Very Far From The Rest Of The World: Auckland

"Take an atlas.

Don't be afraid, this isn't a geography lesson. Really and truly, it's the only improving piece in the whole book. But mother said I should let you know where we live, and this is the best way to set about it. 

Now turn to the map of the world. Tucked away down in the south, separated from Australia and America by mile upon mile of blue sea water, you'll see three funny crinkly islands which look as if the waves have been nibbling, mouselike, at their coasts for countless centuries. These three comprise the Dominion of New Zealand, and that is where we live, and where I am going to take you for a while.

Very far from the rest of the world? Yes, but the boys and girls here are very much like the boys and girls anywhere else, father says."

- Six Little New Zealanders, from 1917, my first ever book from a used bookstore

When you're "very far from the rest of the world" you have to rely on friends of friends to get around and connect back to home. This weekend I went to Auckland to see a high school friend of Lindsay (my college friend and running buddy). Though he now lives in Auckland, he spent the first 10 years of his life in England and the next 10 in Cleveland, Ohio (of all places). 

Auckland is the biggest city in New Zealand and nearly 1/3 of the population of the country lives there - I guess that answers my question about where all the people are in Christchurch.

For as large of a city as Auckland is, it still so serene. Most of Auckland is made up of neighborhoods spread out far from the city center, each with a Main Street and a slightly different feel.

Suburbs from the top of One Tree Hill, Auckland

The lifestyle feels quiet and laid back, and the color of the harbor is a brilliant blue. It's hard to realize you're in a major city when you see the color of that water. Across the harbor, are several islands, which are actually sleeping volcanoes. Some of them are northern suburbs, such as Devonport, where we went, and others, such as Rangi Toto, are barren with only hiking trails on them. 

The City of Auckland from Devonport

The city actually reminded me of a south-pacific Honolulu, Hawaii. From the harbour, you can see PWC (thought of you Caitlin!), Deloitte, and various other American companies.

PWC Building for Caitlin Marcoux!

Looking out across the harbor you can see the entire kiwi navy (consisting of two ships - they don't have many enemies). And around the side of the harbor, there are the most beautiful beaches full of people paddle boarding, playing volleyball, and soaking up the sun. Where else can you find a major navy base, a Deloitte office, and beautiful beaches? Honolulu.

Honolulu or Auckland: Where you'd rather be.

But Auckland has a ton of it's very own history, and loves to show its historic side. On my first day, after a delicious meal on Devonport, we went to the Auckland Art Museum.  It had some interesting light show exhibits going on, but somehow we ended up going to the room with art featuring the Maori culture. Maori are one of the native groups in New Zealand. In 1840 the British and the Maori set up the Treaty of Waitangi to give Maori the right of British colonists, as long as they accepted British sovereignty. Since the time of the treaty, the British have violated the treaty, and as a penalty have had to return many land rights to the Maori people. As a results, much of the land in Auckland is currently owned by the Maori people, and a mutual respect seems to be present between the two cultural groups.

After a little bit of history, we got back to the fun stuff - shopping and eating. I saw the main shopping areas, the main department store (which was already decorated for Christmas), and a shopping road called Karangahape road where I bought my used book. Before leaving the city for the day, I asked to stop by a little bakery I saw online. It was an adorable milk and cookie bar called Moustache. It was the cutest little bakery where all you could really get was milk, cookies, or coffee. The milk was meant for dunking, and so we got a couple different kinds of cookies and had a fantastic time dunking them in milk. I can't remember the last time I did that. 

Milk and Cookie Combo,  Please

Milk made for dunking :)

At night I got to meet some of Nick's friends, and they were so fun to hang out with. I'm not a huge fan of the Kiwi accent, but one of Nick's friends was named Charlotte, and the way they said her name was just perfect. "I believe in you, CHA-lit!". We went to a few bars around Auckland, and had a ton of fun. Coincidentally, one of the bars we went to was a sister bar of one of my favorite places in Sydney.

Tea pot cocktails! Look familiar, Steph and Skye?

