New Zealand: Travel Week, Part 1
As promised, this post will be about my adventures of New Zealand before I started the missions work. So, I woke up that first morning in Christchurch (the largest city in South Island) at 7 a.m. and my roommate/friend (Brianna) was still sleeping so I took the time to mentally settle in and that's when I realized that I was in a different country, away from home. Like, far away.
And the time difference came as a shock because it was Monday morning for me, but Saturday for my family and friends back home. Eventually, I got used to the time difference, and was able to stay connected with my family at certain times of the day. However, Brianna was right that I was to stay up until it was time to go to bed, New Zealand time, otherwise, I probably would have woken up earlier, with nothing to do. So, on that Monday, the jet lag wasn't too horrible. I still needed time to adjust though.
Brianna woke up shortly after I had a few minutes of peace and quiet in the morning before we started our day of exploring. She and I had prepared for this trip months in advance, and that first day was completely full of activities. We booked a tour of sorts that took us from one side of Christchurch to the other, while also having room to eat and walk around for a little bit. We walked a lot that first day, but mostly because we didn't figure out the bus system ... yet haha.
We stopped by a coffee shop, which had the coolest setup: ambient lighting, and couches and tables. With a rug hanging on the wall. Perfect way to start off the week!
And we walked. On the opposite side of the street, which was still tripping me up; I still had to double check both ways before crossing, because I couldn't wrap my mind around it haha. Brianna had been in New Zealand the week prior, so she had already adjusted, and I was thankful to have her with me, otherwise I'd have taken much longer to figure out where to go and what to do. When you cross the street, though, the sound for the cross walk is so loud, that you can hear it over your headphones (if you were listening to music or whatever), and people actually stop when there's a red light, allowing pedestrians to safely cross. (Unlike Charlotte, where people drive whenever and wherever they'd like). The cross walk sounds like this.
There's a 'hub' in the center of the city (aka "city centre"), which was a little over a mile to walk from our Airbnb. City centre has the station where all the buses come and go (think like a line of school buses in the school parking lot, but they have 'slots' (for lack of better term) under a roof that they can go under). Then the doors open automatically from the building and you're able to get on and off the bus. City centre also has a lot of history and basically all of it is for walking, anyway. If you wanted to get out of city centre, the bus would be the best way to go.
So, that's what we did. Kinda. I mentioned that we didn't figure out the bus system right away, and we didn't, which is why we walked to city centre and then took a shuttle to Heathcote Valley. There, we took a gondola to the top of Mount Cavendish, which has the most spectacular views I had ever seen in my life. The rolling mountains, the city of Christchurch, and the logging city of Lyttleton were all visible from the cable car. The winds softly blew at the top, but it was a warm-ish, sunny day. A perfect day to start off exploring!
Then, we took a bus back down to Christchurch,where we jumped on the tramway as our tour guide told us the history of the city. There was a major earthquake in 2010 that destroyed many of the buildings and they were still in the process of rebuilding when we were there in 2017. I was most surprised by the destruction of the cathedral, but it had suffered from earthquakes in 2011 as well. Yet all the people there are so kind-hearted and easy to talk to, accent and all, despite all the rubble and disaster all around their city. Their hospitality reminded me of home a little bit. Our tramway driver was an older gentlemen, who was super sweet and it was obvious he enjoyed his job. Brianna and I needed to get to a different tour (this tramway tour was like an all-day thing, where you could hop on and hop off) and he connected with the tour guide at the Christchurch garden, and asked her to wait for us. I was blown away by his kindness because he had a route to keep to, yet he wanted to make sure that we got to wherever it was that we needed to get to.
