We have arrived in Christchurch eathquake town!
After the beauty of the mountains Christchurch is a bit of a culture shock gray and looking a bit like a construction site that someone forgot to finish. I hope it grows on me.
The hostel is great really quiet nothing like the hostels I have stayed in before where parties go on into the night. Because I will be working here rather than partying this is good news!
We settled in on our first night and spent the next two weeks in training. Our job is night reception in a hostel in the city centre. The hours are better than we imagined we work Monday - Friday 5pm-9pm and weekends from 8am -9pm so between the two of us its pretty easy. All we really have to do is check in some guests, answer questions, mainly about directions and keep the place generally tidy.
We have a bell that rings when someone wants something so we just get to stay in the appartment most of the time. Ideal! (I'm becoming lazy but it does give me lots of time to work on my own online design stuff)
For the past year I have been a remote storyboarder, this basically means I turn text books into online learning for adults. Its really fun, and allows me to work anywhere (they call me a digital nomad).
But enough about work we are here to travel.
Our appartment is like a palace after living in Norman. We have a living room and kitcen combined a separate bathroom and shower and then a cabin outside where we sleep. Its pretty comfy until you need the bathroom during the night and its freezing making the dash across the garden in your PJ's
Now we will be here for a while we decided to get some home comforts for the first time since we left Scotland. Chris bought some weights and has a little gym in the garden. I have a new laptop, my old one was ridiculous I don't even know if you could still call it a laptop. It had a broken keyboard so had an extra one plugged in, had a broken mouse pad so needed a plug in mouse, needed constant power as the battery was goosed and looked more like it was on life support than making it on its own with all the cables it needed to function ha ha.
It was also time to say goodbye to our faithfull travel buddy Norman. He did well and it was now time for him to start a new adverture without us. I was quite nervous about selling him, as we had so many other backpackers fantically trying to sell their cars with no joy as the winter season started and no one was buying. Eek
But I worried needlessly even before I could put up all the adverts a guy turned up and even after a test drive from hell where Norman didn't start and cut out halfway through the drive he fell in love. A few days later he was back with his mechanic friend again given that Norman is erm not the best of vans I held my breath when the mechanic started having a look.
But it was all good a few comments about tyres and general damage and they gave me the full asking price. Kerching!
Bon Voyage Norman enjoy the rest of your travels it would not have been the same road trip without you mate.
It was also time to sell another travel buddy Chris's guitar it was cheap but sounded good and filled some long nights camping. Who needs a electricity when you have your own music and the stars right?
Christchurch a few years ago had a huge earthquake that pretty much flattened most of the city centre. I decided this was worth exploring and it is. There is not much to see in Christchurch but you cannot help but be surrounded by memorials, half built buildings, and quake related tourist attractions.
The local park and botanic gardens are nice and I often take a walk through there to feed the ducks or head to the swimming. Most days you see trams on the way there and punting boats on the rivers. Christchurch is flat, really flat almost like Amsterdam so taking a walk is pretty easy and very different from the rest of New Zealand.
Working in a hostel has its perks and we managed to get two free tickets to a Maori experience day out. We spent the first few hours walking through the wildlife park seeing all the native birds, then it was off to see a cultural Maori show. We we were welcomed by the Chief and a warrior dance before heading to a little village scene they had set out showing traditional Maori wepons, cooking tools and houses, all of course accompanied by some Te Reo basic words which is always fun.
From there we headed inside to learn some traditional dances Chris learned the Haka and I learned the Poi. I don't think we would make great warriors though.
Then it was time for the Hangi my favourite. Hangi is like the best Sunday roast ever but cooked underground in a pit, the meat and veg is placed in a deep pit outside then covered with hot stones leaves and dirt, its then left for several hours. When they dig it up its good to go the meat falls apart and they serve it with fried bread fresh seafood starters and soups. The people of New Zealand know how to eat.
Winter in New Zealand arrives around May you start to notice a difference and by the end of June winter is here and everyone starts to wind down and look for work. This is my first South Island winter, last winter I spent in Northland holding on to the last warmth of the sun in the subtropical tip or the country. I have a feeling this year I will not be as lucky and may have to put away the shorts for a few months.
