Queenstown - our favorite small big town - Part One

After much deliberation about whether to drive through the Catlins on our way to the western side of the South Island, we decided we were running out of time and needed to speed things up a bit...traveling at a leisurely pace is great until you've got two weeks left and half a country left to still see! So we drove straight from Dunedin to Queenstown and decided to stay there for a few days before we headed down to Milford Sound and Fiordland because the forecast was five straight days of rain...

Our plan for Queenstown was for Don to do some mountain biking and just to see the area, including Lake Wanaka, which is about an hour away from Queenstown. Our first day, I dropped Don off at Rabbit Ridge Mountain Bike Resort; I should mention that after dropping Don off, I stopped at the A.J. Hacket Bungy Jump site outside Queenstown and watched several people bungy jump off the bridge. It was exhilarating just watching other people do it...I think I had butterflies in my stomach for them! 

After exploring Queenstown a bit on my own, I did a little shopping before hunkering down in a lovely cafe with the first ever iced coffee I'd had in weeks. I think I mentioned before that usually iced coffee in NZ means that it has both cream and ice cream in it. This one was just espresso over ice with some soy milk and sugar in it. I also went to the grocery store to find some lunch before driving down the Esplanade, finding parking, and sitting on the shore of Lake Wakatipu. The view I had while eating my lunch was one of the best views I've experienced during the whole trip. 

Yum

The following are photos that Don took on his five hour mountain biking excursion while I was being a lazy bum :D

ChCh

Next on the adventure...Christchurch! No great adventures are without bumps and unexpected (both good and not-so good) happenings along the way, as you've read from my previous post.

Let me begin with this: I am a very frugal person, sometimes to a fault because I miss out on amazing experiences because I don't feel like I should spend my money on something. That being said, I did a lot of research on places to stay in ChCh, and my stinginess (is that a word?!) got the better of me; meaning that our accommodations were a bit more dodgy than I would have liked. I'll have you know that since the earthquake in 2011, hostels and places to sleep are a bit harder to find as there are fewer now. Most travel sites recommend booking days in advance to ensure that you'll have a bed. Anywho, I found place on AirBnB that from the outside looked like it could have been okay...the renter had no reviews and very few photos of the place but I figured I'd give it the benefit of the doubt, since of course, it was pretty much a steal being half the cost of a hostel bed in ChCh.

We walked in the house and just in the front entryway, the floor was absolutely filthy, garbage everywhere...only a path cleared to walk from room to room. Cat vomit, dirty dishes, oddly colored stains, the list goes on. It was more what I expected from couch surfing than from AirBnB. I was less than thrilled but traveling is all about adventure and adjusting to whatever comes your way. Our hosts were four younger men and one woman, all of whom were extremely friendly and kind to us, so that helped us to see beyond the filth of the house. We stayed there for three nights and tried to spend the majority of our waking hours away and outside of the house seeing the city.

We spent our first day wandering mostly around the CBD (central business district, pretty much what they call what we in America would think of as the downtown and city center area) and also around the botanical gardens and in Hagley Park. The Re:Start container mall, which is an outdoor shopping center made entirely out of huge metal shipping containers, was much more impressive than we had both expected. Not only did they have an amazing wood fired pizza eatery, but the stores were very funky and interesting. Both Don and I picked up a few odds and ends to use as Christmas gifts later on. We continued on to see the damaged cathedral and surroundings where a lot of up-cycling has taken place. Not only are there murals everywhere, but there were gardens on roofs, quirky statues and all kinds of artistic oddities that were interspersed throughout the city center.

Our second day was very chilly, windy, and wee bit rainy, so we did a good deal of planning for the rest of our time in the South Island. Next stop: Dunedin.

Fun afternoon with this handsome guy at the Re:Start Container Mall 

The cathedral is still absolutely beautiful

I love the garden of flowers growing on the roof of the walkway to the Cathedral

All the cool murals and sculpture brings Christchurch CBD to life again

Hi, Don!

 

Very cool recycled art is all throughout the Christchurch CBD

The cardboard cathedral that's been built since the earthquake in February 2011

Hmmm...giant fake grass covered wooden couch, not sure what to make of it

Street sign collage from after the earthquake in 2011

The kindness of strangers

This is a truly great story that I can't wait to tell you...I think it truly encapsulates that generosity, compassion, and true kindness we have experienced on this trip so far.

