The Police!

Just got back from the Police concert! The Police. In Wellington! Just wild.

They say scent is the strongest tie to memory. While that may be true, music is also a very strong tie for me. Listening to them play all the familiar songs took me back to college when I first discovered their music. I was reminded of my Freshman year - full of promise and hope for the future. I remembered a boy named Todd, too, who made me a mixed tape (*sigh* I'm a cliche from the 80s!) at the end of my Freshman year/his Senior year. It was called "If..." and incorporated the song "Every Little Thing She Does". Oh, that was so very long ago, and yet the night we met up in the rain to walk out to the gorge and I stole his umbrella still pops in my head every time I hear that song.

Listening to the words, though, the song is much more fitting in my current relationship. I like that after all this time, and all the memories attached to that song, I can attach new memories...who knows? Maybe one day in the distant future I'll only remember hearing the song in the Wellington stadium on a clear summer night with my husband in our new country, at the start of a new year.

Looking all around us at the concert, I was amazed at the cultural and age diversity of the crowd. There were many people a generation ahead of us whooping it up and dancing the night away, shouting the choruses they knew by heart. Quite a few young kids (as in teenagers) were there too, who were perhaps drawn in by the opening act (Fergie & the Black Eyed Peas). Just ahead of us was a Polynesian family - the parents were rocking out and singing along to almost every song, while their (12ish?) daughter just stood there looking confused. =) It hit me, watching them, that music is universal. Sure, these days the internet connects us all over the world, and we can read the same stories and get to know people via blogs. But music is so personal and emotional. I wondered, too, what memories they had attached to the songs played that night, and how far back they started listening to the Police.

And I thought of all the outdoor and stadium concerts I had been to over the years, and it felt for a moment they were all connected and I was 19 or 20 again experiencing it all anew. The weather was perfect, the crowd pleasant and there was Sting! On stage across the world from where I first heard his music.

I also thought of my good friend Siw, who once had planned to go to a Sting concert with me back in 2000. We were living and working in Arizona, and were suddenly transferred to Minneapolis before the (weekday) concert. We sadly had to sell our tickets and never did get to see Sting in concert. Just so happens Siw's birthday was yesterday (happy birthday sweetie!)

Rock on -

So long, and thanks for all the....whales..?

After our short visit of Greymouth, we headed back on the train to Christchurch. We stayed at the same hotel, this time getting a "deluxe room" that didn't have a view of cars. We instead had a lovely patio that led out to the rose garden. :) Too bad it was raining...

We had no desire to head back into town to try to find food, especially since the hotel shuttle had stopped running for the evening. So we called our favorite pizza chain - Hell Pizza. Yay! 

Next morning we were up at the crack of...eh...up early to catch the train to Kaikoura, "where the land meets the sea". (And yes, another cab. Seriously, why even have a hotel shuttle?!?) The weather was much better this time, and as we neared Kaikoura we had a fabulous view of the sea.
We grabbed a quick shuttle to our hotel, the Anchor Inn Motel. The Inn is gorgeous, and just across a small road from the beach.
Although we arrived very early (around 10:30 am or so), we were able to get into our room and settle in a bit. The owners are incredibly friendly and helpful - they even booked a lovely dinner for us at the White Morph Inn just down the road with a quick phone call, even though it was New Year's Eve!

We rested a bit then headed back towards town/train station to grab lunch and go on our whale watching tour. Do you see all the whales? No? Yeah, neither did we. =(

Due to a Southerly change in the wind currents, the sea was quite choppy. All of the tours for the day were canceled due to safety concerns. Ah, well...

We hung around town a bit looking for something to do and not having much luck. It was New Year's Eve! We walked back to the hotel, checking out a war memorial/garden along the way. Two whale jaw bones were donated to the park in memory of the woman who kept the memorial garden going for several years.
We also passed a skate park (which are common here). I love how the name "Kaikoura" is so prominent against the sea:

When we got back to the hotel, we saw in the guest services book that we could rent bicycles...cool! So we did. We biked down to the seal colony and came across these interesting rocks along the way:

And we saw a seal! We watched him for a bit to see if he was breathing because he was sleeping so deeply, he initially looked dead (he could also be a she, but we weren't getting close enough to check!!)


