Work & Volunteer Abroad

Christchurch

Christ Church Cathedral lies at the heart of Christchurch, an ode to the religion of the English settlers in this region. The church itself is quite the tourist stop nowadays, and includes a gift shop and cafe. Christchurch is the city of gardens, with a 30 hectare garden in the middle of town. In the summer, I hear it is quite beautiful. New Zealand’s 2nd largest city is flat, with the alps far in the background if you are in the suburbs. Central city is nice, with a lot of cool coffeeshops and souvenir shops. I spent time at the Canterbury Museum and the Art Museum, both of which are free and quite informative. This is the gateway to Anarctica, and the exhibit at Canterbury is very cool (yes, that is a pun). There is also an Antartica center near the airport, which I don’t plan to go to, but it’s the home of the Antarctica program here. Spent time today with a friend here, which is good, to see a familiar face. Tomorrow I fly off, three times to be exact. It’ll be a long day, my journey will finally come to an end. It will be good to see my brother at the airport. Kia Ora my friends!

Lake Tekapo

Lake Tekapo is a glacier-formed lake north of Mount Cook National Park. The lakes in this region contain rock flour from the nearby mountains, giving them a beautiful turqouise color, making the very clear sky and the water almost the same color. The YHA in Lake Tekapo has a large bay window onto the water, making it a real pleasure to sit in the lounge. Someone told me the Mt. John walk was a good view, so I went for it, the long way around. It was amazing, as the photos I took should show. Three hours later I returned and made dinner. Read for awhile. Finished the night in conversation with a few Brits and Aussies. Only one more stop left on the south isle.

Mount Cook

Mt. Cook is the highest mountain in Astralasia, at 3755 meters. After hearing stories of wind and rain, I arrived on a sunny day. Not a cloud was to be seen, and the wind was nonexistant. I had to find the best way to see it all, and photograph it for posterity. The YHA receptionist recommended a ski-plane flight, and I took it. A ski-plane is a plane with wheels and skis. It was a small plane, so small in fact that I had to sit next to the pilot. Know what…it was cool to sit next to the pilot. Up we went, and the view of the southern alps was spectacular. We passed by Mt. Cook from a variety of vantage points, then toward the sea, before landing on the largest glacier in New Zealand, Tasman Glacier. There I stood, at 7000 feet, on top of a 600m thick glacier, Mt. Cook looming in the background. Sweet as (as they say here). We then flew off and finished our journey. Many photos were taken. Afterwards, I visited the most famous hotel in New Zealand, The Hermatige, and had hot cholocate at their coffee shop. I also spent a few minutes on their indoor climbing wall.

\r\nThe next day I hiked to Hooker Lake. It was cool, as the four hour hike took me over two suspension bridges to the frozen lake. The Alps were close enough to touch. Very cool. Watched Pulp Fiction later that day. Got to relax the rest of the time, and chat with my English roommates and such. Amazingly, it was sunny all three days I was there, with only the faintest of clouds on the third day.

Queenstown, Part 2

Back to Queenstown, a place fit for the Queen of England, or so early explorers thought. One first task upon my return was to acquire a frisbee golf disc and get a course map. The local disc selection was very disappointing. What they offered was a cheap imation that doesn’t fly the same as a real disc golf disc. However, it says New Zealand on it, and I vaunted off to Queenstown Gardens. After awhile, I found the first tee, and then the first tree. You see, this course uses a mixture of trees, wood poles, and basket poles for holes. It’s the most hodge podge course I have ever seen, and after searching nearly in vain for tees and holes (even with a map), I just went to the basket poles and shot there. Hey, it felt good to just play. Then it got cold though, so I went back the hostel with my souvenir. After getting settled with my room, I went back to town and took photos, and took some throughout the day. Also finished my souvenir shopping. It’s been a challenge to buy gifts, as I keep thinking of more people to buy for, but I’m done now, I think. Without question, Queenstown is the place to buy souvenirs, as they have the best prices and selection I have seen.

