Dolphins, Spiders and Caves Oh My!

This weekend we finally both had two days off in a row and got to do some stuff around Canterbury. Saturday we drove out to Banks Peninsula and went on a boat tour of LeBons Bay with Gary from the LeBonsBay Backpacker and about 8 Germans. On the boat trip we got to see some amazing wildlife in its natural habitat. The best were all the Hector's Dolphins.

The Hector’s dolphins are the rarest dolphins in the world and are endemic to New Zealand. The Hector’s dolphin was named after Sir James Hector. Sir James was the curator of the Colonial Museum in Wellington (now the museum of New Zealand - Te Papa). Adults grow to be between 1.2 and 1.4 meters long. The forehead of the Hector’s slopes down to the tip, so it does not create a protruding beak like the bottlenose dolphin. It has a small, rounded dorsal fin – all other species of dolphin found in New Zealand waters have crescent shaped fins that are more pointed than the Hector's Dolphins.

We also saw some seals and two pairs of nesting yellow eyed penguins. As well as same some shags, herons and other birds. The water was a bit choppy because of the wind and one of the German girls who was obviously sea sick said that she would rather be a sheep on land than a dolphin in the water in NZ. Gary the boat driver was joking back and asked if she was sure because "Dolphins are protected in New Zealand and you know what happens to the sheep here? We eat them." After the nice boat trip we went back to the Backpackers for a cup of tea and then hiking later in the day at Hinewai Reserve. Then drove to Akaroa for an ice cream and then over to Pigeon Harbor and Diamond Harbor before returning to Christchurch.

On Sunday we drove towards the west coast just past Castle Hill to hike through the Cave Stream. This is a 362 meter hike upstream in a river through a limestone cave with crystal clear cool water and small waterfalls. In this cave's dark zone lives a rare spider, the cave harvestman. It is known to live only in this cave and only 1 other on the West Coast. We saw a couple of these spiders but not too many. It was an amazing hike through the cave.


Last week we went out to a nature reserve in Christchurch to see some Pukeko.
And took a trip to New Brighton Beach.

West Coast & Back

Nick, Ryan, & I went on our first road trip the first few days in December. Nick then continued down to Dunedin and Queenstown. Here are the details of our quick loop over to the West Coast and back through Aurthor's Pass.

Hanmer Springs - The first stop on this trip was a town called Hanmer Springs. Which is famous for (you guessed it!) hot springs which were opened in 1883. We stayed at a camp ground and went to the hot springs the next day. They have 12 pools of varying temperatures. After a relaxing day we headed on to the next stop.

Blacks Point - Just pass Lewis pass is Blacks Point, a historical gold mining town from the 1870's. We stopped here to take a quick hike to a mine called the Energetic mine. It was a nice hike through a forest area.

Greymouth - We first reached the West Coast of NZ at Greymouth, which is the largest town on the west coast. We camped at a holiday park that was right at the end of the Greymouth Airport runway and right on the beach. I think that is the only time that we have slept at the end of a runway. It was not too busy of an airport so that was a good thing. When were cooking dinner we meet a German girl and a guy from France that were also staying at the Holiday park. And we saw some cool flightless birds called Weka running around the tent area. In the morning we drove North up the coast to see the Pancake Rocks, first stopping to hike out to a peninsula called Point Elizabeth. It was a very tropical rain forest hike until we were at the end of the peninsula.

Punakaiki/Pancake Rocks - The Pancake Rocks are located at Dolomite Point. They are fascinating rocks that do look like dozens of stacked pancakes.

Monteith's Brewery Tour - After looking at the Pancake Rocks we headed back to Greymouth and toured the Monteith's Brewery. It is the oldest Brewery in NZ and originally was around to supply Gold miners with beer.

Aurthur's Pass - Driving back to the east we camped in Waimakariri Valley and woke up to...not rain, but our first experience with hundreds of Sand Flies. After packing up camp quickly and eating a breakfast of Muesli and yogurt in the car we headed into the main part of Authur's pass. There we stopped at the visitor's center and then decided to hike up to Devil's Punchbowl Falls. It was a really beautiful waterfall. After the hike before we left we were back at the visitor center parking lot and Ryan was mentioning that we hadn't seen any Kea parrots and he would like to before we left there. Almost as if on command, two green Keas landed on the hood of our parked car. They are cheeky parrots that are very curious. Our sight seeing in Aurthur's Pass now complete we headed on.

Cave Stream - We stopped at cave stream and would have hiked through the river along this 365 meter trail through a cave but we didn't have our head lamps with us so this will have to be a hike for another time. We did stop in Springfield for lunch and had some yummy pies.

