A Love Note to Christchurch

Christchurch's Cathedral Square, as I photographed it in April 2009

I spent last weekend in Atlanta with a friend of mine who recently moved back home after living in Christchurch for a few years.

We shopped, ate lots of cupcakes, compared gossip about our mutual friends, and talked about the life she left in New Zealand and the earthquake they had last September. She still couldn’t believe how much of downtown was a mess, months later.

Last night I flew back home, and after I got off the plane I got out my phone to see what I missed during our four hours in the air. Turns out, a lot.

The photos I saw of Christchurch were heartbreaking. I was there just two years ago, although it doesn’t seem like it’s been that long because my memories are still very fresh.

I had hot chocolate with pink marshmallows in the Arts Centre cafe and took photos all around the Cathedral because there the Flower Festival was going on, so the whole square was covered in colour.Then I went into the Southern Encounter Aquarium and Kiwi House to see some of the local furry and feathered residents.

I met up with friends and we had Mexican pizza and listened to live music at the Dux de Lux. I walked through the brilliant, bright gardens and stayed in the YHA that’s now a good amount of rubble (although the early reports of deaths in that building are now said to be untrue). And I just can’t believe it’s the same place I’m seeing on the news.

Travelling in a place, even for a short while, makes it a part of you. It might sound a little silly to talk about being a World Citizen, but looking at the people in Christchurch, the streets where I wandered and took pictures, the parks where I ate lunch, the shops where locals tried to figure out my accent, it makes me feel as sad as if it had happened in my home town. I guess that’s the blessing, and the curse, of getting to visit a new place and connecting with the people there.

If you’d like to help, visit the New Zealand Red Cross.

Lisa

Travel New Zealand Your Way

Thinking about a summer trip to New Zealand? Of course you are. New Zealand is a student traveler’s dream destination, and you’re someone who likes to dream big.

New Zealand is affordable, full of adventure, and very easy to navigate no matter your time or bidget. Part of that flexibility comes from the number of transportation options you have. What you should choose depends on your style, your situation and the experience you want to have.

I Want Total Freedom
If you don’t want to be on anyone’s schedule but your own, you’re best off traveling by standard get-me-from-point-A-to-point-B bus. Book as you go, picking the times that are best for you, and answer to no one!

You might also consider renting a car, especially if you’re traveling with friends and can split the cost.

I Want Some Freedom, But Don’t Want to Plan Every Detail
The hop-on hop-off bus is for you. These services stop at different sights between pick-up and drop-off points, can help you organize activities like skydiving, rafting or pub crawls, have drivers who can tell you about what you’re seeing, but also let you jump off whenever you like. Passes are typically good for 12 months, so you can get back on the bus days, weeks or even months later. You aren’t stuck with the group like you are with a full-on tour, so you have more flexibility in your itinerary.

I’m doing most of my travel by Magic Bus, with some day trips of my own thrown in between stops. This way I don’t have to worry about booking lots of separate bus trips, but I can also take time to do things I want to do that aren’t included in the usual schedule. I’ve also used the Oz and Kiwi Experience buses in the past and had a great time.

I Want Someone Else to Plan It All For Me
You need a tour company, like Contiki. All of your transportation and lodging will be planned for you and some meals will be included. You won’t have to do anything except show up on time and enjoy yourself, but you also won’t be able to abandon your group and hang at the beach for a few extra days if the mood strikes you. If you’re on a tight budget and only have a fixed number of days for traveling though, this can be a good way to maximize the amount of ground you cover.

Once you decide how you’re happiest when you travel, you’ll be able to narrow down the options and find what’s right for you.

Backpack New Zealand on a Student Budget

You know where I’d rather be right now? New Zealand. It’s beautiful, it offers a ton of activities and adventure sports and sights, the locals are awesome, and as far as getting around, New Zealand is a student traveler’s dream destination.

No matter what your budget is, there’s a transportation option for you. What you choose depends on your style, your interests and the experience you want to have.

