Mid-semester break: Part 3!

When we last left our hero--er--Christina, she was having a splendid but quakey stay in Christchurch. We return to her now, traveling in a van up the east coast of the South Island, on the second of September.

After three days in Christchurch we hit the road again for 200 miles of stunning scenery through the wine country of Kaikoura. The highway runs right along the coast; on the right side of the road was the vast, sparkling, deep-turquoise Pacific with islands of rock jutting out...on the left side were vivid-green pastures dotted with sheep, vineyards arrayed in perfect rows, and the snow-peaked Southern Alps. I don't really have words, so here's a glimpse:






Four hours later we arrived in Picton, and by then I had decided that there cannot possibly be a more epic place to see than this. If you're going to study abroad, travel abroad, honeymoon, take an anniversary trip or any other kind of trip, come to New Zealand. Quite seriously--if you don't have an excuse to come here, find one!

We parked the vans and boarded the Picton Ferry for a 3-hour cruise into the Queen Charlotte Sound, through the Tory Channel, across the Cook Straight and into Wellington Harbour. I haven't been on a ferry in a long time, and it was just fun. Boats are fun. Really big boats are really big fun.

I feel like this blog hasn't had enough maps.

Behold, a map:

Headed into the Queen Charlotte Sound

This picture just makes me grin.
These are (a few of) my people. Phoebe, Joanna, Vicky, Janine, Peter.

Upon arrival, a charter bus was ready and waiting to whisk us outside of the city to Waikenae, where the Victoria University Christian Students club was hosting a weekend retreat for students from all over NZ. We were all tired from a long day of travels, but a dinner of sub sandwiches, apples and a nearly endless supply of cookies was all we needed to get going again. One person started singing and before long the whole bus enthusiastically joined in. The sun was setting on Wellington behind us, and it created a beautiful dusk city scape. I leaned back in my seat for a moment and said a small prayer of thanks to be in this place, with these people, at this time.

We had a great (very fast!) weekend doing a Bible study on Ephesians, and it was pretty cool getting to blend with students from all kinds of different backgrounds. The Dunedin gang started the long trip back on Sunday afternoon but I got to stay and sight-see in Wellington a bit longer, since my class load is really light on Mondays and Tuesdays.

A sister named Grace became my tour guide, and I got to see a lot in just the few days I was there. I had heard all sorts of things about Windy Wellington being gray, blustery and cold most of the time...but the weather was nearly perfect the whole time I was there. Based on what I got to see, I would totally move there. Wellington calls itself "The coolest little capital in the world", and I'd have to agree. It's clean, trendy, fun, and just classy. Lonely Planet recently named Wellington as one of the world's Top 5 Cities for 2011. :)
The tour started off with the National Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa. It's world-class museum with some really cool interactive exhibits, and it's free! I could have spent several days there, there was so much to see and do.

Nothing follows up an excellent museum visit like...excellent gelato! There's a place called Kaffee Eis that offers sweet, crunchy homemade waffle cones filled with the smoothest, richest gelato I've ever had. While we licked and munched, we wandered along the water front where people were walking, running, rollerblading, photographing, and just enjoying a beautiful day. We saw a chalkboard sign advertising an underground market, so we decided to check it out.

My lovely tour guide, Grace Park, and her brother.

Next we hopped on the historic cable car, which is used by all sorts of commuters and tourists alike to escape the intense trek up and down the city's hilly streets. The view from the top:

That's a cricket field, not a baseball diamond. :)

Just checking the time...

We took our time walking back down to the city through the Botanic Garden, which was really lovely. Tui are native NZ birds, and they could be heard and seen all over the place.

The next morning I met up with a group of the other students who I met in Waikenae. We broke fast at Ernesto-- a vibrant, jazzy, Cuban-themed place with a strong feel-good flavor that served up delicious coffee and decant french toast.

A bit more sight-seeing was in store for the day, including The Beehive, which houses the executive wing of Parliament.

Pretty cool train station, where I could have sat down and just people-watched for hours.

A couple named Stephen and Josephine hosted me for my two night stay; they took wonderful care of me, and we really enjoyed our time together! They have an adorable 2-year-old named Emily, who immediately adopted me as part of the family. We had a ball reading stories, making play dough pizza and inventing hiding games, but her favorite was to stand on my shoes while I stomped dramatically around the room. I'm not sure if she loved it more or me.

On Monday night, Josephine drove the sisters to the lookout on the top of Mt. Victoria.
There was a crisp chill in the night air, but the view was so, so clear; we stood there for a very long time, soaking in the quiet scene of a million little lights hovering above the harbour.

It was tough to leave--again, it amazed me that in such a short time I could feel so close to people I'd never met before. I found family everywhere I stopped during this mid-semester trip, and that was incredible-- like tying strong little knots everywhere that I stopped.

And then I was given yet another reason to love this place...
I got to the Wellington airport, checked in without showing any ID, headed straight to my terminal without going through any security, and half an hour later walked across the tarmac and climbed the steps onto a small 40-seater plane that would take me home to Dunedin. :)