Back in Ch.Ch. - This week back in Christchurch was a typical week. I did however get to see the resident Wizard of Christchurch who came into the Cathedral Cafe for a flat white coffee. This Sunday we had a nice brunch with our flat mates, Libby & Caleb, at the Globe cafe. I ordered a large mocha and it came in a bowl. It was definitely a LARGE coffee. Then we all headed to a flea market and then to a beach on the Banks Peninsula to get some round stones for the garden. We then drove back home through the Port Hills overlooking Littleton Harbor to Christchurch. After a nice day we had a BBQ in the back yard because the weather was so nice.

Thanksgiving and Barbies

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner here last Saturday with Moya, John, Libby Caleb, Ryan and I. It was a bit of an adventure finding all the ingredients but we did pretty well. I even baked a pumpkin pie from scratch. This desert seemed a bit strange to the Kiwis because pumpkin is usually a veggie. We also had turkey with stuffing, burnt beans, mashed potatoes, Crasins (instead of cranberry sauce, rolls and mashed pumpkin.

We had a barbie (BBQ) the other day with two other Americans. Zach from Colorado and his friend Walter. We cooled up some nice steaks and talked all about our experiences here. They also gave us quite a warning about sand flies which has me worried a bit for camping.

Nick, Ryan, and I now have a car to get around in. It is a 1991 Ford Telestar wagon. It is blue. Not too much to say about it, but it was a good deal. It runs fine so far and we hope it does well for the road trip we have coming up next week when Nick's friend is here. It is a manual which is funny when we are driving on the opposite side of the road than we are used to.

Random Kiwi's from around town.

Sea Kayaking in Akaroa

This past Sunday Ryan and I took a field trip to Akaroa, a town on the Banks Peninsula. It was a beautiful sunny day and we rented a two person sea kayak for half a day to explore the harbor(video). We were hoping to see some dolphins but it was the end of a holiday weekend so there were a lot of motor boats and sail boats all around. They man that rented us the kayaks said that dolphins like singing, but even our own sing along did not get us anywhere. We may need to take one of the wildlife cruises to the mouth of the harbor to see dolphins. The rest of the day we went hiking around town and then took the Akaroa shuttle back to Christchurch.

This week we are still looking for a car and we are having an American Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. It should be fun.

Cup Day - Horses & Hats

Cup Day here in Christchurch was a great event this year. The event is officially called the Trotting Cup, which was held at the the Addington Raceway on Tuesday. The event was a sell out this year. With people dressed to the nines. It was great to see all the fashions and the hats and to watch the horse racing. People even brought in picnic lunches. The weather was also quite interesting from sunny and hot, to windy and rainy, then back to sunny.

After the race, we had some Greek food and then saw a free show of a up and coming NZ band called Atlas. There were a lot of people at the show that were still all dressed up from the races. Friday is a public holiday here and there are events going on at the fair grounds, such as a rodeo and stock show. We will have to see if we can make it over there to see it.

Rugby and a Show

Some weeks go quicker than others. Mostly if you are working hard or playing hard. This past week Ryan got to participate in a touch rugby league with Caleb on Thursday. It looks like a lot of fun. The entire game is non stop for 30 min. You get 5 downs to score and have to pass the ball backwards or straight across and then run till you are tagged. I may try to play next week.

We also went to a concert on Friday to hear Liam Finn play. He is rather impressive and plays almost all the instruments in the band just records a track and loops it then switches to a new instrument. He played at St. Michael's church. It was interesting having a show like that in a church because instead of a concert or bar venue where everyone is up and about dancing and listening to the music. In the church atmosphere everyone was very reserved sitting politely in the church pews.

My sister Michelle has just got a new Mac and along with that decided to set up a blog of her own. Check it out....
http://web.mac.com/dhoogester/Site/Blog/Blog.html

Guy Fawkes Night

Ryan and I are settling in to things in Christchurch. It is nice to live close to downtown. Yesterday Guy Fawkes Day (Nov 5th) was celebrated here in Christchurch at New Brighton Beach. They had a nice fireworks display off of the New Brighton Beach Pier. Lots of people gathered at the beach on picnic blankets. It started to rain a little right before the fireworks started and the bus ride home was packed. At least the bus to the beach there picks up right in front of the house.

Here is my first YouTube video of the finale of the fireworks.

Here is a little info about Guy Fawkes Night and fireworks in NZ from Wikipedia:
In New Zealand, the retail sale of personal use fireworks is permitted to those 18 and older, and may now only be sold on the 4 days leading to Guy Fawkes Night. Firecrackers have been banned since 1993, and rockets or any firework where the firework itself flies have been banned since 1994. Despite these sales restrictions, there is actually no restriction on when one may light fireworks, only a restriction on when they may be sold. Despite the insistence of most anti-fireworks campaigners, the continuing "mad rush" of fireworks sales show that New Zealanders still appreciate fireworks and/or Guy Fawkes Night. Helen Clark, the Prime Minister is considering banning fireworks in New Zealand if New Zealanders "behave badly" on Guy Fawkes night this year.