I Want Total Freedom
If you don’t want to be on anyone’s schedule but your own, you’re best off traveling by standard get-me-from-point-A-to-point-B bus. Book as you go, picking the times that are best for you, and answer to no one!

You might also consider renting a car, especially if you’re traveling with friends and can split the cost.

I Want Some Freedom, But Don’t Want to Plan Every Detail
The hop-on hop-off bus is for you. These services stop at different sights between pick-up and drop-off points, can help you organize activities like skydiving, rafting or pub crawls, have drivers who can tell you about what you’re seeing, but also let you jump off whenever you like. Passes are typically good for 12 months, so you can get back on the bus days, weeks or even months later. You aren’t stuck with the group like you are with a full-on tour, so you have more flexibility in your itinerary.

I’m doing most of my travel by Magic Bus, with some day trips of my own thrown in between stops. This way I don’t have to worry about booking lots of separate bus trips, but I can also take time to do things I want to do that aren’t included in the usual schedule. I’ve also used the Oz and Kiwi Experience buses in the past and had a great time.

I Want Someone Else to Plan It All For Me
You need a tour company, like Contiki. All of your transportation and lodging will be planned for you and some meals will be included. You won’t have to do anything except show up on time and enjoy yourself, but you also won’t be able to abandon your group and hang at the beach for a few extra days if the mood strikes you. If you’re on a tight budget and only have a fixed number of days for traveling though, this can be a good way to maximize the amount of ground you cover.

Once you decide how you’re happiest when you travel, you’ll be able to narrow down the options and find what’s right for you.

New Zealand Travel Guide: Last Night in Auckland

The Auckland Skyline

Finally, the Magic Bus dropped me off for the last time, in Auckland. This time I chose to stay at Base Backpackers. It’s in a really good central location, close to the main street for shopping, and only a block or so from the bus that goes to the airport.

Stewart, one of the guys who I met on the bus the day before, was staying there so I had someone to hang with, and we planned to meet up with another guy from our bus later that evening for drinks at Base’s Globe Bar.

A few notes about Base hostels: They deliver what I consider to be one of the true student backpacker experiences. They’re big, so you’re bound to meet people from all over the world. They have all the necessities and a few nice-to-haves: laundry, TV or movie room, Internet access and wi-fi, clean bathrooms, an in-house bar, and sometimes a pool or spa.

The downside is that the dorm rooms are more like zoos. The rooms are pretty small spaces packed with bunk beds, so there’s no such thing as personal space, or even a hook to hang your towel on. I opted for one of the all-girl Sanctuary rooms, and that was an improvement, but if you’ve reached a point in your travels where you really need a little room to breathe, this might not be the place for you. It made me really miss the Wellington YHA. 

I only had one last night though, so I didn’t need luxury, just a place to sleep. And I do like being able to drink just two floors down from my room so that I don’t have to worry about how to get home.

I made my way to the bar to meet Stewart before dinner and it was pretty empty. I picked out a table and sipped whatever pink drink in a bottle the bartender had given me while I waited for my evening to get going. Almost right away, a guy sitting at the table next to me turned around and smiled. I smiled back, because it’s only polite, and he was gorgeous.

Then then asked if I wanted some company. There’s only one answer I give to a stunning stranger who wants to sit with me: “Yes, please.”

So this guy, who I’ll just call Hot Kiwi Guy, sits down and I instantly think, “Why couldn’t I have met this guy a few days ago?” He was perfect. Sweet, funny, clever, great accent, brilliant smile, exactly the kind of guy I always hope to meet when I’m traveling. He had just flown in from Adelaide, where he was living and working, and was on his way home, to the Bay of Islands, to go to a friend’s wedding.

I asked what he was doing in a hostel bar if he was headed home and he said he used to work at the hostel and decided to come in and have a drink while waiting for friends to pick him up. They were on their way. Would arrive any minute now. Just in time to interrupt our fun.

