a trip into Christchurch City Center ..

Today Harald, Nate and I took a study break and headed into Christchurch to pick Melissa up from the airport. We made a wrong turn on the way back and ended up driving around the Central Business District (CBD) of Christchurch. It was the first time I had been close to the city center since the February earthquake. It was crazy to see the amount of damage first hand, many buildings have collapsed or are being demolished and numerous streets are closed off. Beautiful historic buildings, churches and other older building seem to have to most amount of damage. The city center is also a ghost town apart from the New Zealand Army and Civil Defense crews which have stations set up and some construction crews working in the area. 

I am currently working on my design project for the redesign of Sydenham, a suburb just south of the CBD. It is an interesting but very challenging project.  I have to say I miss studio as well as the support and community we have within the Landscape Architecture program back at Guelph. 

Timaru & back to Lincoln for week 6 of classes

I really enjoyed my visit to Timaru and spending time with Kate and her family. I helped out a bit on the farm while I was there and we spent Tuesday shopping and touring Timaru before I caught the bus back to Lincoln late that afternoon. Now that I am back in Lincoln I have a midterm and 40 % design project to finish for this next week. So this next week and a half will be busy and back to hitting the books...

boardwalk along the beach in Timaru

Timaru Port

always time to be a tourist.. 

Mt Cook & Lake Tekapo

Early Sunday morning I caught the bus going north. It was a beautiful drive which had a two hour stop in Mount Cook and stopped in a couple other quaint towns along the way. I spent the two hour stop in Mount Cook doing a short hike. From there I took the bus up to Lake Tekapo to meet up with my friend Kate. I spent the evening at her holiday home with her and her family.  On Monday we spent the day in and around Tekapo before heading to Kate’s hometown, Timaru. 

the view from Kate’s holiday home 

looking out from Mount John

Lake Tekapo

Kate and her sister Christina

Kate and I

Arrowtown & Queenstown take two

Saturday morning I hitched a ride with a girl I meet at my hostel over to Arrowtown. Arrowtown is a beautiful historic town just outside of Queenstown. I spent the day there before heading back to Queenstown.

the view from my hostel in Queenstown

Arrowtown - view from the walk I took along the river

Downtown Arrowtown

Queenstown - Street Performers

Oueentown - Outdoor Market

me & queenstown

The five of us spent Thursday night together in Queenstown before all heading separate ways Friday morning. Liza left for Milford Sound and then to go back to Lincoln and the guys started their road trip up the west coast. I debated joining them and going up the west coast but I finally decided to follow through with my original plans to spend a few nights in Queenstown, go back and explore Arrowtown, bus up to Mount Cook and then to Lake Tekapo to meet up with my friend Kate. 

So once everyone had headed out on Friday morning I spent the morning relaxing by the lake, reading and just spending time with God. I ended up going to a beautiful Anglican Church for their Good Friday service. That afternoon I was exploring town when I ran into my friend Helena from Lincoln and spent the afternoon walking (well limping - my knees were still hurting) with her around Queenstown. 

looking out at the lake

along the beach - autumn is here

Anglican Church

Helena and I 

Te Anau, Ferg Burger, Arrowtown, Queenstown

The ferry ride back to Bluff was surprisingly calm taking us only 45 minutes which was half the time it took us to get over to Stewart Island. From Bluff we drove up to Te Anau to pick up Nate and then drove up to Queenstown to get the famous Ferg Burger. After dinner we drove to Arrowtown for the night. The next morning we drove back to Queenstown and spent the morning in town. That afternoon Justin, Harald, Nate and I went from a drive up Lake Wakatipu. 

Lake Hayes

the road around Lake Wakatipu

Lake Wakatipu

Justin, Me and Nate

Nate, Harald and their car ‘Nasti’

Stewart Island

After an hour and a half ferry ride across really rough waters we arrived in Stewart Island Sunday evening. Stewart Island is a beautiful island which is mainly a National Park with one small but quaint town on it and is located south of the South Island of New Zealand. We spent our first night on Stewart Island in a hostel in Oban and after having fish and chips for dinner we called it an early night. Monday morning we went to the Department of Conservation (DOC) office to book huts and register with them before we set off on the 3 day tramp  - the Rakiura Track. The first day of the hike was gorgeous and we had beautiful weather as we walked 15 km up along the coast. On the second day we made our way across the island - it was a beautiful yet muddy hike. Thankfully the rain held out until we reached the hut but it poured that night making for a incredibly muddy hike the next day. We set out early on Wednesday morning hoping to see Kiwis on our pre dawn hike, however a few hours into our walk I fell and torn something in my knees which were already hurting from the day before. Justin, Liza and Harald took good care of me and after a slow hike we made it back to town by mid afternoon. We relaxed on the beach and explored town for a few hours that afternoon before catching the ferry back over to Bluff that evening.

day one - and were off 

we made it to the first hut

watching the sun set

day two 

day three

mud, mud & more mud with walking sticks for crutches 

the warning they had posted at the DOC office when we got back for 

the last part of the track we did 

Harald and I playing chess 

downtown Oban the only town on Stewart Island

looking out from town into the Bay

road trip down to southland

My friend Liza (from Colorado) and I decided to travel together for the first week of break. So on Saturday morning the two of us headed out. We caught a ride with Phillippa, a friend from New Zealand, down to Dunedin where we meet up with my friends Harald and Justin. From there the four of us set off for Stewart Island. We stopped for the first night in Pouanwea which is close to Owaka and rented a cabin right on the coast. The next morning we drove along the coast and through the Catlins National Park into Southland. We stopped a few times along the way before reaching Invercargill to buy our ferry tickets and then heading down to Bluff to catch the ferry over to Stewart Island. 

Phillippa, Liza and I at a old fashioned milk bar in Oamaru

the road trip begins - Harald, Justin, Liza and I 

 east coast

Nugget Point

Nugget Point - Justin, Me, Harald, Liza 

Matai Falls

Mclean falls