Meeting the Mayor

Quite a lot has happened this past week. Notably the biggest news is that we have a new semi-permanent place to live till January with a great Kiwi couple, Caleb and Libby, in a nice house downtown that was built in 1890 called Cashel Cottage. Caleb is working on a deck out back that will be great for summer BBQ's. Ryan and I are glad that we have a refrigerator here and Internet as well.

Another major event his week is that Ryan and I both have jobs and have been working for a week. We also set up our bank accounts and irds (tax id's) so that we can now be paid, yeah. I am working as a Barista in the Cathedral Cafe and Ryan is temporarily working for a mail order clothing factory. I am going to learn to be an expert at making long blacks, flat whites, cappchinos, lattes, and other coffees.

We also attended a wonderful church Oktoberfest with Moya's church where we were personally introduced to the mayor of Christchurch by Moya who was dressed up as a clown to hand out lollies (candy) to the kids at the fair.

Fisrt Week in Christchurch

Ryan and I have been in Christchurch for a week so far. Here is the recap on what we have done so far. The first five days we spent with Moya and John. Staying at their place as like staying at a fancy hotel. They were very nice to us and we had wonderful teas (dinners) there. Then we moved into another flat still in Mount Pleasant (suburb) for a week and are currently looking for something a little closer to the city to be more permanent. We applied for ird’s (tax id’s), then acquired: mobile prepay phones, library cards, and Metro (bus) cards. We are applying for jobs at the moment and when we have a more stable address then we will get bank accounts. It would also be nice to get a car or even a bike. Most of our days are spent using the Internet at the main city library and walking around the city. The Cathedral Square is the heart of the city. With about 7,000 tourists passing through the Cathedral every year. That is not much compared to some cities but is a lot for here. There are a few ports down the coast that drop a lot of cruise ships off in the area and then tourists are bussed into Christchurch. I had my first interview today to be a Barista on the weekends at the Cathedral Café. I will find out later today if I got the job or not. Nick is working as a bar man at a place called the Spate’s Ale house.

We have done some sight seeing around the city. The first was a picnic walk around Godley Head Walkway near Taylor’s Mistake beach with Moya and John. We have walked through the city center almost every day. Most days the weather has been nice except for the wind and an occasional rain shower. We walked through the Christchurch Botanic Gardens and took a tour of the Christchurch Museum. They have a nice exhibit on Antarctica and the first treks to the South Pole. We also spent a day to go to the Maori Village and Colonial Village exhibition just down the hill from where we are living and had a traditional Hungi meal. So far things seems to be going well. It will be nice to be settled in a more permanent place and have a stable job, then we can check out some of the country side.

Sunrise in Sidney

Monday we we started the trek to NZ. We left early in the morning when Sam dropped us off at Denver International Airport and arrived about 9am to spend the day in the Bay Area. First we took the Bart to Berkeley, CA and wandered around, ducking into the library when it started to rain. Then when the weather cleared up we took the BART and the bus to the Fisherman's wharf. Back at the airport before our 11 pm departure to Sidney we meet up with Michelle and then went to a little restaurant in the airport to watch the Colorado Rockies make it to the world series. In the restaurant was a band called Tesla that was on the same flight to Sidney with us. The flight boarded about 600 or more people knee to back with every seat full and we headed towards Sydney. We left the sparkling lights of San Francisco and were meet at the end of the flight with a beautiful sunrise over Sydney. The opera house was beautiful. We then took an Air New Zealand flight about 2 hours later and arrived in Christchurch. We made it through customs with out much ado. They checked out tent and hiking shoes for un-wanted biological material and stamped work visas in our pass ports. John and Moya picked us up at the airport. We are staying there a few days. We also meet their son Jeremy.

From Colorado to New Zealand

Ryan and I are going to New Zealand to work for a year...It was, Ryan's brother, Nick's idea to start with, but sounded intriguing. Once my job had ended the idea sounded even better. So Ryan and I decided to join his brother Nick in applying for Working Holiday visas to go to New Zealand. It only took about 2 days to hear back on the NZ website. We then started to think about all the other details that needed to take place before embarking on a new adventure. The top priority was to rent our house and have our wedding. Both of which happened successfully.

Nick will be heading to Christchurch on Sept 18 and then Ryan and I will follow on October 15. We arrive there on October 17th on Ryan's 30th birthday. It should be a great adventure. We are now starting to look for work, housing, and a cheap car.

More updates soon.