Awesome.

I told him where I had been, we talked about Australia for a while, he told me about his hitchhiking experiences in New Zealand, and I was just about ready to ask if maybe he wanted to keep his bags packed and fly to San Francisco with me the next day when his friends showed up. Figures they would be punctual. Where’s a good traffic jam when you need one? 

They were very nice, but parked illegally, and in a hurry to leave. So Hot Kiwi Guy and I gave each other a wow-this-sucks-I-wish-we-had-more-time look, and said goodbye, but not before I gave him one of my nifty traveling cards with my name and email address on it.

It was a bittersweet ending to my trip, finding someone who I really wanted to have more time with just when I didn’t have any more time left. But it also gives me another reason to keep traveling. If there’s one perfect Hot Kiwi Guy out there, then there are probably more.

The rest of the night was still good, hanging out with my Magic Bus friends, taking advantage of the cheap drinks and dancing to the loud music that started out all 80s, then went Top 40, then techno and hip hop as the night went on.

It always amazes me that I can arrive in a city in the morning not knowing anyone, and feel like I’ve made good friends by the end of the night. It’s a good thing to remember on those days when I feel a little lonely. It only takes one meal, one bus ride, or one chat about the worst hostel you’ve stayed in to make a friend. And every friend I make equals another place I have to stay, another local tour guide I’ll have when I go traveling again.

Next up: I haven’t decided yet. Ideas on where my next trip should be? Leave a comment.

 

New Zealand Travel Guide: Paihia to Auckland

Back on the Magic Bus

The drive out of Paihia was really lovely and our Magic Bus driver stopped to let us take some photos from a lookout over the bay. We also took a quick look in the Hokianga Historical Society to watch a video about Opo the Dolphin.

Opo swam into the bay in 1955 and created a tourism boom as news spread that there was a dolphin there who did tricks, played with children and would let people swim with or ride him.

The video shows Opo making everyone happy (except for the little girl whose ball he takes to bounce on his nose), and leaves you feeling like you really missed out by not living in this simpler time when everyone was kind and happy and could be entertained for hours by a dolphin with a ball. I gave a $2 donation because the elderly woman who started the VCR for us seemed very hopeful that we would get out our wallets, and because the video of the playful Opo put me in a pretty good mood.

Welcome to Opononi, home of the murdered dolphin.

Then our driver told us that what the video left out. Opo was found dead after just a few months, possibly killed by a local who was sick of all the traffic and crowds the dolphin caused.

Yeah. Kind of a downer.

There was one more stop on the way to Auckland, to see Tane Mahuta, the tallest kauri tree in New Zeland. I had really hoped to have an extra night at the end of my trip to do the Footprints of Waipoua trip, where you go into the forest after dark to see the trees. It’s one of Lonely Planet’s “Code Green – Experiences of a Lifetims” and I read nothing but good things about it.

Tane Mahuta would have been the greatest Ent ever.

Luckily the Magic Bus includes the forest as a stop, and while I don’t think it’s quite as moving as seeing it at night, at 51 meters tall and more than 1200 years old, Tane Mahuta is still damn impressive during the day. Our Magic driver told us that before the forest became a sanctuary in 1952, many of these trees were cut down. Because of their size they were difficult to move, and some ended up at the bottom of rivers and lakes, too big to float downstream to the logging plants.

First the death of Opo, then the pointless slaughter of these majestic trees. This really wasn’t the happiest day of the Magic tour. Maybe going back to the big city wasn’t such a bad idea.

Next: I meet a Hot Kiwi Guy, then leave the country.

 

New Zealand Travel Guide: Paihia, Bay of Islands

We're not in Auckland anymore.

Flying back to New Zealand from Sydney, I thought about all the things I wanted to do in my last few days before going home. I had to go back to Cuba Street and shop, spend a little more time in the Botanic Gardens and maybe have another look around Te Papa.