The mountains were mostly covered by clouds, but you can *just* see the peaks peeking out...

Later, we had a very good meal served by a very poor waitress (we guessed it was her first night) overlooking the sea. We walked back to the hotel and watched our favorite movie (Lilo & Stitch) while waiting for midnight. We opened the doors to hear the ocean waves breaking on the beach, and rung in the New Year with a kiss. One of the best New Year's ever! =)

The next morning the sky was clear (of course) and we had a very good view of the mountains from outside our room:

And the view from our room: The road wasn't very busy, as it dead-ended at the seal colony a mile or two down the way.

Finally, a 360 degree panorama of the views from the beach in front of the hotel:


Kairkoura is so amazingly beautiful! And by far the best experience we had on the trip - especially the hotel. A perfect place to ring in the New Year!

We later found out that Kaikoura is the first community in New Zealand and second in the world to achieve Green Globe Benchmark status in 2002. Green Globe is the world’s only truly global tourism certification standard and arose from the principles of Agenda 21. It aspires to be a system that responds to the major environmental problems facing the planet as well as seeking to achieve environmental, social and cultural improvements at a global, national and international level. Sweet!

South Island Trip continued...

If you are keeping track, we are now on Day 4 of our holiday adventure!

We got up early and headed out for the train via cab, even though the hotel had a "free shuttle". You get what you pay for, I guess - while they are the closest hotel to the train station, and cater to the TranzAlpine, they don't do that on the weekends.

The train ride from the East Coast to West Coast is truly spectacular. Once we left the Canterbury Plains, we entered the lush green areas in the middle of the island. Much of what we traveled through is protected land and unpopulated - with a very notable exception of Lake Brunner, "where the trout die of old age". Only a couple hundered people live here, but during the summer holidays, the population often increases to 3,000!
After just three hours, we made it to the lovely town of Greymouth. We completely forgot to take pictures of this lovely town, so we googled one (photo credit Dr. T. Gregory Guzik).

Greymouth is the largest town on the West Coast of the South Island (approx population of 13,000). I think tourists often use Greymouth as a hub for daytrips around the West Coast, but we only planned to stay one night so we stayed in town. Once we were settled in at our B&B, we walked into town to explore a bit. We had a fabulous lunch at a little pizza place, then played a round of putt putt golf before heading over to our tour of the Monteith's Brewery. This was my favorite part of the trip so far because I learned that I like beer! Well, just Monteiths, but it's still beer!

We did the typical tour (sorry, no pictures of this) which for the most part I didn't understand. How many different ways can beer be made, though? I did find the ancedotes about the employees quite interesting - most of the employees have been at the brewery for over 20 years! Many are chemists and engineers. One in particular has invented a machine or two that not only saved the company money, but has helped the environment a bit too - he invented a machine that takes out the dents of kegs so that they can be reused (patent pending). Fabulous! Monteiths has used a few of the keg cans for other purposes as well....

After the talk, we headed into the lovely bar area (open only for tours) and tried each of the seven beers currently produced: Original, Golden, Radler, Black, Celtic, Pilsner and Summer Ale. I liked all of them except Black and Celtic. After we tried all the beers, we were given a full glass of our favorite (Summer Ale for me, Black for Darren). And although I can handle more beer than wine, I was quite toasty by the end of the tour!
The next morning we kicked around town a bit before boarding the train back to Christchurch. More lovely pictures from the train:


It was a great trip - we would definitely return to Greymouth, perhaps stopping for a night or two along the train route. One of the best parts of the trip was the commentary by an employee on the train. He not only provided fun facts about the towns and sites we passed, but a lot of hilarious information about his marriage, career and children!

South Island Trip (Christchurch Day 2)

Finally!  I know!

On day 3 of our trip, we were still in Christchurch. After the Aquarium the day before, we hadn't found anything else to do, so we went back to the hotel in the early evening and ordered room service. It was yummy albeit pricey.