Decided to have a cultural experience, and went, well, to McCafe. What is McCafe you say? It’s McDonald’s attempt to make real lattes and cappacinos, and tap into the coffee market. Prices were reasonable, atmosphere was so-so, coffee was average. It didn’t taste bad, but I don’t plan on going back. Finished the night by hanging out with a few people at a local bar, then chatting back at the hostel. I planned on doing a hike or possibly an adrenaline activity the next day. The next day arrived, and upon walking out the door, those thoughts were quickly vanquished. IT WAS COLD! The coldest weather I’ve experienced here, actually. It actually got warmer as the day progressed. Chatted awhile with a new Australian friend and bought a delicious Pizza Hut pizza for dinner. Wow, that hit the hollowed spot. If you can believe it then, I went to the adventure capital of the world and didn’t venture. That’s OK. My eyes are opened to the possibilities now, and at some point some of these are on my list. I have had many great once-in-a-lifetime experiences here, and am quite happy with many of the photos I’m taking with me. Tomorrow morning I leave here, but I may just be back.

Doubtful Sound

The Doubtful Sound trip was a good bargain for the price (got a winter rate), as it was a 9 hour journey. Doubtful Sound was originally called Doubtful Harbor by early NZ explorer John Cook, who thought it doubtful that he could successfully sail in and out of there due to weather conditions. Some later explorers went in and realized it wasn’t a harbor, and renamed it Doubtful Sound, which of course wasn’t totally right either, since it’s a fiord.

Our trip began with a van picking us up from our accomodation and taking us to the next town, Manapouri. From there, we boarded a small boat and crossed Lake Manapouri, which took over an hour. It was raining at that time, as the forecast called for rain. Te Anau receives about 1 meter of rain a year, and Doubtful Sound 7-8 meters. After crossing the lake, we spent a few minutes at the Visitor Centre before boarding a bus and venturing down into the depths of the Manapouri Power Station. It was at the visitor centre that I learned that this is the first hydro power station to generate power while leaving the nearby lakes (Manapouri and Te Anau) at their natural levels. The debate over this power station a few decades ago raised New Zealand’s consciousness about their environment on a national scale. The people of New Zealand have created many ecological problems over the years, and they have been quite serious in taking care of their country in recent times. Seeing the power generators made me feel like I was in a James Bond movie. Maybe I was.

We again boarded the bus and went up the road mountain pass. The road was created to haul equipment in and out of the area, and looked to be the least costly and quickest way to accomplish that. Instead, it took several years and is the most expensive road per foot in NZ. From the top, we got our first rainy glimpse of Doubtful Sound. After our descent, we boarded a larger boat and began our 3 hour tour, and yes, the weather was a bit rough. We stopped short of the Tasman Sea though, lest we end up on some uncharted desert isle (though Seth’s Isle does have a ring to it). Doubtful Sound is much larger than Milford Sound, with greener mountains and rougher water. It is less touristy though, feeling more like a wilderness. The sun peaked through the rain at one point, creating a nice rainbow that I captured on light-sensitive film. The rain then stopped, and I went to the top deck to observe. It remained cloudy, and so wasn’t very photo worthy, but was still very scenic, especially with all the rain-created waterfalls. We enjoyed a mostly rain free cruise, and were able to dine on tea and biscuits at one point. Once back to shore, we bussed back to the visitor centre, then boated back across Lake Manapouri, which was dark and rainy. Lastly, we hopped back on the shuttle bus back to our hostels. I feel very fortunate to have cruised Milford and Doubtful Sounds, and to not feel rushed when I did so. It’s a real privilege.

Te Anau

Te Anau is the gateway city to Fiordland, and is quite scenic itself, with Lake Te Anau nearby and lots of mountains in the background. I planned to stay three days there, and ended up extending it to five when I realized that housing in Queenstown would be hard to find (it’s ski season). After relaxing my first night at the YHA, I started the next day in search of a point-and-shoot zoom camera, which would be a compromise, as the quality wouldn’t suit my remaining slide film as well, but I couldn’t afford an SLR replacement. There weren’t too many options in town, and I checked out both of them. In the end, Te Anau Pharmacy won out. They had a few point-and-shoot, none of which impressed me too much, especially for the price, plus the fact that I didn’t really want them. It turned out they had a few, well, three SLR cameras in stock, one digital and two film. Well, they wanted to sell the display model, and I ended up buying it, saving myself a few hundred dollars. It cost more than it would in the US, as is the case with all electronics here, but, I got the kind of camera I wanted. The only negative is that it acquired some dust from being a display model.

\r\n\r\nI enjoyed my stay at the YHA. The next day I ventured out for 6 hours on the Kepler Track, which would take 3-4 days if I hiked it in full. Relaxed the next day, which included watching a movie or two. The last day I decided I needed to get out, and booked a cruise for Doubtful Sound.