We spend my last day shopping, eating fish and chips on the beach, and wandering around the botancial gardens, and before I knew it, it was time to head back to Christchurch.

Mission Bay, Auckland

It was really nice getting way for the weekend, and seeing another city in New Zealand, but I have to admit, a part of me felt right at home when I got back to quiet little Christchurch. It might be the nice spring weather we've had the last few days, but something about this place is certainly growing on me :) It's not like any other place else I've been in the world, but its becoming my little place, and I'll always remember the two months I got to live "very far from the rest of the world".

Evening run in Hagley Park, Christchurch

November Project Christchurch?

I've never considered myself a super runner, and until I left New York, and as a result, November Project, I didn't realize how much it had been influencing my life.

Just waking up the sun with some burpees on the East River

For anyone who doesn't know about November Project, it's a free fitness group in 16 cities in the US/Canada that (official as of today) has 3,934 members! I joined November Project in May after hearing about it from a friend and since then these people have become some of my most fun, fit, and close friends. I've never joined a running group before, so I guess you could say I don't really know, but November Project is so much more than a running group. For starters you don't run from point A to point B. You run loops around a central point, and everyone is at a different part of the course at all times so you are never alone (or last). Sometimes I run different laps with different friends, or talk to someone I've never met before because we're running next to each other, and some mornings I just go hard and challenge myself to run the most laps that I can.They also have a Positivity Award, and every week they tell the most amazing story about a different person at November Project who is making everyone around them a better person.

Not the positivity award, but I got Pin the Badger (on loan) for my birthday from Coach John. November Project is really good at celebrating birthdays

There are a lot of photos taken, and a lot of hugs given, and I have more energy on Wednesdays because I woke up at 5:45 am and ran around with these crazy people, than any other day when I sleep until 7:30. Lastly and possibly most importantly, the tribe (that's what they call the group in each city) drinks. And the tribe never has a bad time. These people know how to celebrate a race, support each other at charity events, and enjoy a few margaritas on a Friday night.

Some of my favorite NP friends celebrating our Bronx 10 Miler

I was really finding my stride is this group of amazing people when I got my 6 days notice of leaving New York City (Just for two months... but still). Having such an amazing group of people in New York, made leaving that much harder. When I first got to Christchurch and talked to a few of my best friends (who haven't joined November Project yet), they both asked 1. Do they have NP there? 2. Is there anything similar you can join? They get me. But unfortunately there is not.

The most homesick I've been so far was last Wednesday when I woke up to a message saying I had missed an awesome bridge workout. Bridge days at November Project are my FAVORITE and all the sunrise photos on instagram were breaking my heart.

I mean, how can you NOT be homesick for this sunrise? Amazing photo by Emily Faherty

I was excited to run the Fidelity Life Corportate Challenge with my coworkers this week, but also nervous that it wouldn't be as much of a celebration as my other races have been recently. I shouldn't have underestimated it, because I had a really good time, and am feeling so much better about Christchurch as a result.

The race was on Wednesday, but due to some pretty extreme weather, we didn't think the race was going to happen...
Tuesday night, when I was leaving work, I heard thunder in the distance, and a few minutes in to my drive it started hailing. Over the next couple minutes, as I drove about a quarter of a mile, the hail got heavier and heavier and about an inch of ice accumulated on the roads. It honestly looked like a blizzard had just hit. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced, so of course I looked it up on the internet when I got home. There were no news stories! Apparently, this happens with some frequency, and New Zealand doesn't have the sensationalized/frenzied media culture that the US does, so there was literally nothing on the internet about it. What remote island am I living on?!

Literally awful.

And that road was clear 5 minutes ago.

On Wednesday, race day, it POURED off and on all day. I'm talking some serious rain. No one wanted to be the one to bail and let anyone else down, so we all put on our TT shirts and went to the race. It started pouring as the rain began, but we ran hard. I PRed and had a ton of fun.

The group from the office who walked/ran the Corporate Challenge! 

