So Matthew and i went to the south island this last week to visit some of his old friends. We went to Abel Tasman and picked up a German hitchhiker along the way. He's the fella in the white shorts in the third picture. We all kayaked on the Tasman for about four hours and saw a ton of seals. There were also random beaches that we occasionally landed on. We stayed in these weird little cabins overnight and the picture of the horses show you the view we had out our window. There were also chickens EVERYWHERE. Then it was on to Hamner Springs where we had every intention of swimming around in the hot springs. BUT our hotel upgraded our room to include a jacuzzi and the springs were a bit crowded so we decided to be lame and hang out in our room. Next, we went to Christchurch and visited Willowbank wild life reserve where Matthew once worked. I got the rare opportunity to actually pet not one but two baby kiwis! They emit the cutest little noises when you are bothering them! And they were softer than I imagined. When we walked through the reserve, Matthew got a couple of keas (see pic of Matthew with big green birdy) to jump onto his arm and eventually his head as you can see from the pics. They are very curious birds and when I put my arm out to one of them, they jumped right onto it. I had another one jump on my shoulder without any notice and he was a heavy little bugger! The next day we wandered around the city. If you didn't already know this:
"The February 2011 Christchurch earthquake was a powerful natural event that severely damaged New Zealand's second-largest city, killing 185 people in one of the nation's deadliest peacetime disasters.
The magnitude 6.3 (ML) earthquake[1] struck the Canterbury region in New Zealand's South Island at 12:51 pm on Tuesday, 22 February 2011 local time (23:51 21 February UTC).[1][9] The earthquake was centred 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) west of the town of Lyttelton, and 10 kilometres (6 mi) south-east of the centre of Christchurch, New Zealand's second-most populous city.[1] It followed nearly six months after the magnitude 7.1 Canterbury earthquake of 4 September 2010, which caused significant damage to Christchurch and the central Canterbury region, but no direct fatalities.
The earthquake caused widespread damage across Christchurch, especially in the central city and eastern suburbs, with damage exacerbated by buildings and infrastructure already being weakened by the 4 September 2010 earthquake and its aftershocks. Significant liquefaction affected the eastern suburbs, producing around 400,000 tonnes of silt. The earthquake was reported to be felt across the South Island and the lower and central North Island."
So the pics you see are of the damage that was incurred." The red zone was very wide in comparison to the city itself but the streets were busy and some what crowded. They re-opened some of the stores in a very interesting way:
"The renewal of Christchurch, New Zealand after a devastating earthquake just took a huge leap with the opening of a pedestrian shopping mall made from shipping containers. The brightly colored stacked boxes hold 27 stores as part of the City Mall Re:START project. Thousands of visitors flocked to the temporary mall’s opening the first weekend to enjoy the café, the large pedestrian area and two horse-shoe shaped pavilions. The mall offers a bit of normalcy to the residents, and some serious contemporary eco-style."
I heard a lot of stories from some of Matt's friends from the area and I am very amazed and happy that all of them survived.
We also visited the botanical gardens some parts of which were closed from damage from the earthquake and the Canterbury Museum. I took plenty of creepy pics of the mannequins there as you can see. My friend Amalthea would LOVE this place! After all was said in done we got another hotel room and then decided to leave a few days early. We had take the ferry there and back but the only pics we have our of us leaving the south island. The first trip on the ferry I was fine but the second trip left me a bit seasick. I almost lost my lamb pie to the waves. All in and all it was an awesome trip. Matt got to see his old friends and I got to meet a few cool people. I hope we go back soon and maybe do some hiking or backpacking.
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