New Zealand

So I went to New Zealand about three weeks ago, and I've been putting off updating. Sorry guys. :(


Thursday 22 May

So today, we left for Christchurch, New Zealand from the Brisbane International airport. It was Hailey, Erica and me. The flight went well, although it was long, and we got into Christchurch around 11PM local time.

The airport shuttle dropped us off at our hostel,
the Thomas Hotel. Let me just say, nice place. If you're in Christchurch and need an inexpensive place to stay check out the Thomas Hotel. Seriously. We were so excited to be in New Zealand that we dropped our things off in our room, checked out the amenities quickly and were ready to go out on the town! Our hostel was about a 5-10 minute walk away from Cathedral Square, the main square in Christchurch. We found ourselves a 24-hour McDonald's and sat in the square, watching drunks go by. It was a lot of fun, believe it or not.

Friday 23 May

Today we got up semi-early and decided to check out Christchurch in the daylight. We walked to Cathedral Square again and went into the Cathedral. It was gorgeous! I took tons of pictures, because I really have a thing for the architecture in churches.

After we toured the Cathedral, we went to Southern Exposure (if that's what it was called) where we saw a bunch of awesome fish and we saw kiwis! And when I say kiwis, I don't mean the fruit or New Zealanders (but we did see New Zealanders too). Kiwis are flightless birds native to New Zealand. They're really cute. They're nocturnal and have really thick, tiny feathers covering their body. It almost looks like fur. Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures, but it was pretty great!

After the little aquarium, we went to COCA, which is a contemporary art gallery. Not worth it. If you walk up the street about 3 minutes you'll get to the Christchurch Art Gallery. That was worth it, as well as free. It was mostly modern art, but they had a blue exhibit that was semi-interactive. It was pretty sweet. From the art gallery, we walked to the botanic gardens. They were so gorgeous! It was such a nice place to just walk around and relax. The Avon River goes right through the botanic gardens, and it was just so peaceful! It was positively fantastic!

Saturday 24 May

Today is the day. The day of the Lord of the Rings tour to Edoras! I was beyond excited, but incredibly tired as well (we had to get up early in order to be ready
for our pick-up!). Erica & I hopped on this insane looking vehicle and we were off! There was a lovely older couple from Rochester, New York there who had just come from their daughter's wedding in Sydney. The trip out to Edoras* was great! Such lovely scenery. We went over a river that has the bluest water! It's from a glacier that is melting and the silica stays in the water, making it incredibly blue. It was awesome!

Although the weather was rainy and all around kind of yucky, it was such a great trip. We learned about Lord of the Rings, saw amazing scenery, and got to see Edoras! Our tour guide actually worked on Lord of the Rings and many other Peter Jackson films, including King Kong and The Lovely Bones as on-site sound production. He was incredibly nice and very funny. He's won two Oscars, one for LOTR: Return of the King and another for King Kong.

Edoras itself was gorgeous! It's not actually called Edoras, but the city was placed on top of Mt. Sunday. The views were amazing, and would have been even better on a clear day! We also got to play with re-produced props from the movies, like swords and such. It was so cool!

After the tour, the three of us went to an improv-comedy show called Scared Scriptless. It was great!

Sunday 25 May

Our last full day in Christchurch. We walked around the city quite a bit and enjoyed the markets across from our hostel. A nutella crepe is a perfect way to start your day, incase you weren't aware.

Today we shopped around and got our necessary souvenirs. We tried to meet up with some fellow Arcadians, but it didn't work out as planned. The last day in Christchurch ended up being a great one though!

Monday 26 May (ANZAC Day)

ANZAC day is like Veteran's day for Australians/New Zealanders. Although New Zealand didn't have many festivities today in particular, they had for most of the weekend.

Today we left. It was sad, because I knew that upon returning to Australia I would miss the autumn weather that I had become so accustomed to. You have to understand that Queensland is so far north we don't have many seasons... Mostly just Summer and Winter (a winter that feels like summer). It was sad to go back, but good to see my friends again!

♥ caitlin


*Edoras is the city in LOTR: Two Towers on top of the mountain.

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