I wore my TT shirt for the race because there wasn't bag check and I had to wear it for the photo, but immediately after changed in to my grassroots gear. Upon seeing my grassroots gear, my coworker Jen reacted, "OH November Project is your running group?!?! That's so awesome!! It's their birthday tomorrow or something, right?" Why yes it is. Happy 3rd Birthday NP! The amount of joy Jen's comment brought me is almost embarrassing. Having someone here, on the other side of the world, understand exactly what I missed about home brought me so much relief. And of course I was even happier to hear her say "We should start NP Christchurch!"

Drenched from the rain, but had to take a photo in my #grassrootsgear

After the race we all went to a cafe called C1. They only serve sliders, but they are delivered to you via a network of tubes that go around the restaurant and end up at your table. I have no idea how it works, but it was really fun, and, surprisingly, the food was good! I love most food and enjoy being an adventurous eater, but the food in this country has been pretty bad. (Except the tim tams- the tim tams are good. And apparently the chocolate milk.) I even had a great Kiwi beer, brewed in Nelson where I was last weekend. Overall, the night was really fun -- running, eating, drinking, and laughing. It felt like that little part of home that I so missed, had come to help me out in Christchurch.

This morning when I woke up to messages about my friends PRs at November Project, I was so much happier to hear about it than the week before. And so thrilled to hear #3014 was met!

This weekend I'm going to be missing the race that I organized in honor of my big, Miriam Frankl. I am so blessed to have family and friends who are going to go to Chicago in my absence, meet Miriam's parents, and remember one person who has influenced my life in so many ways. I could go on and on about my big, but for those who are reading, thank you for the support and for the donations to the scholarship fund, and to those running this weekend, I owe you a big hug next time I see you. Just know I'm thinking of you and wish I could be there. Give Miriam's family and friends a big hug from me.

So to November Project, I miss you and I cannot wait to see all of your beautiful faces December 31st for bridge day (this is my #verbal). To the runners in Chicago, race hard and have fun, I wish I were there, and to my coworkers and new running friends, thanks for making me a whole lot less homesick this week.

What Almost Happened on the Way to Golden Bay

This weekend I got out of town with two coworkers for my first real weekend trip (since my attempt to go to the west coast didn't go so well.. ) Tina, Jason, and I decided to drive up to the Nelson area. Nelson is a city near the northern tip of the South Island. It's pretty far away, so most of the trip consisted of driving, and stopping for a hike in a few places.

We decided to drive up the east coast from Christchurch on Saturday morning, and our first stop was Kaikoura. Kaikoura is a beautiful, bright blue bay with a stunning background of snow capped mountains. It was hard to catch both in one picture but I tried.. A bunch of people in the office came up here the weekend before I got to New Zealand, and talked about how beautiful it was, so I was excited to see it. Definitely lived up to the hype.

About 20 km north of Kaikoura, there is a seal colony! We pulled over to see them, and saw (according to our guidebooks) 100 seals. I didn't count that many, but that's ok. On the other side of the highway was a trail that lead to the base of a waterfall where the seal pups play. It was incredible how close the seal pups came to people, but they were moving way too fast for a close up photo. One pup climbed up a hill next to the pool and was looking back at us. Others were playing together and jumping out of the water like flying fish. I didn't know seals did either of those things, but it was so fun to watch.

Pup coming up to see his friends

If you look closely you can see a ton of seals. This is the little pool they all gather in.

We got back in the car and drove north through wine country, to Blenheim. A group of coworkers are going to Blenheim next weekend, and I can't go because of other travel plans, so  I wanted to check it out. We planned to stop and get lunch, but the downtown of Blenheim only had a McDonalds and a Burger King, so, disappointed in the town, we drove on. 