Next day we slept in again (hey - don't judge - we're on vacation!!), and after breakfast headed back into town again. Our plan for the day was to go the Antarctic Centre near the airport. There are heaps of shuttles in Cathedral Square that go to all of the attractions around Christchurch, just to the Antarctic Centre or just to the airport. We weren't sure of the best one, so we picked the Antarctic Centre specific shuttle (it had penguins on the top of the bus!).

Sad to say, the Antarctic Centre wasn't quite worth the price of admission. The best part for me was seeing the little blue penguins (even though most of them are crippled) and for Darren, was a ride in the Hagglund.



The Centre's displays are primarily pictures of the Antarctic and lots of reading to go along with the pictures. There is also a "cold room", where they simulate a storm in the Antarctic by turning on a huge fan and cooling the room to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Those of you who lived near Darren in upstate NY or near me in Erie, PA, aren't impressed I'm sure! We weren't impressed, honestly. I'm sure it's an interesting part of the Centre for Kiwis and tourists who haven't experienced winter, though. The room was definitely cute enough:

A little slide made of real ice!

A little cave to shelter from the storm.

After the "storm", guests can warm their hands on a heated bar outside the main room. There's a cute penguin sign above the bar:

We then followed the penguin tracks to go see the Little Blue Penguins.


It was a bit too crowded to see the feeding, but we stuck around for a while and shot some video of the penguins hanging out. All the penguins at the Antarctic Centre have been rescued from one situation or another - a few were hit by boat propellers, others tangled with someone's pet. Each of them can be idenitifed by the colored bands on their flippers- there is a sign on the wall that lists all the colored bands and explains the story of each penguin.


The noose above the penguins is a little disturbing - what is it there for?!?


Aren't they cute?!? =)

After we read every poster, print and placard in the Antarctic Centre, we headed back to town (mainly because we couldn't figure out how to get to the Orana Wildlife Centre). It was only around 4pm or so, and we weren't hungry for dinner yet. We were kinda bored, so we jumped on the Science Alive!, but it was closed. Too bad! It looks like it would have been fun.

Finally, we decided to just park it at a pub/bar and get some beer/food. We first went to an "Irish" pub called The Bard, which is adorable. As soon as Darren saw the bartender (incorrectly) pour a (watered-down) Guinness, though, we were out of there! Just a couple blocks away was our second choice - The Bog. We really liked the atmosphere here, too, and decided to stay as soon as the bartender said "we have the REAL Guinness here". Apparently he knew how to pour one too.

The food was really good as well - to start, we had a tall garlic loaf drizzled with sweet chili sauce. Oh. My. God! Seriously one of the best things I've ever eaten! And perhaps the best (and only!) reason to return to Christchurch. Yum!

Once we were fat and happy, back to the hotel we went, as the train left early the next morning for....find out tomorrow! =)

Xmas, New Year's and S. Island Trip: Christchurch Day 1

Decided not to continue the whole "Part 2" etc for the title- I'm wacky like that! ;)

On Boxing Day, we got up earlier than normal, finished packing and ran out the door. We left in such a hurry, neither one of us could remember if we brought the camera. Well, I should say, Darren was certain he didn't bring it because he didn't have room in his bag. I was also absolutely certain I didn't bring it because it wasn't in the pile of things to put in my bag. So, we started our trip with an hour-long fight over nothing: the camera was indeed in my bag! As a woman, though, I still found a way to make it all his fault. =)

The ferry ride was a bit long and quite crowded. We decided to have a "strategy" next time - to figure out where we wanted to be on the boat and go there immediately after boarding. The strategy worked quite well on the return trip!

The best thing about the NZ transportation system is that it's all connected - we checked our baggage when we boarded the ferry in Wellington, and picked it up when we got off the train in Christchurch. Speaking of the train ride...it was quite long (5 hours), albeit beautiful. We didn't take any pictures on the way down though, as the sky was overcast.

