Before I get into New Zealand, I have to tell you about the fiasco I had getting here!
So Brin and I had to fly from Melbourne to Sydney before flying to New Zealand. Our flight from Melbourne went as schedule, and Terry cooked us a wonderful breakfast before we took off. Our Sydney flight, however, was a differerent story. After boarding the plane around 6:15pm, we started down the runway as per usual. However, after starting to pick up some speed, the plane jolted and all of the sudden we were off the runway. Within seconds the smell of burnt rubber was potent in the air, and we were informed that the front tire had blown. All we had to say was thank God it happened on take-off and not when we were landing.
So after getting towed back to the airport we all filed off the plane back into the waiting area and were told to stay near by for updates while the engineer looked over the plane. Over four hours of waiting later, we're finally told that the flight was cancelled and we would all be re-scheduled to fly to Christchurch the next day.
In took another two hours to get our flight for the next day and sign up for a free stay and the nearest hotel. This was a definate perk, as we both got our own rooms and a massive buffet breakfast the next morning!! It's too bad we couldn't have had more time to enjoy the hotel and everything it had to offer: by the time we checked in it was past 1am, and we had to be up the next morning by 5:30 to eat and get to the airport for our flight.
Another compensation for the inconvenience was credit equal to the Sydney-Christchurch flight to fly at another date, so Brin decided she wanted to do that and hang out in Australia for a few more days. I caught the 8am flight to Christchurch and arrived there around 1:30pm (they're 2 hours ahead).
I'm couchsurfing in Christchurch, and it's been another wonderful experience. My host's name is Kirsty, and she lives 5 minutes from the airport so she came and picked me up. She cooked me a wonderful chicken dinner last night, and I got to meet her dad and her brother as they came over for supper too.
Today was an adventure out in Christchurch. Kirsty's roomate, Kristy (not as confusing as it sounds) works in the city, so we caught the bus this morning together. I spent the whole day taking in the sights of Christchurch. It's a cute little city of around 300,000 (I think), and it has a lot to see. I toured the museum, which was one of the best I've ever seen; I ventured to the art center, which had a lot of really interesting works; and I took a stroll through the Botanical Gardens, which was quite impressive. As beautiful as it was now (winter) I can only imagine how fantastic it would be in the summer. Right there is reason enough to get me back to Christchurch in the summer. And belive it or not those three activites took me pretty much all day. However, I did take my time getting from place to place, as there was so much other stuff to take in. For instance, in the middle of their Catherdral Square is a life-size chess set, so I hung out there and watched some people play as I ate my peanut butter and banana sandwhich for lunch. They also had a big shopping district, so I took my time weaving in and out of ones that caught my interest.
Tomorrow I begin my real New Zealand adventure by taking the TranzAlpine train from Christchurch, the east of the south island, to Greymouth, the west of the south island. The ride is considered one of the world's best train journeys for the amazing scenery through which it passes. It's approximately 223 km and takes four and a half hours. I'm pretty excited about it as I've never riden on a train before.
From Greymouth I'll make my way south on the west coast on a travller's bus called Magic Traveller. It's a bus geared for tourists where it has a pre-planned itineray, but you can hop on and off it as you please. My bus will make a loop around the south island and return back to Christchurch where I will fly out of on August 1st to Auckland, and then straight from there to Malaysia.