So, we had purchased tickets on the Coastal Pacific Railway that would take us from Picton to Christchurch. It was much pricier than it would have been to drive but we had heard great things about the trip as the rail ins mere steps from the water the whole trip so we decided to splurge a little for the scenic trip. After our time in Blenheim, we drove back to Picton to drop off our car rental and parked ourselves on a bench outside the library (free WiFi, ya know I'm saying?). We had been sitting there for about an hour, eating some food, surfing the interwebs, making some plans, etc., when I decided to check the email and wouldn't you know it, a train had derailed outside Picton and they were cancelling our train but were offering bus service to ChCh for the same price. No way was I paying the same amount for a bus ticket as for a train ticket so we proceeded to the rail station to inform them of our decision to find our own transport to ChCh. Of course, at this point, we had absolutely no idea what that "own transport" would be but I had high hopes that we could either catch a much cheaper bus or snag a one way/relocation rental.

We wandered over to the ferry landing where all the car rental offices were and chatted with one of the attendants who informed us that their one way rentals had a minimum hire of five days. Not only had we had planned to only walk and take public transit in ChCh but we had planned to only spend about two days there...meaning that we would be using a car for two days and paying for five days usage.

A wonderful family from Florida that was visiting their Au Pair daughter from Auckland, had plans to drive their rental car from Picton to Christchurch and overheard us talking with the rental car agent. The mother of the family, Marge, asked us what our plans were and if we needed a ride to ChCh. We said yes, of course, so we proceeded to make sure that the two of us (and all of our bags) could fit into the Subaru station wagon  along with the four of them and all their bags. And we did, but I had to sit on Don's lap for the whole four hour drive. Not sure who I should thank more...the family who drove us or Don, who endured a numb and painful lap the entire four hour drive. The family who drove us what extremely kind...it was a long trip, but they were very considerate and fun to travel with! It was another example of the generosity and kindness we have experienced during this trip and this time it wasn't even from Kiwi's, it was from American's like ourselves! Thank you to Marge, Harold, Alison, and Owen for giving us a ride to Christchurch!

On our way, we stopped at a seal nursery/colony, which was amazing!

WETA WORKSHOP!!!!!!!!

Our second day in Wellington, we drove out to Miramar in Wellington to see the Weta Cave...I had read the prices wrong and thought that it was around $100 for a tour of the Weta Cave. Silly me, turns out it was only $24! Woohoo! Before the tour, they showed a quick documentary that went into the history of Weta Workshop from it's beginnings until today and went into the creative partnership between Richard Taylor and Peter Jackson that started the company.

The tour was well worth it...I could have walked around for hours in the small workshop area that they allow visitors inside. Because they are often working on movies and television shows that haven't been released or maybe even announced yet, visitors can only see a very very small portion. They threatened that if we were to take any photos inside the Weta Cave, we will be sued like a gazillion dollars or something ridiculous like that.

***I might add that Don also enjoyed Weta Workshop. I add that because up until this trip, he had always sort of playfully made fun of my Lord of the Rings obsession. While we were staying with our couch surfing host family in Upper Hutt, we had been watching the extended versions of the movies and he realized that he actually really liked the movies! I also want to note that Weta Workshop has worked on many other movies besides LOTR including Avatar, the Avengers, Elysium, Edge of Tomorrow, etc.

 

I was in my glory...

We also decided to go out to eat for the first time since we had been in New Zealand...by go out to eat, I mean sit down and eat a full meal at a restaurant. We had grabbed sandwiches and pastries at different delis and shops but hadn't had a full meal out. Our couch surfing host Veronica gave us a buy 1 get 1 free deal for the restaurant we wanted to go to, Scorch-o-Rama, right on the water a few kilometers past Weta Cave.

The view...

This is my favorite view :D

The one with Peter Jackson's home town

I've heard rumor that Sir Peter Jackson has a replica of Bilbo Baggin's hobbit hole in his Wellington backyard for his guests to stay in so I tried to contact him and asked if we could stay there but never received any reply :( womp womp. Since that never panned out, we found another family to couch surf with who lived in Upper Hutt, which is about 30 minutes north of Wellington. Our plan was to stay two nights there and then take the ferry to Picton in the South Island but we quickly realized that we were grossly unprepared to pack all of our possessions (which were strewn all over the rental car we had gotten in Auckland, I might add) back into our bags, try to see Wellington and surrounding areas all while trying to get ferry tickets, and make accommodation and transportation plans for Picton/South Island etc. So...we decided to stay a couple extra days in Wellington just to do some planning and logistical stuff.

Back to the cool stuff, like what we saw and did while in Wellington...

Our first afternoon there, we walked through the Wellington Botanical Gardens before we went to the top of Mount Victoria to see the beautiful panoramic views of the city. We both love seeing gardens in the different cities and towns that we visit, even back in the US, so since we've been in New Zealand, we've tried to visit every garden that we could find.

Some adorable ducklings that we saw in the botanical garden

It's springtime in New Zealand!

A field of poppies...I was in heaven

View of Wellington harbor from the top of Mount Victoria