There are several ways to get from the
North Island to the South Island, one of the most common is to take a
Ferry, this is especially common if you want to take a car with you.
Thus, a few days after Christmas (with a job lined up for January
3rd) all of Renee's stuff went in the car along with the
Little's camping stuff (and Uncle Tim, Aunt Kc, Cousin Rory, Cousin
Alvey, Moose, Petunia, Elgamore and Renee (and Ingrid!)) and got on
the Ferry! During most of the Ferry ride the cousins played a very
fun game called Glory to Rome though a short trip up to the
observation deck was also had and a few pictures were taken.
“First” view of the South Island!
Then there was another drive to get to
a farm where the Little's were staying before attempting to climb one
of the big mountains nearby. The farm had a few plum trees and Renee
ate many plums and played Ingrid outside, very loudly and maybe
(probably) scared some sheep. Unfortunately only Aunt KC thought to
take pictures of this so they are
forthcoming...later....sometime....in the future.... that night there
was a brief adventure to the beach (hello Ocean!) where Petunia
vanquished the evil seaweed serpent while riding the noble steed
Moose
and more Glory to Rome!. Then there was
morning and Renee (and Moose and Petunia and Elgamore and Ingrid)
departed the wonderful company of the Littles to begin the long
adventure to the job in Haast.
On a bus again! (this becomes a common
theme for the next few days)
This bus took the crew to Christchurch
where they spent a very quite New Years Eve. (P.S. Happy New Year!!!)
Notable during the bus ride was the gentleman who did not use the
toilet at the last stop before our final arrival and though it would
be alright to berate the driver for not stopping for him and
threatening to “piss on the bus”. The poor driver had to attempt
to explain to the angry man that he needed to wait before finally
relenting that there was ONE place he could possibly stop but it
would be another 45 minutes. The man accepted this after some of the
other passengers got involved though seemed to have trouble telling
time and approached the driver again and when the bus finally did
stop instead of going inside like he was asked the man just went on
the side of the road, which is illegal for the the bus rider. It was
an awkward situation but thinking back is almost funny. There was
much wandering of Christchurch which was hit very hard by earthquakes
in 2011 and is still rebuilding. Here's what Renee thought:
It was stunning to see how much
destruction is still evident. I was wandering around thinking that
all the effort that's gone into rebuilding really hasn't amounted to
much until I saw some massive piles of rubble (which I, unfortunately
did not think to take a picture of) and realized that before
buildings could be built the broken bits had to be removed. After
that realization I was much more impressed with the work, although
there is still a whole lot that needs to be done. The other thing
that I was very struck by was the vast amount of public art that is
EVERYWHERE. It felt as though Christchurch was saying, “hey we know
our city looks really broken right now, but we can do better, we will
do better, promise.” And it was really nice to see these bright
splashes of color a midst bleak grey concrete rubble and dirt
everywhere. I don't plan to spend any more time in Christchurch on
this trip, although I am glad to have had a brief visit and am very
curious and excited to see what it will look like in several more
years (pending another earthquake...)
 |
| This is a recycled instrument set-up, several instruments |
New Years Day found everyone....on a
bus!! (See next post)
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