But we have four walls around us and heating this winter so we'll make it. Last winter I slept in the van for a few months then a barn for a month how times change. This should sound like the start of an orphan story but it was the best winter I have ever spent.
Winter here is not as wet and this year has been great lowest around 2 degrees but around 8 degrees most days. Its a different cold though without the rain its nice clear skies, warmish if your in the sun but it drops quickly at night. Kind of like a ski holiday I suppose there is a lot of slopes around here.
Talking of weather we finally experienced an earthquake well sort of there was three of us in the room one of us felt it and heard it, one of us just heard it and one of us had no idea anything had happened. But it was 4. something so pretty shaky.
Mark was finally free from the farm hooray! The cows let him go after a 4 month cownapping he learned some great stuff about milking but dont think he'll be putting on wellies any time soon.
My other friend who is staying in the hostel (we met in Auckland) is working on a cow farm too but he is doing calfing and his stories are awful. Does not sound like the job for me being a cow midwife.
Finally a weekend off freedom from the city!
Having spent a few months tucked up in the city we were all ready for some adventure and fresh air, so we jumped in the car and headed for the mountains. Our plan was to head straight for Mount Cook a 4 hour drive. There was four of us and our French friend was working until 4ish so we knew that we would drive most of the way in the dark and arrive late.
By the time we hit the turn off from the main highway it was dark you would think that we would miss loads of amazing scenery and yes we did but we were driving on the Starlight Highway so night was perfect for a different kind of scenery. The Starlight Highway cuts inland from the east coast taking you into the mountains of the Southern Alps. It is in the international dark zone where there is little to no light pollution. The few people who live here use special lights to limit the light given off and it is a protected star gazing area.
We arrived at Mount Cook Village about 10.30pm, it was so dark, you can make out the outline of the mountains but cant really see much, other than the white caps reaching up. Its a clear night the stars are pretty cool and we are crossing our fingers and toes it stays this way. We have a helicopter to catch at 8am to see the Alps up close and its meant to be a bad storm we think we can sneak in before it hits. Well hopefully.
6.30am and we are up and getting ready to go. The weather is just closing in we can see the exact line of the storm against the blue skies behind it. Its coming fast and by the time we are all ready to leave two mountains have been eaten by the grey clouds and cannot be seen. Not a good sign.
By the time we get to the helicopter site its spitting rain at ground level thats another bad sign and sure enough the lady behind the desk tells us sorry its a no go for today the storm is too bad and all flights are grounded. Ah well maybe next time.
So with extra time on our hands we head off to Tekapo where we plan to spend the night. A last view of Mount Cook and we were on our way.
Mount Cook and Tekapo are places I have been before but they are beautiful and they do remind me of Scotland. Apart from that colour, the blue in Lake Tekapo is something I have never seen before and still have no photo that does it justice.
Travelling means you get to follow activities you enjoy and sometimes that means on your own. Tekapo is one of those places. The boys decided to head for the slopes and try out the snow tubbing its like sledging in a rubber ring and I decided I wanted to see some of the lake before the weather caught up with us.
I always think if you go somewhere you need to get out and see it no matter the weather. I'm not a fan of just sitting in the car on road trips I think I've been this way since I was a kid on trips to the glens with my grandparents. I would insist on at least eating lunch outside the car normally in the cold ha ha.
I could already see the line of the clouds that I had just ran away from coming from Mount Cook and decided I had about 2 hours tops before the rain found me. It was already spitting when I set off and the wind was picking up but off I went. After about 30minutes the wind really picked up and I discovered I had to cross a bridge to get to the next stage of the path. The wind was so strong I had to hold on to the side for balance and kind of lean forward.
It was worth it though the walk is beautiful round the lake I made it about a quarter before I had to turn back.
Then it was time to let our hair down in Tekapo there is a small village with a pub, we went down to watch a live band they were great. We rallied some other people from the hostel too and had a great night. We made friends with the band, bar manager and their families as well as an aussie couple and ended up getting a lift home from the owner.