Then I realized that all of those things were in Wellington. I was flying back to Auckland.

Hmmm.

Leaving Paihia behind to look for dolphins and big holes.

For the rest of the flight I kept telling myself that I was going to Auckland, but pictures of Wellington kept popping into my head. Unfortunately, it was too late, mid-flight, to change my destination.

Luckily, I only had one night in Auckland before getting back on the Magic Bus (woo hoo!) and heading north to the Bay of Islands. And thank goodness for that. I stayed at the International YHA and it was one of the most miserable nights of my trip. Noisy, dirty and uncomfortable, I was up even earlier than I needed to be just so I could pack up and get out of there.

I only had two and a half days left in New Zealand, so although I would have loved to go all the way to the north tip of the North Island and gone sandboarding at Cape Reinga, I only had time to make a trip to Paihia and back. Not that there’s anything disappointing about Paihia.

In fact, there were five English guys in my dorm room at base backpackers, and they’d been in Paihia for four days, swimming, playing volleyball, and just hanging out with other travelers. They said they’d meant to only stay a day and then go further north, but they were having such a good time catching up on sleep during the day and hanging out at the Pipi Patch bar late into the night, they just never got around to leaving.

There are the dolphins.

When they all came into the room after dinner, I assumed they were on their way back out again and would stumble in drunk around 3:00 a.m., obnoxiously waking everyone up. So it was a big surprise when, after chatting with everyone in the room for a couple of hours, one of them said, “It’s 11:00, should we get to bed?” Then they all brushed their teeth, got into their bunks, said goodnight, and turned out the lights.

I suppose even the most hardcore English pub boys need a good night’s sleep every now and then.

After Sydney and Auckland, it was a nice change to be in a small town. Paihia has two main roads, a handful of shops, a row of hostels, pubs and restaurants, and tons of activity providers.

And there's the big hole.

If you want to relax, try a cruise out to the Hole in the Rock. I did the Fullers tour and was shocked at how many dolphins we saw on the trip. They weren’t just swimming around, these little attention-seeking dolphins jumped and flipped and seemed to love having an audience.

You can also swim with the dolphins, go for a sail in a tall ship, or do a kayaking tour into the bay. To learn more about the region’s wild past, hop the ferry over to the town of Russell, New Zealand’s first capital.

Next: Time’s up! Back to Auckland.

New Zealand News: Islands Have No Names

Abel Tasman: A place with an official name.

Saw this in the news today:

“Experts searching for alternative Maori names for New Zealand’s two main islands were startled to find that their commonly used English names — North Island and South Island — were never made legal, officials said Tuesday.”

How awesome is that? New Zealand is a completely modern country. They have indoor plumbing, McDonald’s, wi-fi and Oprah. And yet, they just now realized that no one ever quite got around to naming their islands in any official way.

This is the same country that, according to my tour guide at the Beehive (the capitol building in Wellington), used a sawed off pool cue for one of the government’s traditional ceremonies all through the 1920s, just because it was handy, and they hadn’t gotten around to getting an official rod made.

Adorable.

If you’re looking for a low-key, relaxing, no-pressure sort of place to travel over your student holidays, New Zealand is for you. Talk to the equally low-key travel experts at Travel CUTS to get hooked up.

 

Australia Travel Guide: Mardi Gras in Sydney

When I started planning this trip, I was only expecting to visit New Zealand. I knew that even with almost three weeks there, it would be exhausting trying to see everything I wanted to.

Then my friend, Jorge, said the magic words to get me to spend a few days in Sydney: Mardi Gras.

Sydney’s Mardi Gras is one of the most famous gay events in the world, and in 2006 Conde Nast named it as one of the world’s top ten costume parades. The LGBT community held their first parade in 1978 with a couple thousand participants, and now the parade and other events bring around half a million people to Sydney.

