On day three of our journey we landed in Christchurch. Flying over the area, I saw nothing by farm after farm, squares bounded by hedges (I thought, they were really a certain type of tree). I was amazed at the town of Christchurch when we landed. It was spread out but all the buildings were short (not many over four stories.) Our hotel the Grand Chancelor was the exception. Newly built to earthquake code, it stood 27 stories. We were told some cracks had developed since the quake in September but were undercontrol. Nothing to worry about. We happily went to our 13th floor room without a care in the world.
We changed into shorts and headed out to see the town-which was right around the corner. Our hotel was just off the central square. The first place we went was the Christchurch-the church the town was named after. I should explain first that New Zealand is a new country. People didn't really arrive there to settle until the 1860's when gold was discovered. First they had to beat up the Maori (Hawaii polynesians), take their land, and import sheep. You see, New Zealand has no native animals whatsoever. They had birds but the Maori ate most of them. Now escaped animals like possums and stouts are eating the rest of the bird eggs. They are trying to wipe them out completely to allow the birds to come back. So the British weren't in any hurray to move to New Zealand because it had nothing to offer. Then there was gold.
So the big church in Christchurch only dates back to 1880 but it was beautifully done. The windows were imported and fine with both Christ as a white man and Christ as a Maori. Very interesting. They were charging a fee to go up in steeple and look out at the city. The money was going to help the rebuilding of the church which got whacked in the last quake. We decided not to spend the time doing that. I understand now though that the steeple fell off during the recent quake and 22 bodies have yet to dug out.
The church was at the edge of the town square. It was packed with tourists from all over the world. We bought souvenirs right there (I wonder if those people were Okay?) and moved on to hit all the tourist spots. We stopped by the Art Museum and found out that New Zealanders' idea of modern art is just as crazy as everyone else's. Then we watched people get rowed down the creek, walked through the lovely parks, cruised the botantical garden, saw the old Canterbury College (that collapsed during the quake killing some Singaporeans) and finally ended the day at an Italian restaurant. Most people had accents everywhere we went. New Zealand doesn't have enough people to do the work so many different kinds of immigrants (including Singaporeans and Chinese) have come.
After dinner, confident that we had seen all there was, we went back to our hotel and repacked. The next day very early we were picked up by Super Shuttle. After awhile we realized he was taking us to the airport when we were supposed to get on the train. After a U turn we landed where we were supposed to be. We boarded our train and settled in for a long five hour trip across the whole of the Southern Island to the west coast where few live.
The people who sat facing us turned out to be Americans from Atlanta Georgia who had come to New Zealand because a hurricane stopped them from landing in Cairns, Australia. We enjoyed their company most of the trip and later ran into them at the Glacier Park, Queenstown, and even saw them from our bus stopped along the road taking pictures. They rented a car but we still kept running into each other! Finally they headed back to Australia while we finished one more week in New Zealand.
The trip on the train was fantastic! No, not the food! (Lousy!) but the scenery was like Montana, the Rocky Mountains, and Wyoming all rolled into one. The mountains complete with snow were called the Southern Alps for a reason!. The rivers were a turquoise color and crystal clear. Very few people lived out here where it was hard to get stuff shipped in. We saw a few sheep turned loose. Bulldozers were working down in the creek bed. They get so much rain that they constantly have to repair the roads and train tracks. As a matter of fact, they said they had just finished repairing the track we were on and wouldn't have to transfer to a bus like they had been doing for a week. It struck me how empty the land was-not a deer, bear, rabbit, or single animal that wasn't domestic could be seen. Electric lines when right up the creek bed. Steve stayed out of the platform of the train to take pictures. It was cold in the mountains and he got wet several times as mist came and went. A Japanese tour was taking up alot of the cars and we were relieved when they got a bus at some depot and departed. Everyone got better seats after that.
When we finally arrived at the station, our trip was still not over. We transferred immediately to a bus that we would ride for several more hours to The Franz Joseph Glacier area. We stopped in a beach town where we got snack and investigated the western beach. What a shock! It was covered with dead trees. They don't swim there-weather is too fierce. The water was a pretty color but too rough for swimming. A storm was coming in.
I stopped by a possum store to see what that was all about and learned that possums are like minks there. Dark brown fur worth alot of money. The lady had stacks of hides that she was sewing together for a blanket. $2600! Wow! If only our possums were worth that much!
Finally the bus stopped and there we were-in the middle of a cow field with our suitcases dumped by the side of the road. I looked up and down the road for civilization-saw nothing. There was a motel across the road-I thought this has to be a mistake! We dragged our suitcases through the gravel and entered the so called office. Yep, we were here. We were given a key to a unit. Where's the town? A mile and a half away. Glacier park-much further still. I was fit to be tied! We had no car. So after the shock wore off, I sucked it up and we walked a mile and a half into town. There we found food and other hotels and a shuttle service for $15 a pop. They promised to pick us up the next day and deliver us to the Glacier park for only $25. Sweet.
I gave the tour company an ear full when I got back! The next day we would finally get to see a glacier!
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