Chris decided to take me to Akaroa for my 30th, a peninsula near Christchurch. We rented a cute little cottage outside of Akaroa just the two of us over looking the ocean. the cottage sits on a hill with great views.
The cottage came with a hot tub and we spent the next three nights watching the sun set over the mountains looking out to the ocean with a glass of wine in hand. It was perfect. Mars in really close to us right now and we got a great view of Mars and the stars the first night.
We had a family of swallows sharring with us and every day they would fly about in the patio it was nice to watch them when we had breakfast. There was so many birds to watch wood pigeons and fantails especially.
Then it was back to Christchurch to save for the next part of the Journey. Nothing blog worthy has happened since my birthday other than Mark's birthday to be honest I am on a kind of settled routine of work eat sleep save repeat. I struggle to fill a whole conversation with anyone from back home who asks what I have been up to as not much really does sum it up this past 6 weeks. Travel life is not always travel sometimes its just working.
We have however managed to do some key "life admin" and set a date for our wedding its all official and set for the 8th October 2019 at 4pm in Port Douglas.
We have also finally decided and planned the next stage of our trip from New Zealand to Austrailia. The Aussies have given us a visa for a year, thank you Austrailia. So we will head there at some point in January to start a new adventure our basic plan is to complete a whole lap its quite a challenge in a year theres so much to see!
But whats next and what could have been?
After the beauty of the mountains Christchurch is a bit of a culture shock gray and looking a bit like a construction site that someone forgot to finish. I hope it grows on me.
The hostel is great really quiet nothing like the hostels I have stayed in before where parties go on into the night. Because I will be working here rather than partying this is good news!
We settled in on our first night and spent the next two weeks in training. Our job is night reception in a hostel in the city centre. The hours are better than we imagined we work Monday - Friday 5pm-9pm and weekends from 8am -9pm so between the two of us its pretty easy. All we really have to do is check in some guests, answer questions, mainly about directions and keep the place generally tidy.
We have a bell that rings when someone wants something so we just get to stay in the appartment most of the time. Ideal! (I'm becoming lazy but it does give me lots of time to work on my own online design stuff)
For the past year I have been a remote storyboarder, this basically means I turn text books into online learning for adults. Its really fun, and allows me to work anywhere (they call me a digital nomad).
But enough about work we are here to travel.
Our appartment is like a palace after living in Norman. We have a living room and kitcen combined a separate bathroom and shower and then a cabin outside where we sleep. Its pretty comfy until you need the bathroom during the night and its freezing making the dash across the garden in your PJ's
Now we will be here for a while we decided to get some home comforts for the first time since we left Scotland. Chris bought some weights and has a little gym in the garden. I have a new laptop, my old one was ridiculous I don't even know if you could still call it a laptop. It had a broken keyboard so had an extra one plugged in, had a broken mouse pad so needed a plug in mouse, needed constant power as the battery was goosed and looked more like it was on life support than making it on its own with all the cables it needed to function ha ha.
It was also time to say goodbye to our faithfull travel buddy Norman. He did well and it was now time for him to start a new adverture without us. I was quite nervous about selling him, as we had so many other backpackers fantically trying to sell their cars with no joy as the winter season started and no one was buying. Eek
But I worried needlessly even before I could put up all the adverts a guy turned up and even after a test drive from hell where Norman didn't start and cut out halfway through the drive he fell in love. A few days later he was back with his mechanic friend again given that Norman is erm not the best of vans I held my breath when the mechanic started having a look.
But it was all good a few comments about tyres and general damage and they gave me the full asking price. Kerching!
Bon Voyage Norman enjoy the rest of your travels it would not have been the same road trip without you mate.
It was also time to sell another travel buddy Chris's guitar it was cheap but sounded good and filled some long nights camping. Who needs a electricity when you have your own music and the stars right?
Christchurch a few years ago had a huge earthquake that pretty much flattened most of the city centre. I decided this was worth exploring and it is. There is not much to see in Christchurch but you cannot help but be surrounded by memorials, half built buildings, and quake related tourist attractions.
The local park and botanic gardens are nice and I often take a walk through there to feed the ducks or head to the swimming. Most days you see trams on the way there and punting boats on the rivers. Christchurch is flat, really flat almost like Amsterdam so taking a walk is pretty easy and very different from the rest of New Zealand.
