I woke up on day 6 to cloudy skies and and windy morning, but was still excited to go rafting in the morning. I checked out of the hostel early and tramped through town with my pack to the rafting place. I walked in to the place, but the guy told me that all the rafting trips had been cancelled for the day. I asked him why I was not called and notified, he told me that I should have called them to check. Okay.. so why did I provide you my phone number then? He could see that I was frustrated and I could see he was a bit embarrassed, so he ended up loaning me a bike to explore free of charge (finally got my bike!) The skies were threatening, but it was supposed to clear for the day and get sunny, so I left my pack at the place and took to exploring on bike. Much faster than walking, I went across the river and up to the north to the national park, went around the shoreline a bit then headed back into town with the rain starting again. Since it was Labour day, nothing was open. I found the only cafe in town operating and went in for breakfast. This was actually my first real NZ coffee drink, not counting McDonalds, a mochachino, sooo yummy and so sweet it hurt my teeth. I also got this omelette roll-up thing stuffed with peppers and cream cheese and served warm with jelly, pretty yummy.
I rode around town a couple more times, ducking into the one or two open shops when it rained, and eventually made my way back to the train station to walk around the Warehouse again. This time it poured while I was inside, so I gladly stayed for a while browsing camping supplies and hiking boots. When things finally calmed down I headed back out, tired of being wet and wandering around town, returned the bike and walked back to the hostel. The lady at the desk (same one I'd given the free beer coupon to) was very sweet and let me stay in the lodge room and have a hot shower to warm up. I still had food left over so I reverted to sitting by the fire, munching on snacks, and waiting out the rain with a couple other girls until my afternoon train departure. We watched the vow (movie) pretty sappy and sad.
Just after lunch the weather had cleared and the sun was out again, so I headed to the train station to catch my 1:45 train.
I sat next to a very old woman returning from her 65 high school jubilee (reunion I think) She liked to tell me lots of things, how she has ridden this train every year and knows all the stops and scenery. She told me about her family and kids and how she was born in Christchurch then moved to Australia. After a while I moved back to an empty table and dozed off for a while, still trying to stay alert to snap photos. This is why the following are all reflecty.
We stopped at Arthur's Pass, the place I wish I would have had more time to explore, because its stunning! You can't tell from the photos, but it was bright bright sunny and snowing here. 48 Asians got onto the train car I was on (yes, I counted) They were all traveling together and very talkative, not good for sleeping. Since I didn't want to stay in my seat anyways, I ventured to the back to the open air car to stand outside and take photos.
Getting cheeky with self portraits...
Some of the most beautiful landscape in the country, If I had a month to just wander somewhere, sleeping in a tent, it would be right here. IF YOU COME TO NZ GO HERE!!!
The open air cab was so windy and cold, it definitely kept me awake but at times it was hard to stand or I had to brace myself with the other brave photographers and just really hoped my photos were turning out alright. I took nearly 200 photos just in this leg of the trip.
As you can see, the weather started to turn and I headed back in to avoid the rain once again. The lady I was sitting next two had had a Popsicle and was all hyped up on the sugar, telling me about every bridge and tree and plant and bird we didn't see. The two Aussi ladies on the other side of us had had a couple drinks at this point and were very giggly and loud taking lots of photos and videos of themselves. + all the Asian kids yelling at each other. Ah, nature.
We got into Christchurch around dinner time and I took an airport shuttle into two to the backpacker place I'd be staying at. I was a bit nervous, the YHA had been destroyed in the earthquake so I was at some other place through BBH. Going through the city was really sad, it didn't feel right to take photos of all the destruction, like kicking the city when it was down. The town felt cold and empty, like and air of sorrow hung over all the buildings and all the people. So many restaurants, stores, places of business, homes, all of them destroyed. Streets were closed or fenced off, there was re barb everywhere as well as construction equipment. Everything was graffiti, it was like total anarchy had happened overnight. The people even felt down. The few locals out and about looked forlorn, hurt. Restaurants that were open were empty. It was an eerie ghost town feeling, I didn't like it.
The only place I actually wanted to see was the shipping container shopping center. I had heard about it nearly a year ago and wanted to see how it compared to Dekalb in New York. With directions from a friendly taxi driver, I found the right area. The shipping containers weren't affected by the quake because, well, they're shipping containers, a very simple structure and just stacked on top of each other. Even if one fell over, it would be easy to repair. But the area surrounding was quite broken.
Major props to Kathmandu after I saw this
All the stores were closed, but I was not alone in the people walking around and taking pictures. This was one of the only decent places in the downtown area. The whole center of town is still roped off and restricted, streets closed and you can't even walk down there.
I walked back up towards the backpacker place as it was getting dark and starting to rain again. Took just a couple photos, the destruction really hit me hard, but I wanted to show a couple things.
Two century old clock tower trying to be saved..
This church had all its windows blown out and its foundation was barely standing on bricks, but they had a sign saying that services were still being held Sunday. Even so being a church, I was a bit impressed at the resilience of the kiwis. The side of it was, like every other building, covered in graffiti.
I checked into the backpacker place, didn't like the feel of it. Didn't like the guy at the front desk either who smelled of smoke. He showed me to my "girl dorm" filled with 3 boys and a couple from Germany. That, plus there was no key to the room and they front door didn't lock. Angered and feeling uncomfortable, I phoned around to a couple friends and found some girls to stay with in the area for the night, leaving the backpacker place without checking out of saying goodbye, too sketchy for me!
They made up the couch for me which I was overly grateful for after explaining I had a sleeping bag and was more than willing to sleep on the floor. I had arranged for a taxi in the morning to get to the airport early and left the next day at 6am. Made it to the airport alright, had an interesting time getting through security... I posted (mailed) my knife back to myself in Wellington, but in my haste of leaving the backpacking place the previous night, one of the beer bottles broke and spilled all over my pack, so it smelled hoppy.
(Beer updates - Spleights was delicious, Didn't try Macs, it broke)
The guy at security scan kept asking me questions to hold me up going though and I'm pretty sure he thought I was up to no good or something, the way my backpack smelled, but I ended up making it though, boarded the plane probably looking overly nervous for no reason, and made it back to Wellington about 8:30 in the morning to take the bus into work.
Sunrise at Christchurch airport
SO that was my crazy backpacking adventure weekend!
Now that I'm all caught up here, Friday afternoon, I'm off to enjoy the weekend. My dad is in town today and tomorrow so it will be nice to catch up. I'm just glad to be back into my routine. Holidays (kiwi for vacations) are nice, but its nice to come back and go back to a schedule of predictable and routine. Ah, weekend.
More to come next week, thanks for reading!
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