New Zealand Day 2: ChristChurch Cathedral and the Central Library

Day 2 – Tuesday, 17th November 2009

I woke up at 7am without my alarm clock, which I had set the night before initially for 8am, then lazed around in my bed by drifting in and out of sleep before I finally woke up proper at 8.30am.

I had the free breakfast here—freshly made bread (yes, from hand), plus some free bread I toasted myself with the provided jam and other toppings—in this amazing lounge slash dining room, with the world map pasted against the wall, making a very imposing and grand backdrop.

Another look from the opposite side.

The Taiwanese guy, who was chatting with two other ethnically Chinese guy and girl who were sitting at the same table as us, started asking where I’m from—and that became a prelude to the typical conversation one would have when meeting other travellers, namely asking where they’re from, where they plan to travel to, how long have they been in the country, etc. It was then that I learned that the dude and the dudette were from Brunei, and that they actually learned the Malay language too, a point I found most amusing. I hadn’t expected that for some reason.

After a long leisurely munch through my breakfast, the Bruneian dude talked to me for a bit—the only thing I still remembered from our conversation was how I thought his reply to me were somewhat patronising when I told him it usually takes me a couple of days to ease into a country when I’m travelling, and so I’m going to take it easy today. The Bruneian girl joined us shortly afterwards (she talked to me a lot in Mandarin even after discovering that I had only learned the language about 2 years ago), and apparently they were renting a car with two other friends to Mt Cook.

I then left after a while and walked to the city.

Kiwi Basecamp, my hostel for my first 3 days in Christchurch, New Zealand. They also have Sky, the cable TV, which I didn’t have the time to watch and explore in their TV room.

Another look of the front entrance.

Prolly one of the reasons why Christchurch is known as The Garden City.

A duck and her ducklings.

I honestly hadn’t realised the significance of Captain James Cook until in New Zealand, even though I saw and heard of him when I was in Melbourne. He’s a British explorer and became the first European who landed in Australia and New Zealand, and also discovered Hawai’i.

As the picture clearly described, chess.

A huge game of chess (pun intended) that was ongoing in the centre of the Cathedral Square.

A tram in Christchurch which I never sat on in the end—costs way too much for a relatively short distance.

A hilarious street performance was going on in the Cathedral Square. I need not explain what’s going on in this pic wtf.

The performer (left) got someone off the street to assist him in his performance…

...in other ways as well.

He mentioned that he’s a professional street performer from the UK, and that donations are his livelihood, and that if we didn’t have enough money, he’d be happy enough to hear a word of thanks from the audience. This act involves him trying to get out from a tightly locked set of clothes…

...and emerge in a pink tutu wtf.

Stalls selling various things, from photographs to jewellery, among others.

Inside the ChristChurch Cathedral, where after sitting for a while to shield myself from the oppressive sun, I nodded off and fell asleep wtf.

Those colourful mirror thingies characteristic of churches that I don’t know the name of.

Another look at the cathedral.

The inner sanctum of the cathedral… no, not really.

A second performer that day on some stilts.

Inside the Christchurch i-SITE centre—initially wanting to book a TranzScenic train ride from Picton to Christchurch for the following week, but didn’t in the end after discovering that two different tickets from Picton to Kaikoura and Kaikoura to Christchurch are more expensive than just a single ticket. -__- At least NZD$30 more.

The ChristChurch Cathedral against the rare blue sky in New Zealand, as I later discovered.

A funky-looking structure near the cathedral.

Blue skies!

One of the very few streets where a tram track exists.

Outside of this eatery called Little Hong Kong Diner, I saw a paper put up, promoting their NZD$2.50 fried rice or fried noodles, and this is their miserable plate of fried rice wtf. Should’ve ordered two of those instead.

I spotted the mountains from the eatery, and decided to walk towards it. It was then that I decided that it wasn’t feasible as it was way too far out on foot, and backtracked a little and decided to head towards the park or the botanical gardens, and even so, under the blazing sun, it was far too hot as well that I got lazy and decided to head back to the city. The UV rays were clearly intensely high as my transition lenses turned black completely, similar to when I was in Mt Buller back in Melbourne.

It was funny though, Melbourne is way hotter (prior to when I left for NZ) but its UV ways were not as high—should’ve slapped on some sunscreen lotion but I forgot to place it in my daypack.

Near a park with varying beautiful hues of green.

Trying to take refuge from the heat and my internal battle with myself, I sought the cathedral and slept again, and when I woke up, I listened to the keys of a grand piano being played with upstairs, and then a practising male choir and a conductor performed.

A close-up look. Some of them are really young!

A video of said choir.

Feeling at my lowest, I went to the Central Library to utilise their free 1-hour Internet where you have to sign up for an account at the counter, and then enter into the queue system. This entire internal emotional turmoil was very reminiscent of my first few days in Melbourne, and I need to find a way to ease quickly into a new country in the future. :/ I can’t have thoughts of changing my flight bookings there and then ever again wtf.

The Central Library.

I then proceeded to dine again at the Little Hong Kong Diner again, and under their Summer Special, had 2 portions of fried rice/noodles, 2 fried dim sums (which were mediocre), and a can of Coke—all for only NZD$5.50, the cheapest meal I could ever find in NZ ever.

After walking all the way back to my hostel, my Japanese dormmate chanced upon me and started chatting with me. Apparently he’s been here for 2-3 weeks and is currently learning English, and would be here for another 3 weeks too. Then after I came out from my shower, I stumbled upon the Japanese dude chatting with a German guy, whom I later learned is 20 years old and whose name is Simon.

It was brilliant to sit in the kitchen and talk to the both of them. I really had no excuse whatsoever to stay on in the chicken as I already had my dinner, while the two of them were cooking instant noodles, where my Japanese dormmate has given Simon two packets of the noodles. My dormmate also mentioned that he has been to Queenstown by car, my next upcoming destination, and apparently the fuel is really expensive, and that Queenstown is much more expensive than in Christchurch.

When my dormmate left, Simon and I continued to talk, with topics across the spectrum such as religions, German healthcare vs US healthcare, the mentality of the Germans where apparently they worked a lot without having much fun (while I said that I’m not too sure about the Malaysians..), terrorists and jihad, and him wanting to learn English even though I thought it was reasonably good. Simon was rather cheerful and smiley in that youthful naivety of his, and has a habit of giving a thumbs up and making a ‘chiak’ sound wtf.

He also apparently plays the drums, which he learned since he was 8, and is currently in a metal band where they play in pubs and get free beers. He showed me how he practised his drum-playing when he’s abroad and tapped his fingers in a rapid-fire manner, something I couldn’t emulate at all. And with his Working Holiday Visa, he will be here for another 9 months.

Simon then asked if he could take a picture with me, and I delightfully obliged. On his request, he asked if we can put our arms around each other for a photo wtf.

With Simon.

We finally managed a good photo on his camera after I lent him my Gorillapod, and only took one with my camera after he has done his dishes. Strangely, the depression that has been lingering about vanished during my chat that night with my conversation with two other travellers.

After taking another photo with my camera, he told me that he hope we may meet again (though I very much doubt it), and we bade each other goodbye.

I saw that I have a new dormmate that night, with the two Singaporean girls gone, in the form of a Caucasian dude, but I didn’t get to talk to him much.

Expenses:
Lunch at Little Hong Kong Diner – NZD$2.50
Dinner at Little Hong Kong Diner – NZD$5.50