Springtime in Christchurch is so amazing

Tuesday, Oct. 19:  2031 earthquakes and counting!  Had a huge one today - 5.0 but it was so shallow that it had an intensity of 7.0!!! http://www.suite101.com/content/the-christchurch-earthquakes-continue-a-stocktake-and-update-a298478

Thursday, Oct. 21: Today was my last day of classes in new Zealand! Now I have three finals starting next friday.  Ugg, wait,  I actually have to study here?

And now for Courtney and my amazing Christchurch adventures.  Instead of gallivanting around the country, we decided to stay in Christchurch and explore our home town more.  Spring here is absolutely beautiful and we definitely have a greater appreciation for "The Garden City" and its super friendly atmosphere.

Greatest smelling flower at Mona Vale

Punting on Avon River

Gondola

Saturday, Oct. 23:  I had an amazing day with Courtney!! :) ...  We did the Christchurch Grand Tour!  We hopped on the bus at Cathedral square and our first stop was Mona Vale - a historic Christchurch homestead surrounded by beautiful gardens.  We mosied around the gardens along the Avon river and stopped to watch the ducks, smell the flowers, and take in the beautiful sights and fragrances around us.  We got some amazing pictures of the flowers because I have never seen flowers so vibrant!!  And one pink flower was the best smelling flower I have ever encountered.  I want to figure out what it is!! Then we went punting down the Avon river through the botanic gardens.  It was so comfortable and incredibly relaxing.  I love all the baby ducklings that splash around in the clear water.  Then we drove up really high to a lookout point where we could see all of Canterbury.  Usually you can see the Southern Alps in the background but it was a bit too cloudy.  The view was still incredible though!!  Then we drove along Evan's Pass to Sumner.  The views from Evan's Pass were stunning and Sumner was awesome as usual.  Courtney and I ate lunch at Joe' Garage.  I had a delicious mushroom dish and chocolate ice cream.  We then drove through New Zealand's longest road tunnel carved through the crater wall of the extinct volcanic caldera that forms Lyttelton Harbour.  Here we rode the Christchurch Gondola.  We were lifted 1500 feet to the top of the Port Hills where we had amazing views across the city, Canterbury Plains, Southern Alps, Banks Peninsula, Lake Ellesmere, the Pacific Ocean, and Kaikoura Peninsula.  I got an amazing book in the bookstore called "Smile" by Anders Blomqvist and Gerar Toye.  It's full of amazing pictures of people smiling from all over the world and really cool quotes about happiness...

"There are hundreds of language in the world, but a smile speaks them all."

Tribute to the Firefighters

We rode the gondola back down with a friendly Australian couple who talked to us about cool stuff to do in Sydney.  On the way back to Cathedral Square, we stopped at an awesome sculpture on the banks of the Avon River called "A Tribute to the Firefighters."  It is 5 steel girders from the WTC that was gifted from the NYC to Christchurch to be used as a tribute sculpture to firefighters worldwide.  The suspended component or "spear," in its red hot state, fell from the 102nd floor of the World Trade Center Tower Two, piercing the subway below. 

Once the tour finished, we decided to use our tram ride ticket the next day and go to the free Band Togther concert in Hagley Park!  It was a gift to lift the morale of Canterbury due to the earthquakes. 130,000 people attended!  Court and I chilled in the grass, listened to music, and ate our free sausages.  Such an amazing day.  Wow Christchurch, I love you.

Band Together Concert

The simple pleasures in life

Wednesday, Oct 13: I didn't wear shoes all day today - I love New Zealand!  No one wears shoes!  I love feeling the sensations under my feet - hot, cold, hard, grass, bumpy, sharp, smooth, I just realized the Maori building has heated floors!

Thursday Oct 14: Today I jumped on a bus to make my appointment at Northland's Medical and Sports Care to check out the numbness in my back and side pain.  My doctor is a cranial therapist and osteopath.  I learned so much he is amazing!  We talked about chiropracty, osteopathy, and reflexology.  He showed me what points in my back correspond to the organs in my side.  He massaged and cracked all these vertebrae that he said were super tight and misaligned.  He said that my back could have caused my side pain and then was set off after the super uncomfortable plane ride from Rarotonga.  I love this kind of stuff!

Sumner Beach

Friday, Oct 15:  Oh, the simple pleasures in life.  Today was a beautiful day so I took a bus by myself to Sumner.  I walked along the beach soaking up the rays and beauty all around me - from the bluest clearest water and softest white sand to the craggy rocks.  I laid and read my book (Eat, Pray, Love) under the sun in the warm sand by a grassy dune.  My apple tasted so much juicier and sweeter and crunchier than normal.  I thought to myself; four weeks left, Shona, four weeks left in this paradise.  I know I will return here someday.  Maybe not to this very spot, but definitely to this dreamland.  I know when November 13th comes around I'm not going to want to leave.  I'll probably have an emotional breakdown when Steph and I part each other and New Zealand.  But life after New Zealand is going to be amazing also.  I'll make sure of it ... My conscience slips back to Sumner.  What a moment, what a place, what a day, what a life.

I ventured into town and slipped into a nice looking cafe called Tuti.  I asked the cashier to order me her favorite tea,  Turns out it was Japanese green tea with lime.  It was so hot and delicious.  I don't know how she knew exactly what I wanted!  As a sipped the soothing, warm, green liquid I read some more.  As I left, I eyed a small tub of NZ made organic chocolate ice cream and had to buy it.  It was the best chocolate ice cream I have had in a while!  I ate it while waiting for the bus to take me home.

Sumner and New Brighton

Sumner Beach

This past Friday, Christian, Tom, and I hoped on a bus to Sumner.  We spent a while relaxing in a cute cafe where I got delicious pumpkin potato soup and a chai latte.  I love the designs they put on the coffees!  After, we walked along the beach and climbed on and under a rocky cave.  This beach is awesome and beautiful.  Its always cool going to a beach in the winter.  I then had hokey pokey ice cream for the first time ever!  It is the greatest ice cream in the world!!!  It has bits of the inside of my favorite chocolate bar, Crunchie!  Little honeycomb bits.  Mmmmm. We sat and enjoyed our ice cream as we watched the waves roll in.

Coffee at Sumner

Saturday morning a group of us walked to the Riccarton Bush farmers market.  I love farmers markets!! This was a small one that sold only food.  Delicious food.  I got some honey and flaxseed bread, vegetables, and white chocolate and rhubarb porridge.  Everyone there was extremely friendly.

New Brighton Beach

Sunday Cathy, Ryan, and I went to play some Gridiron (American Football) at Ilam Fields.  Cathy and I were the first girls ever to join the club!  It was really fun and really muddy.  I was great at defense but need to work on my catching skills.  The guys are awesome and we all had a lot of fun.  After we cleaned up, us three ventured to New Brighton beach.  We walked out to the pier as it was getting dark.  The lights on the pier changed colours.  It was extremely cold and windy though.  We talked to some fishermen at the end of the pier and then walked through town.  I got hokey pokey ice cream again and then we went back and hung out at the apartments.