christchurch

hey all!

so, i've now been in christchurch for a total of 5 days, and i am more than ready to get packing...

christchurch is a lovely city, but definitely feels more england than new zealand. so, to its credit it has a nice layout with many historical buildings, a beautiful central plaza (cathedral square) with lots of little fun things to do, and gorgeous botanical gardens. but it certainly is lacking that energy and spark that makes places like queenstown little treasures.

i rode in on the bus on january 6th and settled down into a place called city oasis, which is a few blocks up from the square on peterborough street. its your typical bbh affair, with free soup (mmmmm) and all that jazz. the first couple nights i stayed in a dorm with a hilarious english couple that bickered like old maids. that night i went out and met up with robert (irish poker player) for drinks, and it was so so good to see him again. he is possibly one of the most unexpectedly funny people i've ever met. he's actually headed off to rio de janeiro by now, and i get a chuckle just out of picturing him (with his "bleached" hair that unfortately turned canary yellow) walking around some south american city.

the next day i went out on my own and checked out the city for a bit. the square is really nice, and on certain days is bustling with outside stands all set up selling jewelery, clothing, hats, candied nuts, kebabs, baked potatoes, chinese food, sausage, coffee etc... its a nice place to just sit and watch people go by. also, a canadian dude sometimes does some sort of magic act (i don't have the patience to watch him get all the way through one trick, but i imagine he must being doing something neat) which draws a lot of people. i also had the pleasure of seeing the world famous christchurch wizard, an old man dressed in a wizards hat and cloak who perches himself on top of a ladder and gives rambling argumentative speeches to an often large and amused crowd. pretty amazing. apparently he is semi-retired, so i'm glad i caught him. he was talking about god being a woman, and something about educating the masses. i dont know. the square also featured a little contraption that allows children to bounce on trampolines while attached to bungy cords.

the next day was january 8th, my birthday!!! i woke up early and took a walk into the botanical gardens. this area is really the gem of christchurch. it is absolutely huge and gorgeous. i could have spent my entire time in chch in the gardens and i wouldn't have been bored. it was a nice, peaceful way to spend the first half of my birthday. at about noon, i hopped on the bus out to the airport to pick up joel. for anyone who isn't entirely in the know... joel is my ex-boyfriend who is coming to visit for a few weeks to travel around the south island. we have still managed to be really close friends, so him coming on my birthday was really great. i picked him up around 2 and we headed back to the hostel to chill. apparently his flight was awful... he ate something wrong and it was still hurting his stomach quite a bit. and anyone who knows joel knows that he absolutely loves to eat, and can pack away more food than anyone else i have ever known. so having stomach problems is pretty much a death sentence for him. but he was sweet enough to accompany me on my birthday dinner out at mum's, a korean-japanese restaurant in the square, and slurped on some chicken soup while i gorged myself on beef and noodles. mmmmm. he also dropped off my christmas presents from home, which included two books (the thirteenth tale, and the omnivores dilemma) and a shirt that fits me like a sausage casing... isn't it great what a diet of bread and pasta can do to you? ohhhhboy. i was super psyched to get some new books though.

so since then joel and i have been enjoying the city (going to the botanical gardens as often as possible, and going to the museums for me and the historical sights for joel) and planning our trip around the south island. tomorrow we are catching a train up to picton to stay with rob and frances at glenmara for a couple days. then we grab a stray bus to abel tasman and stay there for a while. so in other words, i will be offline for a week or so. oh, and my camera thingy isn't working on these computers, so i'll be a little late in posting pics from chch.

anyways, i'm gonna try and log off before i spend another dollar.

much love to you all, and thanks so much for the birthday wishes!!!

cheers,
alli