We arrived in New Zealand one week ago and the country has already made an indelible impression. We arrived in Christchurch knowing about the earthquake that killed 181 people on February 22 of this year, as well the numerous aftershocks, but we were not prepared for the level of destruction that the town has endured. The strange thing about the damage is that it is essentially limited to the city centre, which has now been portentously dubbed "The Red Zone". One of the more disturbing things that we saw on our walk to our hostel was a nine-storey hotel that was still standing but was completely empty. Much of the glass was still intact, curtains were blowing out of some of the windows, and there were still plants in the lobby...it looked post-apocalyptic, like a building out of The Road or 28 Days Later. As you can imagine, the town was quiet and was a far cry from the picturesque tourist spot we were expecting to see. However, we made the best of it: we went to a farmers market at Riccarton House, explored the lush botanical gardens, and drank craft beer at one of the best pubs (Pomeroy's) we have found to date.
Post-Apocalyptic Row Houses in Dunedin
We bussed south to Dunedin on November 7th and were instantly struck by the similarities between this New Zealand university town and the Scottish cities of Edinburgh and Stirling. From the topography and climate to the Victorian architecture and city planning, Dunedin (which is Gaelic for Edinburgh) is like a lip-smacking scoop of Haggis in the southern hemisphere. One of Kate's primary goals (and life dreams) on this trip was to visit the Dunedin Cadbury Factory, and the tour was worth the $18 entrance fee. Not only did we see a chocolate waterfall and sample fresh, liquid milk chocolate from the source, we were also given eight candy bars each! We burned some of these delicious calories on a walk to the world's steepest residential street. Baldwin Street is about four kilometers outside of Dunedin and has made it into the Guinness Book for its 1 : 2.86 (35%) slope. I was an idiot and ran up the hill, without warming up first. It was a LOT harder than it looked. The following day, we took a bus to Otago Peninsula, which continues out to sea from Dunedin. This area is famous for its albatross and penguins, which we failed to see. We did go hiking to find them, but the rain and cold forced us to return to the city for some beer from Speight's Brewery and some pretzles.
"IS this heaven?!"
After exhausting Dunedin, we headed for Queenstown, the outdoor activity Mecca of New Zealand. We had heard some negative opinions about Queenstown from fellow backpackers, due to its reputation as a tourist hub and its skibum quality of life, but the town's location at the base of the Remarkables Mountain Range and position on Wakatipu Lake make it undeniably breathtaking. Our first mission in Queenstown involved jumping from the first bungee jump ever...at Kawarau Bridge. We did this for my 30th Birthday, after eating an awesome breakfast of eggs benny and ham-banana pancakes (it stayed down, fortunately). The jump was scarier than I thought it would be, but Kate loved it. It just seems so unnatural to fling your body off of a tiny ledge 150 feet above the ground! The rest of my birthday was fun as well. I had a wonderful lamb dinner at Vknow (which included a free birthday beer) and Kate supplied unlimited candy and coffee throughout the day. A new decade!
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