The magic words worked on Elizabeth too, and so the two of us flew to Sydney from Christchurch to join the party. Once Elizabeth and I arrived, Jorge gave us our next choice: Watch the parade, or be in it? He said that trying to find a place to watch the parade could be difficult, as people show up hours ahead of time to stake out a piece of sidewalk. But marching in the parade, besides being tons of fun, gives you a front-row seat to the action.

We agreed to march with his group, a counseling hotline, and so I put on my best dancing-in-the-street shoes.

The parade doesn’t start until after dark, so you get to enjoy all the lights and disco balls on the floats, like little traveling nightclubs. Walking around before the parade started, we got to take in some of the wild and colorful, metal and leathery costumes people had created. I’m pretty sure I also saw more naked butt cheeks in one night than I’ve seen in my entire life. Some were nice and fit, but others old and wrinkly or pale and flat and a little disappointing.

Sydney has some of the best drag queens I’ve ever seen (and I’m from San Francisco), and the music and energy of the pre-parade festivities seemed to spread through the entire city.

Once the parade started, all we had to do was have a great time as we walked, jogged, danced and skipped down Oxford Street. Athough plenty of straight people participate and watch, all of Sydney is covered in rainbows and pink Australian flags for the event and Oxford Street in particular in bright colors.

Marching in the Mardi Gras parade was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. If you ever have a chance to do something like it, go for it. We all felt like rock stars with thousands of people waving and smiling and shouting and taking our pictures. It was much different from the local St. Patrick’s Day parade my high school band used to march in, surrounded by boy scouts and baton twirlers.

The only downside? While most people kept partying the night away, we were so exhausted by the time the parade was over, we caught a cab home and crashed. But my time in Sydney wasn’t up yet.

Next: More of Sydney!

 

New Zealand Travel Guide: Christchurch

Days 9, 10 and a little 11

Cathedral Square

After a week on my own in New Zealand’s North Island, hopping buses, reading maps and sleeping in bunk beds, I was very ready to relax and let someone look after me for a bit.

From Wellington I flew to Christchurch (just US$35, one-way, on Pacific Blue) to meet up with Elizabeth, a friend of mine from college who moved to New Zealand after graduation. Her mom’s a Kiwi and Elizabeth already had citizenship there, making it simple to get a job and apply to do her master’s degree in Christchurch.

I don’t think there’s anything I like more than being met at the airport by someone I know. Seeing a friendly face, getting a hug and having someone ask me, “Can I grab your bag for you?” is heaven. Prying my bag off of my body, out of the permanent indent it had formed in my shoulder, is even more heavenly. Then getting into a real car, without having to sort through change and figure out the price of a ticket? Civilization has never been so satisfying.

Aside from the pampering, the other benefit to staying with a friend is that they can take over the planning, and can show you more of what real life is like where they are, with some sightseeing sprinkled in.

I’ve been to Christchurch once before, so I wasn’t too concerned about seeing all of the sights in the day and a half I was there, but here are the things you should be sure to catch:

• Have lunch, do some shopping, and catch a lecture in Cathedral Square. It’s not huge, but there’s a lot going on in the middle of town. You have the famous landmarks (Christchurch Cathedral and Chalice, the torch sculpture thing), a local celebrity (the Wizard gives regular soapbox speeches on everything he thinks is wrong with the world), and lots of vendors selling clothing, pottery, bags, souvenirs and bone and jade carved jewelry. There’s also a visitor’s center here if you need any maps or brochures.

• For a combination of history, shopping and a trendy pub stop, take a walk around the Arts Centre. It used to be Canterbury University, and now is home to artist studios, markets, cafes and the Dux de Lux, a very cool vegetarian cafe/bar. They have a very interesting take on a Mexican pizza.

The Botanic Gardens

• Christchurch is The Garden City, so you need to visit the Botanic Gardens, if only to take some pictures to show your mom. She’ll think you spent your whole trip seeing the most wholesome sights, and will never have to know about the English backpackers you picked up in cheap bars. It is a beautiful park though, and a good place to nurse a hangover or write some postcards.