Working in a hostel has its perks and we managed to get two free tickets to a Maori experience day out. We spent the first few hours walking through the wildlife park seeing all the native birds, then it was off to see a cultural Maori show. We we were welcomed by the Chief and a warrior dance before heading to a little village scene they had set out showing traditional Maori wepons, cooking tools and houses, all of course accompanied by some Te Reo basic words which is always fun.
From there we headed inside to learn some traditional dances Chris learned the Haka and I learned the Poi. I don't think we would make great warriors though.
Then it was time for the Hangi my favourite. Hangi is like the best Sunday roast ever but cooked underground in a pit, the meat and veg is placed in a deep pit outside then covered with hot stones leaves and dirt, its then left for several hours. When they dig it up its good to go the meat falls apart and they serve it with fried bread fresh seafood starters and soups. The people of New Zealand know how to eat.
Winter in New Zealand arrives around May you start to notice a difference and by the end of June winter is here and everyone starts to wind down and look for work. This is my first South Island winter, last winter I spent in Northland holding on to the last warmth of the sun in the subtropical tip or the country. I have a feeling this year I will not be as lucky and may have to put away the shorts for a few months.
But we have four walls around us and heating this winter so we'll make it. Last winter I slept in the van for a few months then a barn for a month how times change. This should sound like the start of an orphan story but it was the best winter I have ever spent.
Winter here is not as wet and this year has been great lowest around 2 degrees but around 8 degrees most days. Its a different cold though without the rain its nice clear skies, warmish if your in the sun but it drops quickly at night. Kind of like a ski holiday I suppose there is a lot of slopes around here.
Talking of weather we finally experienced an earthquake well sort of there was three of us in the room one of us felt it and heard it, one of us just heard it and one of us had no idea anything had happened. But it was 4. something so pretty shaky.
Mark was finally free from the farm hooray! The cows let him go after a 4 month cownapping he learned some great stuff about milking but dont think he'll be putting on wellies any time soon.
My other friend who is staying in the hostel (we met in Auckland) is working on a cow farm too but he is doing calfing and his stories are awful. Does not sound like the job for me being a cow midwife.
Finally a weekend off freedom from the city!
Having spent a few months tucked up in the city we were all ready for some adventure and fresh air, so we jumped in the car and headed for the mountains. Our plan was to head straight for Mount Cook a 4 hour drive. There was four of us and our French friend was working until 4ish so we knew that we would drive most of the way in the dark and arrive late.
By the time we hit the turn off from the main highway it was dark you would think that we would miss loads of amazing scenery and yes we did but we were driving on the Starlight Highway so night was perfect for a different kind of scenery. The Starlight Highway cuts inland from the east coast taking you into the mountains of the Southern Alps. It is in the international dark zone where there is little to no light pollution. The few people who live here use special lights to limit the light given off and it is a protected star gazing area.
We arrived at Mount Cook Village about 10.30pm, it was so dark, you can make out the outline of the mountains but cant really see much, other than the white caps reaching up. Its a clear night the stars are pretty cool and we are crossing our fingers and toes it stays this way. We have a helicopter to catch at 8am to see the Alps up close and its meant to be a bad storm we think we can sneak in before it hits. Well hopefully.
6.30am and we are up and getting ready to go. The weather is just closing in we can see the exact line of the storm against the blue skies behind it. Its coming fast and by the time we are all ready to leave two mountains have been eaten by the grey clouds and cannot be seen. Not a good sign.
By the time we get to the helicopter site its spitting rain at ground level thats another bad sign and sure enough the lady behind the desk tells us sorry its a no go for today the storm is too bad and all flights are grounded. Ah well maybe next time.
So with extra time on our hands we head off to Tekapo where we plan to spend the night. A last view of Mount Cook and we were on our way.
Mount Cook and Tekapo are places I have been before but they are beautiful and they do remind me of Scotland. Apart from that colour, the blue in Lake Tekapo is something I have never seen before and still have no photo that does it justice.
