket list. 

New Zealand...you blew my mind. I planned this trip for over a year and got myself so excited that I was worried you wouldn't live up to my expectations. You exceeded them. What you don't get from the guidebooks is every road you drive on feels like you are in the most beautiful place in the world. If it were up to me, we would have stopped the campervan at every turn on every road to take a picture. Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous quote reads "Life is a journey, not a destination." In New Zealand, life is both the journey and the destination and every moment in between. Your people are friendly. Your fish and chips are out of this world! And I'm hooked on your Sauvignon Blanc. Thank you for the most amazing honeymoon two ladies could ever have dreamed of.

From the car.... 

New Zealand - Rafting and Akaroa (Days 19-20)

Alright. I avoided the last two New Zealand posts for long enough. At first, I was avoiding them because I didn't want to let go of the most fantastic trip of my life quiet yet. But now I just avoid because it's been 8 months and it feels silly to still be posting about it when we've had some great adventures since then. So here we go.....New Zealand Days 19-20...

Day 19 was one of our favorite days, and yet I have ZERO pictures from it. All I can say is, if you make it to New Zealand, I highly recommend rafting on the Rangitata River with Rangitata Rafts. The location is awesome. Far, far down a scenic road is this cottage with a huge porch and big yard where all the river guides seem to live. Rangitata's guides are super professional and organized. After providing lunch on their porch, they got right to business getting us ready to head out to the river. They did a great job of getting the group comfortable on smaller rapids, before tackling the big guys! We rafted two Class V rapids that our raft made it through without falling out, but some of the other rafts in the group weren't so lucky. Because I feel safe in the water, I wasn't ever really that scared, but it was still quite a rush! We also had opportunities for cliff jumping and they let us swim down a couple of slightly less intimidating rapids, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Being less than 2 hours from Christchurch, the Rangitata River is a perfect day trip. They actually have a shuttle that picks you up and takes you back to Christchurch (we obviously didn't do that because we were coming from the west and had our campervan, but it's an option). We had trouble finding a place to park our campervan that night, because of the holiday week. Our plan was to stay in the Peel Forest, but they were booked. We were tired and drove around a bunch (after stopping at the Peel Forest Store for a much needed ice cream bar!) and finally found a spot to camp at Orari campground. There are several little DOC campgrounds in the area, but they are spread out. I would advise having a plan here if you are coming during this one week of the year. Otherwise, you would probably have no trouble getting a spot in Peel Forest without reservations.

This campsite kind of reminded me of Hawaii. It was a pretty primitive site, but nice and quiet. 

By Day 20, we were getting pretty tired of being in the car, so our plan to drive out to the Banks Peninsula might have been a bit ambitious (and when I say our plan, I really mean my plan). A lot of people make the Banks Peninsula a day trip from Christchurch or spend a couple days there enjoying some no doubt incredible hiking trails (I hear the views are amazing, but where aren't they amazing in New Zealand!) We were heading to the little French colony of Akaroa for one night before heading to Christchurch for New Year's Eve. On our way, we stopped at Barry's Bay Cheese Factory and sat outside for our picnic lunch.

When we got to Akaroa, my allergies were awful (they had been pretty bad most of the trip), there were a ton of tourists in town (probably day-tripping from Christchurch) and it was threatening to rain. Note to anyone who suffers from allergies, bring allergy medicine with you to New Zealand! We had the hardest time finding a pharmacy. And don't worry, there is a pharmacy in Akaroa but it was closed that day! Needless to say, I was having a difficult time enjoying this quaint, beautiful town on the water. We walked around a bit, stuck our feet in the water, and then decided to just sit outside in the yard of one of the cutest cafes I've ever been to - The Stables - and share a flat white while casually people watching.

Which way is the waterfront? 

