Days 1 & 2: Christchurch

After completing the transpacific flight via L.A. and Auckland I landed in Christchurch. It was either 26 or 28 hours door to door. With 3 hrs in LAX and 3 hrs in Auckland it quite added to the travel time. Because I booked a separate domestic flight to get to/from Christchurch I had to collect and re-check my bags in Auckland. Glad I did just to experience the self check in, self tag the bags and self put the bags on the conveyor belt experience. No airline could ever get away with that in the US. There is so much more a sense of personal responsibility here. And maybe it also has to do with the fact there are only 4.5M people in NZ (same population as Atlanta) and 2M visitors a year.

My lodging was my first experience with staying in a hostel and it was a good one. The place was called the Jailhouse (www.jail.co.nz) and obviously was a former jail as late as 1999. For $44NZ or $22US you cant beat it. The rooms were small but the place was keep clean. I had to share bath/shower. After 6 years of sharing a shower in Jr/high school with a totally shared shower, no privacy at all I figured I can share a private shower. I did observe a new way of traveling. Young people come to NZ for months at a time, buying an old station wagon and drive around NZ with their chilly bin (cooler), tent and explore the country. Staying these hostels allows for communal cooking - one large kitchen that all share with your own frig and cupboard space. When the trip is complete they sell the car. So you will see many cars for sell if you stop at a hostel. I guess maybe more this time of year as it is fall and they are heading into winter.

This hostel location was excellent as it was a 20 minute walk to centre city along a beautiful large park so I could witness Net Ball, their interesting version of basketball, cricket, joggers but no rugby. This also allowed me to dine with some locals at a bar - difficult to understand quite a few of them. As well as enjoy coffee at a local cafe. NZ love their coffee and are quite particular. It is all espresso based - so here my drink is a "Long Black" sometime with extra water. Abbington Coop Coffee was the place and I highly recommend it should you ever be in Christchurch.

I spent my time wondering the city center going to the Arts Centre. This used to be the former Canterbury College site and consists of many different buildings creating a couple of courtyards with artists displaying/selling/constructing their works. Knitters, weavers, jewelers, painters. Since wool is such a major product in NZ there is much knitting and weaving. Honestly I was not quite as impressed as I thought I would be. It was very raining this day.

Day 2 was sunny and I spent time wondering through the wonderful Botanical Gardens and again the streets. I ended up taking the Tramway or trolley and learned it took only 20 minutes to do the entire thing and I would recommend walking it if you could.