Around 1:30 (left ChCh at 7 am) we finally got to Nelson! Nelson was beautiful! It was the cute coastal town I've been searching for. Jason and Tina had recently been to Queenstown and Dunedin (two other South Island cities) so they were not as shocked to see a nice place as I was, but it really made us all reflect on the current state of Christchurch. I was amazed to see a thriving downtown area, full of tourists and locals walking around. Christchurch's main tourist district was severely damaged during the earthquake, and many of the buildings in the downtown area have since been demolished. There was a long period after the quakes that the entire downtown was taped off and deemed unsafe for people to be walking in. There are very few tourists here these days, and even fewer locals walking around downtown. It's really sad to see the difference between current Christchurch and a place like Nelson, but yesterday I was just really happy to be in sunny, happy Nelson.

We didn't stay in Nelson too long though. After lunch and a bit of window shopping, we reserved our spots at a YHA hostel in Golden Bay and got on our way. We drove about 45 minutes to the Abel-Tasman National Park to do a day hike. The hike ended up to be a super simple 6k walk along the coast. The views were beautiful, but I'll let the photos speak for themselves. 

GRASSROOTS GEAR!



I really love that line of mountain in the distance. Makes the horizon so interesting



Appletree Bay - Destination of the hike

Low tide on our way back to the start

We went back to the nearest town for dinner, and before heading out to Golden Bay, stopped at the grocery store. Tina had an inkling that where we were going would be pretty remote and wouldn't have any place for us to get breakfast in the morning, so we stocked up on snacks for our morning hike. Feeling pretty prepared, we set off on our over-a-giant-mountain-in-the-pitch-darkness drive. About 45 minutes in, we're nearing the top of the mountain, and Tina goes, "You know else we should've gotten in town? Some gas." A minute later, the low fuel light turned on. Well shoot. It is nearly pitch black and we have no idea how far it is until we get to the hostel and also no idea if there will be a gas station where we're going. Towns and gas stations are few and far between when you start traveling through the mountains. The GPS arrival estimate was also suspiciously getting later and later. We made it to the top of the mountain, relieved to save a little bit of gas on the way down, and decide there's nothing we can do, except hopefully get to the hostel and get help. That's when we realized.. we told the hostel that would be there between 8 and 9 pm. They close at 7, so we needed to call and tell them if we will be later. We call repeatedly (once we finally get to an area with cell phone service) and get no answer. It's already 9:15, the fuel light it still on, and we have 15 minutes to go.

You could cut the tension in our car with a knife. We each admitted that we were all equally to blame for not checking the gas level ahead of time, but that didn't help the fact that no one thought we were going to make it. And worse than that, we really thought we were going to be shut out of the hostel and have to sleep in the car. Three of us in our Toyota Corolla did not see very comfortable. Thank God, I bought those Kit Kats at the grocery store ;)

Around 9:40 we got to the hostel, and shockingly someone was there to let us in. Exhausted, we got ready for bed, and I immediately fell asleep. The next morning, we found a gas station and were on our way for our next hike. Thank goodness.

We drove out to Cape Farewell, the northern-most point on the South Island and hiked out to Wharariki Beach. The beach had the smoothest, whitest sand I've ever seen. And it was deep. My shoes sunk nearly six inches in to the sand at some parts of the beach. Refreshed and restored, by making some of the first footprints on this powder-fresh sand, I felt so much better about our trek.

Finally we made it out to Cape Farewell, took in the views, and began our drive back south to Christchurch.

Northern-most point on the South Island

I liked this sign better than the one that said "Parents keep your small childen by your side at all times due to strong wind gusts along unfenced cliff faces"

Ah. So worth the hike.

So we almost ran out of gas, on a mountain, in the dark, without cell phone service, and we almost got locked out of the hostel. But we didn't. And once again I made it home safely and so ready for bed.

Other trip highlights:

- We had lots of car time, so we found some time to listen to Taylor Swift's new album all the way through, twice. Well done, Taylor.

- Great wildlife as always. We watched sheep being herded on the hilltop walk to the beach, and watched the dogs herd a runaway cow back in to his pasture after that. Reminded me of Lily-baby. I assumed this dog was her distant cousin, the New Zealand sheep dog.

After herding all those sheep up the hill

Runaway Cow! Go get 'em pup!