Christchurch: 7-8 November

My bus driver was kind enough to drop me off at the doorstep to my hostel after dropping everyone off at the main bus stop. The few minutes we had alone, he told me his life story. :) He was a very nice man who had traveled the world, had two daughters; one married, one divorsed, worked on an oilrig while traveling, worked on a cattle farm, and now drives buses. Needless to say, we had a good chat.

I got settled and then as usual off to the grocery store for the last time! My hostel was very empty but the people that were there were mainly Maori people. This was great because I really haven’t had a chance to really get to meet and chat with many Maori folk. The people I met here were very friendly.

The next day I had a lot of shopping to do! Needed to get some souvenirs, gifts, all that fun stuff! There was a nice art fair going on that Sunday, so I headed to that first. It had heaps of things to buy and lots of amazing art. I definitely lightened my wallet here. After hanging around there for a bit I headed to the center of town, Cathedral Square, there were plenty of shops to go in and out of. My wallet was as light as a feather by the time I was done here. :P

I had a nice lunch here and then headed back to the hostel to put away the goodies I just bought. It was a beautiful day and since shopping tired me out so much, I headed to the park and took a nice nap in the grass. After that, I have heard that Christchurch had an amazing botanical gardens so I went and checked that out. It was getting around dinner time and that means my LBS was kicking in so I took a quick stroll through the garden. WOW were the rourmers right. Mostly every town I have been in in NZ has had a nice garden, but I Christchurch blows them all out of the water. I knew I was going to come back here the next day to check more of it out. One of the stops I made was to a rose garden.

Always take time to stop and smell the roses!

There was plenty of other beautiful plants and flowers to see on my way through. I went back and made a nice peanut chicken and rice dinner. After dinner, most won’t believe this, but I went to a church service! The Cathedral Square  was advertising a jazz service that night so I figured I would go and check it out! This was a very informal service. There was local musician, Graham Wordrop, who played an acoustic guitar. His first two songs were “Dance With Me” by Orleans and “You’ve Got a Friend” by James Taylor. That’s the type of service it was. The pastor said a few words here and there about the main purpose of the service, “Coming to Life.” He spoke a lot about the earthquake and his main message was not to think “Why did this happen to us?” but to think, “How has this changed us?” Graham was very talented at the guitar and the pastor made some very good points. After that it was a nice relaxing night back at the hostel.

The next day I had some important errands to run to get my plane tickets back home, check into a new hostel that would bring me to the airport the next day, do a test pack, figure out some money situations, all that fun stuff.

After running around and figuring it all out, I needed a reward. I took a tour of Chritchurch’s Fudge Cottage. It is a very small run place that puts out a lot of fudge. And we got to taste a bunch of fudge too! Yum.

They forced me to try all of these... :P

After developing many cavities, I needed to stay on my feet and walk around. The Christchurch Art Gallery was close by so I headed there. There was a very cool sculpture exhibit going on by artist Rob Mueck. This guy makes sculptures from a few feet to overwhelming large sizes. These sculptures looked so real it was frightening.

"Dead Dad" (This one made him famous) 

"Mask II"

"In Bed"

After being overwhelmed at how realistic the sculptures were, it was time to get back to reality. So I went back to the botanical gardens! And again, WOW. Such a well kept garden with so many different plants and areas.

And just for my Mom…

After spending a lot of time at peace in the gardens, back to hostel! I met some people there from all over the world. Yes, again, of course, as always. :)

What a great place New Zealand is that wherever you go, it is so simple to start up a conversation with anyone. You meet such different people, but everyone gets along and there are always stories to hear and tell. It was a good last night in New Zealand.

The next morning there was fresh bread made, yum, and chatted the morning away with a guy from Italy and a girl from France. It was time to pack everyone for the last time and this time I really had to Cram. Shove. Squish. Zip. But I made it all fit! Phew :)

So New Zealand... What a great, beautiful, friendly county. I learned so much about myself and about people from around the world on this adventure. I had the time of my life and will miss so many different things about NZ, but it is time to start the next chapter in my life! All the wonderful people I met, all the countless conversation we had, all the wondering and exploring I did where I had no clue where I was going, all of the experiences have changed me for the better.

Two quotes I found true about my travels in New Zealand:

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrowed-mindedness." - Mark Twain

"Not all those who wander are lost." - J. R. R. Tolkien

New Zealand, Thank you.