On our way to the gardens, I was able to take in all of the art that people painted on brick walls. Think graffiti, but like art, similar to the walls in South End or NoDa. One of my favorite ones is the one of the penguins:
After we were on the tram for a little bit, we got to the gardens, which were unbelievable. The amount of different species they have in New Zealand are vastly different than the plants we see in the United States. And the trees, the trees are SO tall with huge trunks and it was incredible to see God's beauty in different parts of the world. One of my favorite trees had branches low enough to be a swing, and people looked like miniature toys when standing next to the trunk. I don't think I've seen trees that tall since then (not even the redwoods in California, when I went the following year). I also absolutely loved the rose garden, which is a little odd for me since I'm not typically a flower person. But, this garden had several sections with different color roses and arches and it was just so beautiful to walk through that. You know the saying, "Stop to smell the roses"? That was the perfect spot to do just that.
After the garden tour, Brianna and I went to the Avon River, which runs through Christchurch, and we went punting down the river. Mind you, we didn't do any of the work, that was our guides job: take a large pole and push the boat with it down the river. The guys that worked the boat were incredibly tall, but super nice and hospitable. We had other people on our boat (I think the boat sat 6 or 8 people) but Brianna and I sat in the front. This was such a relaxing trip, and we were able to connect with God and each other a little more because of it, I think. There were weeping willows along the bank, which is one of my favorite types of trees, and it provided shade along the river. There were even ducks who hung out near the boats, unafraid of our curiosity.
Then, we went to the museum, which had a TON of history and artifacts to look at. I was mentally winding down at that point, so I'm not sure that I enjoyed it as much as I could have or would have on a different day. But, it was still really cool to see all the indigenous people's culture and how they survived in the early days, especially before the country became home to more and more people.
After this fun-filled day, people start closing at around 4 p.m. for the day, and if they're restaurant owners, they'll re-open at like 5:30 p.m. or so. At first, I was surprised because it's so early, but that's just the culture in New Zealand. After we got back to centre city from the museum, Brianna and I went to a Japanese restaurant, and it was so quiet because we were the first ones in for the evening. But, it was a great finish to an eventful day.
Day one down, 4 more to go. The first day was really a great way to see Christchurch and explore the city a little bit. 23,000 steps later, I slept good that night, and woke up the next morning, bright and early, again.
And the time difference came as a shock because it was Monday morning for me, but Saturday for my family and friends back home. Eventually, I got used to the time difference, and was able to stay connected with my family at certain times of the day. However, Brianna was right that I was to stay up until it was time to go to bed, New Zealand time, otherwise, I probably would have woken up earlier, with nothing to do. So, on that Monday, the jet lag wasn't too horrible. I still needed time to adjust though.
Brianna woke up shortly after I had a few minutes of peace and quiet in the morning before we started our day of exploring. She and I had prepared for this trip months in advance, and that first day was completely full of activities. We booked a tour of sorts that took us from one side of Christchurch to the other, while also having room to eat and walk around for a little bit. We walked a lot that first day, but mostly because we didn't figure out the bus system ... yet haha.
We stopped by a coffee shop, which had the coolest setup: ambient lighting, and couches and tables. With a rug hanging on the wall. Perfect way to start off the week!
And we walked. On the opposite side of the street, which was still tripping me up; I still had to double check both ways before crossing, because I couldn't wrap my mind around it haha. Brianna had been in New Zealand the week prior, so she had already adjusted, and I was thankful to have her with me, otherwise I'd have taken much longer to figure out where to go and what to do. When you cross the street, though, the sound for the cross walk is so loud, that you can hear it over your headphones (if you were listening to music or whatever), and people actually stop when there's a red light, allowing pedestrians to safely cross. (Unlike Charlotte, where people drive whenever and wherever they'd like). The cross walk sounds like this.
There's a 'hub' in the center of the city (aka "city centre"), which was a little over a mile to walk from our Airbnb. City centre has the station where all the buses come and go (think like a line of school buses in the school parking lot, but they have 'slots' (for lack of better term) under a roof that they can go under). Then the doors open automatically from the building and you're able to get on and off the bus. City centre also has a lot of history and basically all of it is for walking, anyway. If you wanted to get out of city centre, the bus would be the best way to go.