 People watching at The Stables

New Zealand Camping

It started to rain, so we decided to head to the campground (Akaroa Top 10 Holiday Park), shower, and relax in the campervan for awhile. This is exactly what we needed. After getting clean, writing some in my journal, and a short nap, I was a new woman! And right around 5pm, the rain cleared out for the most magical evening. We walked back down to town and it was nearly deserted. I have a sense that this town needs the tourism, but it is sad that Akaroa's true charm doesn't really shine through with all the tourists there. 

This evening, the crowds had gone back to Christchurch. I'm so glad we had a chance to experience the quieter Akaroa. We had a great dinner at Ma Maison (yes, more fish and chips) and finally heard Fat Freddy's Drop (our favorite NZ band) playing over the speakers. 

We had a map of the town with us, and there are several little hiking trails that take you up past the residential streets to some historic spots and great views. We went exploring after dinner and this ended up being one of the highlights of the trip for me. The colors of the landscape were sharp and the air was fresh. We could hear families cooking and eating dinner in their backyards and just felt this sense of what their lives are really like in Akaroa. In Allyson's poetic words, it felt like this town had exhaled. 

 Lots of drinking happened for this artistic yard

Yum

After spending a couple of hours exploring, we went back to the campground for a glass of wine while watching the sunset over the bay (more like watching another storm come in so there wasn't much of a sunset). Once again, even with all the driving and the allergies, we had a terrific day as we were coming to the end of our amazing honeymoon. Last stop....Christchurch.

New Zealand - Key Summit and Glowworm Caves (Day 16)

I'm going to be honest, we both felt a little let down this day. After the Christmas Day paddle we had the day before, it was going to be hard to be impressed. The weather was pretty overcast as well, which always affects my mood. However, we still had a good day hiking, driving, and then checking out some cool glowworms. (This is also the first day I started feeling kind of tired of all the driving and traveling.) 

We left Milford Sound Lodge around 9am and were on the Routeburn Track up to Key Summit (919m) by 9:30 or so. Even though the whole hike is uphill or down, it didn't feel very strenuous. I feel like just about anyone could manage this hike. Lots of interesting ferns and plants along the way, and the views from the top are breathtaking. Definitely worth the stop (only takes a couple hours) and gives you an opportunity to walk on part of the world-famous Routeburn Track. 

On the way out, we stopped at Cascade Creek to take some photos of the incredible lupins growing along the river. I've never seen so many different colors of lupins or just so many. And they were so huge! This stop is not mentioned on any materials I've seen but definitely worth the stop. I'm not sure we'll ever see a field of flowers as incredible as this (although wildflowers in Glacier National Park in Montana were pretty incredible!)

Our original itinerary had us driving all the way back to Queenstown this day and then up to Mt. Cook the following afternoon. We realized somewhere along our journey that we would just feel rushed through arguably the best part of New Zealand. We opted for not going to Mt. Cook and taking more time in Fiordland National Park and Queenstown. I'm glad we did this, but I still wish we could have done Mt. Cook. Guess we'll go there next time!

Because we stayed a bit longer, we had the opportunity to go check out the Glowworm Caves in Te Anau. You have to take a boat across Lake Te Anau to get there. This lake is the largest lake on the South Island; second largest in New Zealand (largest is Lake Taupo - see day 3). The tour felt pretty touristy, but that's what we were right? You aren't allowed to take pictures in the caves, but they were pretty cool. I wouldn't say my mind was totally blown, but it was really interesting. Most people talk about doing Waitomo Caves up on the North Island, and if we'd had more time I think that could have been more fun. Warning: it's pretty claustrophobic in those caves! I had to keep reminding myself to breathe with a group of 14 people in such a dark, small space that was many meters below the earth's surface (tried to figure out the depth and I know they told us on the tour, but I can't remember!) I definitely didn't enjoy hearing that fact while I was down there!

We stayed in a holiday park (Fiordland Great Views Holiday Park) that evening and had great views of a bush. It was a place to sleep and shower, but not sure I'd recommend it. Today was a good day, but not the best. Tomorrow will be the most nauseating day but also full of adventure! Stay tuned...