Travelling means you get to follow activities you enjoy and sometimes that means on your own. Tekapo is one of those places. The boys decided to head for the slopes and try out the snow tubbing its like sledging in a rubber ring and I decided I wanted to see some of the lake before the weather caught up with us.
I always think if you go somewhere you need to get out and see it no matter the weather. I'm not a fan of just sitting in the car on road trips I think I've been this way since I was a kid on trips to the glens with my grandparents. I would insist on at least eating lunch outside the car normally in the cold ha ha.
I could already see the line of the clouds that I had just ran away from coming from Mount Cook and decided I had about 2 hours tops before the rain found me. It was already spitting when I set off and the wind was picking up but off I went. After about 30minutes the wind really picked up and I discovered I had to cross a bridge to get to the next stage of the path. The wind was so strong I had to hold on to the side for balance and kind of lean forward.
It was worth it though the walk is beautiful round the lake I made it about a quarter before I had to turn back.
Then it was time to let our hair down in Tekapo there is a small village with a pub, we went down to watch a live band they were great. We rallied some other people from the hostel too and had a great night. We made friends with the band, bar manager and their families as well as an aussie couple and ended up getting a lift home from the owner.
Chris decided to take me to Akaroa for my 30th, a peninsula near Christchurch. We rented a cute little cottage outside of Akaroa just the two of us over looking the ocean. the cottage sits on a hill with great views.
The cottage came with a hot tub and we spent the next three nights watching the sun set over the mountains looking out to the ocean with a glass of wine in hand. It was perfect. Mars in really close to us right now and we got a great view of Mars and the stars the first night.
We had a family of swallows sharring with us and every day they would fly about in the patio it was nice to watch them when we had breakfast. There was so many birds to watch wood pigeons and fantails especially.
Then it was back to Christchurch to save for the next part of the Journey. Nothing blog worthy has happened since my birthday other than Mark's birthday to be honest I am on a kind of settled routine of work eat sleep save repeat. I struggle to fill a whole conversation with anyone from back home who asks what I have been up to as not much really does sum it up this past 6 weeks. Travel life is not always travel sometimes its just working.
We have however managed to do some key "life admin" and set a date for our wedding its all official and set for the 8th October 2019 at 4pm in Port Douglas.
We have also finally decided and planned the next stage of our trip from New Zealand to Austrailia. The Aussies have given us a visa for a year, thank you Austrailia. So we will head there at some point in January to start a new adventure our basic plan is to complete a whole lap its quite a challenge in a year theres so much to see!
But whats next and what could have been?
I am writting this blog in September many months after any of this happened and I smile thinking what it would have been like had I written it at the time. I now have a solid plan (and even a flight booked) for where I am heading next, Cambodia. However when all this was happening I had a few (to say the least) plans or options I was looking at here are a few ha ha how times change
Plan 1
1month Cambodia - 3 weeks Tonga - 4 weeks Samoa - 1 week Fiji - Austrailia
Plan 2
2 weeks Tonga - 3 weeks Samoa - 1 week Fiji - 1 week Hawai- 10days Solomon Islands - Austrailia
Plan 3
2 weeks Thailand- 1 month Cambodia - Austrailia
Plan 4
Straight to Aussie/ Sydney for New Years
Plan 5
Claim New Zealand as my own and never leave
At some point over the past few months these have all been THE plan and I can imagine you all being very confused about what I was up to and frustrated that I was unable to make a decision but that is how travel is when you can go anywhere its hard to decide where to go.
So what is the actual plan. Well I have a gig on the 15th of November and will head from there to the airport to fly out of New Zealand on the 16th November at 6am (one final sunrise for the road) and from there head to Singapore for two nights.
After the bright lights of Singapore Chris and I are off to Cambodia we are headed for Kep for 1 month its not touristy and a quiet village on the beach we are going to a fitness camp where you can do classes use their gym and get fed healthy traditional cambodian food sounds great I can work keep active and get some local culture.
Mark is off to Bali to visit his mum and will join us after the camp. After Kep we are heading around the bottom of Cambodia to Kampot and Sihanoukville before we jump to the island of Koh Rong where we will spend new years with friends.
Well so far you just never know ...
Well so far you just never know ...