At the train station in Christchurch (CHC), we looked around for our hotel shuttle, waited a bit, then called the hotel. Surprise! The shuttle doesn't run on national holidays. (Would have been nice to know that....) We grabbed a cab and were at the hotel in mere minutes. The hotel - Chateau on the Park - is gorgeous, and I knew from the website that the rooms looked out onto gardens. Once we checked in, though, I found out that only the premium rooms are guaranteed a garden view. There are some "deluxe" rooms that have gorgeous views, but our "deluxe" room had a very good view of...the parking lot. Such a close view, really, that if someone waited 3 seconds too long to hit the brakes, the car would be in the room. Note to anyone and everyone considering this hotel: don't stay in an odd-numbered room!

After a bit of wrangling, they convinced me to upgrade to the premium room (the price included a breakfast buffet), which included lovely robes, a very very comfy bed and a beautiful view of the rose garden. Sorry, no pics. There are plenty on the hotel website, though.

We made our way into town via the park - a longer walk than anticipated (but beautiful) - to find dinner. Oops again! It was still Boxing Day, so all the restaurants I had picked out were closed. We did find a good Indian restaurant, though, and were comforted by the fact that it was very busy and full of Indian people. After a filling dinner, we walked back to the hotel through the park (we didn't know CHC was the "most dangerous city in New Zealand" at the time).

The next day was gorgeous, and we made full use of the hotel shuttle into town after eating the breakfast buffet. First up was the Aquarium. We loved it! For all of you who have been requesting pictures, here they come! We have some video too, but Blogger is not cooperating right now.  Will edit this post to add them later -

The Large Bellied Seahorse

The Southern Pigfish giving me a kiss!

An Eagle Ray smiling at us

A really cool Octopus showing off for us

A Sea Cucumber

The aquarium also has reptiles, such as the NZ native tuatara. This is no lizard! Nope, in fact it is a "living fossil". The reptile group that tuatara belong to, the Sphenodontia, has been on Earth for 225 million years. The ancestors of tuatara are known to have been in NZ for at least 80 million years (this is how long ago NZ split away from Gondwanaland). It was amazing to see one close up, as they are endangered (and nocturnal).


Speaking of endangered and nocturnal...the aquarium has a "Kiwi Encounter".  Kiwi are flightless birds who historically had no predators. Over time, however, several different kinds of mammals have been introduced to NZ - many of whom find kiwi and their young quite tasty.

We had quite a bit of time with the two kiwi who have lived at the Aquarium for eight years. Once we learned to crouch down and keep back from the glass enclosure, the kiwi came out of a dark corner and ran around foraging for food. They look so different from anything we've ever seen before! Of course we weren't allowed to take pictures, so here is one from the Aquarium's website:

**Update! I have found a way to upload our videos! First video is of the Big Bellied Seahorses:



And now for an incredible Sting Ray:





Next up: Day 2 in Christchurch

Christmas, New Year's and the South Island (Part 1)

After all the excitement of xmas parties and frantic holiday shopping, the xmas break was finally here! To kick off the long vacation, we relaxed on Friday (21st) with the Meetin group at a new restaurant/pub on the waterfront. The rest of the weekend was spent (finally) decorating the house for the holidays. 

Some of you will remember that last year we had to make-do with a sad little tree because our container hadn’t yet arrived.

 This year, we added some “Kiwi” touches to the decorations we brought here...we bought a book called “The Kiwi Night Before Christmas”, which included a ‘make your own Bach’! 

On Christmas Eve, we watched all of our old favorite movies - A Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon version), and The Ref. We also 'lit the fire' and hung out our stockings for Santa. 

 

And we found on xmas morning that Santa did indeed show up! We both had heaps of candy in our stockings, and I had a book as well - The Worst Case Scenario (Work). We opened up our gifts from each other and ate our favorite waffles for breakfast.

Later that day, we rode the (free!) bus to Mike and Michele's house for a very yummy dinner and some friendly PlayStation 2 competition. Ok, and a little "Songstar" as well. (My deepest apologies to REM...).

We hurridly packed for our South Island trip and went to bed way later than expected.  Updates and pictures on the trip tomorrow!

Happy New Year!

A bit late, but sincere all the same!  Hope everyone had a fun and safe celebration and that 2008 will be even better than 2007.  

We got back today from our week-long trip to the South Island and will give a trip update and share our pictures soon.