Gate to the South Island of New Zealand
New Zealand consists of two major islands, the North and the South island. Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island with around 350,000 people. The City was established in the 1850s by Anglican English settlers and this heritage shows in its fine older buildings, especially the neo-gothic buildings. It is also known as Garden City because of all the many trees you find in the city.
Far far away from home for my 30th birthday
At relatively short notice I booked a 3.5 week trip to New Zealand. I wanted to spend my 30th birthday in the country that is furthest away from my home country, about 18,000 km and thus 1/2 an orbit of the earth. And the month of March proves to be a good month for travelling. The accommodations and attractions are not as crowded as in the high season between December and February, but the temperatures are still pleasantly warm in New Zealand's late summer. Yet even in March there are still many tourists touring around and I only had limited time in New Zealand. So I had to make a plan where I wanted to stay and for how long as New Zealand is overflowing with beautiful places. I chose to start in the South Island and make my way up to the North Island and fly out from Auckland.
Strict border policies
When checking into the plane from Melbourne to Christchurch I had to show my return ticket out of New Zealand, since this is mandatory to travel to New Zealand. My flight with Virgin Australia took off on March 1st at 5 pm. Exactly at midnight I reached the Shaky Islands, as the Australians call them because of their many earthquakes. New Zealanders are also very strict when it comes to immigration and prohibit the import of many types of food. The customs officers even asked me which nuts and oatmeal I carried in my bag.
From there a shared taxi dropped me off at my hostel, the Dorset House. A typical New Zealand house, two-storied and made of wood. Everyone in the hostel was already fast asleep and I tried to lie down quietly on my bed in the middle of the room.
A city in reconstruction after a terrible earthquake
When I wanted to buy something for breakfast early the next morning, I couldn't find a single supermarket that was open. The only small supermarket nearby had such strange opening hours that you could buy something there at 2 am on Tuesday, but not on Saturday at 9 am. So without breakfast I went out to have a look at the city. In doing so I met the Filipino immigrant Japp via CouchSurfing, who showed me his city. We didn't spend much time together, because the city is so small that you can see everything in 1-2 hours. The architecture of some buildings shows clear British influences.
A heavy earthquake shook the city in 2011. Almost 200 people died and buildings significantly damaged or even collapsed. In the city centre you can still see the church, which was damaged by the earthquake and is still under construction. Next to it, a huge metallic bouquet of flowers commemorates the many victims of the earthquake. It became evident that the city was just about to recover from these events. In the centre there were many chic buildings with graffiti and new architecture.
The Christchurch cable car
By bus I went afterwards to the Christchurch cable car, which is not in the city itself but in the suburb Lyttleton. For 30 NZ$ (17 €), the gondola took me up to Littleton Rock, where I enjoyed the view in the Red Rock Café with a coffee. The view to the Lyttleton Harbour resembled a postcard. Down in the valley there was a bright blue sea surrounded by mountains.
To get down, I did not take the cable car, but took the hiking trail on the other side of the mountain and reached the small hilly village of Lyttleton. There were some nice cafés here, but apart from that the village was not worth mentioning.
Expensive food prices
After a short break I got back on the bus to Christchurch, where I took an afternoon walk through the botanical garden. In the evening I tried to get a cheap meal, but that is almost impossible in New Zealand. In this respect it is even more expensive than Australia.The cheapest place I found was a Thai restaurant that was named Street Food, but it was an ordinary restaurant and the prices were not street food-like but amounted to at least 15NZ$ (8 €).
Symbolic name leads to tragedy
Already the next morning I moved on to Dunedin. As I dragged my luggage through the deserted streets, past picturesque willows, I thought to myself: here in this tranquil place with such a symbolic name as Christchurch, no crime is likely to take place. How surprised I was two weeks later when I heard in the news that an Australian created a bloodbath in the local mosque and had chosen the city precisely because of its symbolic name. And yet the city was still digesting the tragedy of the earthquake. Now it has to cope with another stroke of fate. The New Zealanders were all stunned that this could happen in their country. In front of every Islamic institution, they laid out their flowers as a sign of compassion.