So, that's what we did. Kinda. I mentioned that we didn't figure out the bus system right away, and we didn't, which is why we walked to city centre and then took a shuttle to Heathcote Valley. There, we took a gondola to the top of Mount Cavendish, which has the most spectacular views I had ever seen in my life. The rolling mountains, the city of Christchurch, and the logging city of Lyttleton were all visible from the cable car. The winds softly blew at the top, but it was a warm-ish, sunny day. A perfect day to start off exploring!
Then, we took a bus back down to Christchurch,where we jumped on the tramway as our tour guide told us the history of the city. There was a major earthquake in 2010 that destroyed many of the buildings and they were still in the process of rebuilding when we were there in 2017. I was most surprised by the destruction of the cathedral, but it had suffered from earthquakes in 2011 as well. Yet all the people there are so kind-hearted and easy to talk to, accent and all, despite all the rubble and disaster all around their city. Their hospitality reminded me of home a little bit. Our tramway driver was an older gentlemen, who was super sweet and it was obvious he enjoyed his job. Brianna and I needed to get to a different tour (this tramway tour was like an all-day thing, where you could hop on and hop off) and he connected with the tour guide at the Christchurch garden, and asked her to wait for us. I was blown away by his kindness because he had a route to keep to, yet he wanted to make sure that we got to wherever it was that we needed to get to.
On our way to the gardens, I was able to take in all of the art that people painted on brick walls. Think graffiti, but like art, similar to the walls in South End or NoDa. One of my favorite ones is the one of the penguins:
After we were on the tram for a little bit, we got to the gardens, which were unbelievable. The amount of different species they have in New Zealand are vastly different than the plants we see in the United States. And the trees, the trees are SO tall with huge trunks and it was incredible to see God's beauty in different parts of the world. One of my favorite trees had branches low enough to be a swing, and people looked like miniature toys when standing next to the trunk. I don't think I've seen trees that tall since then (not even the redwoods in California, when I went the following year). I also absolutely loved the rose garden, which is a little odd for me since I'm not typically a flower person. But, this garden had several sections with different color roses and arches and it was just so beautiful to walk through that. You know the saying, "Stop to smell the roses"? That was the perfect spot to do just that.
After the garden tour, Brianna and I went to the Avon River, which runs through Christchurch, and we went punting down the river. Mind you, we didn't do any of the work, that was our guides job: take a large pole and push the boat with it down the river. The guys that worked the boat were incredibly tall, but super nice and hospitable. We had other people on our boat (I think the boat sat 6 or 8 people) but Brianna and I sat in the front. This was such a relaxing trip, and we were able to connect with God and each other a little more because of it, I think. There were weeping willows along the bank, which is one of my favorite types of trees, and it provided shade along the river. There were even ducks who hung out near the boats, unafraid of our curiosity.
Then, we went to the museum, which had a TON of history and artifacts to look at. I was mentally winding down at that point, so I'm not sure that I enjoyed it as much as I could have or would have on a different day. But, it was still really cool to see all the indigenous people's culture and how they survived in the early days, especially before the country became home to more and more people.
After this fun-filled day, people start closing at around 4 p.m. for the day, and if they're restaurant owners, they'll re-open at like 5:30 p.m. or so. At first, I was surprised because it's so early, but that's just the culture in New Zealand. After we got back to centre city from the museum, Brianna and I went to a Japanese restaurant, and it was so quiet because we were the first ones in for the evening. But, it was a great finish to an eventful day.
Day one down, 4 more to go. The first day was really a great way to see Christchurch and explore the city a little bit. 23,000 steps later, I slept good that night, and woke up the next morning, bright and early, again.
P.S. I'm also posting pictures throughout this blogging experience on instagram.com/ymyshkov.
"For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalties or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him." —Colossians 1:16
"For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalties or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him." —Colossians 1:16
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