• For an art stop, you can take your pick from the Centre of Contemporary Art, the Christchurch Art Gallery and the Canterbury Museum. The first features modern works, the second has a lot of local and Maori pieces and the third includes geology, zoology, Maori, Asian and European collections.

• Punt your way down the Avon. No, it has nothing to do with football. You hire a punter to steer you serenely down the river in their boat. It feels very English and is far cheaper than the gondolas in Italy.

If you still have some time on your hands, here are a few more options:

• Find a TV and watch the worst morning show ever. TV is never essential to travel, but if you’re in a place for a while and want to get a better feel for how the locals live, it doesn’t hurt to listen to their radio stations and watch their TV shows. Elizabeth let me know that the morning show was beyond bad, and since I had a morning to prop my feet up and rest, I had a look, and it was dreadful to the point that I now consider Matt Lauer to be a hosting genius.Honestly, a woman named Astar spend 15 minutes trying to teach people how to glue buttons on canvas to make art when all she had to say was, “Glue some buttons on a canvas to create your own art.” Oi.

• Right in Cathedral Square there’s the Southern Encounter Aquarium where you can see all sorts of fish, sharks, snakes and buggy things, plus kiwi. They have two in a dark habitat that you can sneek into and watch (as long as you stay silent so as not to scare them). This isn’t the biggest or best animal-watching place in New Zealand, but if you haven’t had a chance to see a kiwi anywhere else, it’s not bad. Try to go early though, as the kiwis get lazy after lunch and you might not see them at all.

The Cupcake Parlour: Perfect for an afternoon snack.

• Stop for a snack at the Cupcake Parlour. Cupcakes have been the new black in the States for a while now, but the trend has spread all over. At this place you can try some regional favorites, like Passionfruit Lovelies or Ginger Goddess.

While I didn’t feel like Christchurch was as energetic as Wellington, it still has far more charm than Auckland, and I’d recommend that you spend at least two days there.

I was sad to leave, but very excited that Elizabeth was joining me for my next destination:  Sydney, Australia!

Start Planning for ANZAC Day: April 25th

Yes, I got to spend three weeks playing around New Zealand and Australia, and I wish everyone else could go and have as awesome a time as I had.

Buy maybe a trip like that’s not in the cards for you right now. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy some ANZAC day festivities in honor of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. In fact, why not host a party at your place? Invite some friends for a staycation and let your minds and spirits head Down Under while your bodies stay where they are.

First, hit up your local Cost Plus for some Tim Tams – Australia’s most popular biscuits (cookies). If you want to look like an Aussie expert, try a Tim Tam Slam: Bite off both ends then suck up your hot chocolate, coffee or tea, using the cookie like a straw.

Next, try your hand at baking some Lamingtons or a Pavlova, two traditional Aussie desserts. Top your Pavlova with Kiwi if you want to include New Zealand as well, and you should. It’s only fair.

If you want a main course as well, go for meat pies, or sausage rolls, or damper and billy tea. Top it off with some Bundaberg rum, or a case of VB if you can find it. If not, find anything flavored with passionfruit.

Load up your iPod or other DJ-ing device with Kylie Minogue, Men at Work, Crowded House, iOTA, Karnivool, Killing Heidi, Midnight Oil, AC/DC, Silverchair, Flight of the Conchords, Howie Day and INXS, and you’ve got an international event on your hands. (Shags in swags optional.)

Travel is a state of mind as much as a hobby. Put your mind in multi-cultural mode and your feet will soon follow. If after the festivities you can’t stand to stay home for another single second and are ready to make a trip to Australia or New Zealand no matter what, then talk to your friendly Travel CUTS agent.

Travel CUTS has excellent student travel deals to both locations, they can get you signed up for and ISIC and a hotel membership, and they can walk you through all the hop-on, hop-off bus routes you might be interested in.

Now, pass me a Vegemite sandwich and a Chocolate Fish.