14 Months of Christchurch, as Told by 9 Photos

Cam and I are leaving Christchurch in about 36 hours, so we spent a lot of the weekend packing. At some point I found myself making a photo collage of my Christchurch photos, and by the time I was done, I realized that each of the pictures held different memories, so I thought I'd write a post about them. Hope you enjoy :)

Rapaki Track, October 2014 -

Rapaki Track, October 2014

I love this photo. On my first Saturday in Christchurch, my friend Sarah (who was "my coworker Sarah" at the time) came and picked me up from the motel to take me on a "hill run" - which turned in to a steep uphill walk surrounded by sheep.  I regretted not having my camera the whole time!

The next Friday, I found my way back to Rapaki Track alone, this time with my camera, and captured this gem. 

I had a really nice time on that walk, learning about Sarah, her family, her religion, her new boyfriend (now fiance!!) and walk/running Rapaki track with friends became kind of a tradition in Christchurch. I've  spent many a night after work with different friends - Jen, Jess, Sarah, and even Cam.

Hagely Park, November 2014 -

Hagley Park, November 2014

When I first came to Christchurch, it took a little bit of time to bond with my coworkers. One of the ways I first connected with my workmates was through running, and this remained true for my whole time here. After two corporate challenges, some Tuesday night 5k's in the park, and a half marathon, I have spent countless hours running (with and without my friends) around Hagley Park. This photo was taken one warm night around 8 pm, when I was feeling grateful for the park and the sunshine and the ability to get outside. Near the end of training for the half marathon, I started to believe James's statement that "Hagley steals your soul", but truly, I'm thankful for the miles, the memories, and the sunsets.

Rapaki Track, October 2014 -

Rapaki Track, October 2014

A duplicate location and time - oops.  This was taken on that same first solo Friday. I captioned this photo, "You keep amazing me, New Zealand <3" Little did I know, I'd be amazed for 14 months to come.

Taylor's Mistake, January 2015 -

Taylor's Mistake, January 2015

Ah this photo. While it may appear to be a beautiful beach photo, it holds so  many more memories. 

First off, Taylor's Mistake is a hike around Christchurch, just out past Sumner Beach. I did this hike on one of my first weekends, I think the day after the above Rapaki photos. 

When the new year came, I decided I would go out to Taylor's Mistake for a run after work one day. I hadn't done much trail running, so this was tough. Especially because the way I decided to go included some serious switchbacks, which makes consistently running very difficult. 

But the funniest thing about this photo, is that on my way to this run, I drove slowly past Sumner Beach and who did I find but my new boyfriend, Cam, changing in to his wet suit next to his car. It was a total coincidental run in (well I knew he was going to be there, but I didn't intend to see him), but needless to say, the friend he was with thought I was a total crazy person. 

Lots of memories.

Bridal Path to Lyttleton, October 2015 -

Bridal Path to Lyttleton, October 2015

As the weather got warmer, Cam and I tried to spend more time hiking, especially the local tracks. One Saturday morning, we parked at the base of the Christschurch gondola, hiked the gondola route, saw this view, then walked down the other side of the hill and in to Lyttleton for the market. We drank flat whites, ate meat pies, and then paid $3 for the bus back to our car. 

The Lyttleton market has always been one of our favorites, so as one of our many farewell events, we took James and Jess with us to try it out. After eating the aforementioned pies, they asked us what we do next and we just said, "hmm we normally look at that booth next." 

It's funny to realize what a routine you have at places like this. That you always go to the same booths, buy or not buy the same items, and then leave. While it was funny introducing someone to the routine, it was really fun to share it with our friends. Walking back to the car, Cam and I started to realize that it was our last time in Lytttleon, until the next time we visit Christchurch. We will really miss you, Lyttleton.

Wonderbar, Lyttleton, February 2015 -

Lyttleton, February 2015

This one of those photos that missed the blog in February 2015 because I was too nervous to share with the internet/people I knew about all the fun I was having with my new boyfriend.

This photo was taken from the first date night that I planned for us. It always makes me laugh because a couple weeks before, the weather was meant to be stunning on a Sunday. As work talk goes, this was prime conversation. James slipped in a comment, "Well that's one of those days that you get a beer and sit at wonderbar." "What's wonderbar?" I asked. "Oh it's this cool little bar over in Lyttleton."

So when Cam decided that it was time for me to plan a date, I chose a trip to Wonderbar. Then I accidentally told James that I had gone  and dodgily left out who I went with. #earlydays. Since then we've spent many a good night in Lyttleton, and as I said in the last photo, I will miss it so much.

Taylor's Mistake, October 2015 -

Taylor's Mistake, October 2015

I posted this photo on Facebook to mark my one year anniversary in Christchurch. I also took it on my one year anniversary, so no need to question it's authenticity. This night I met up with Jess to do a training run for our upcoming half marathon. While parts of it were downright frustrating, the moment I turned around and saw this shot, definitely made my night. The views that night were stunning, and I spent a lot of the run obsessing over the lambs on the side of the road and celebrating how much had happened in the span of a year. I can't even list them all here, but this year has been life changing. Maybe see my one year anniversary post for more details because if I start here, I'll never stop. Let's just say, a sheep, a sunset, and a run with a friend was the perfect way to celebrate an amazing year in Christchurch.

Sumner Beach, November 2015 -

Sumner Beach, November 2015

Fireworks in New Zealand are illegal for the entire year except for "Remember, Remember, the fifth of November," Guy Fawkes Day. (I pronounce it "fox", which Cam finds hilarious.) They do a pretty big fireworks show out of New Brighton Beach, but the traffic in and out of the beach can be atrocious, so Cam had the idea of going out to Sumner, climbing up a giant rock to get a good view of the fireworks. 

We met Margaret on our way, so I felt like I had a gang. I'm pretty sure I lost any "cool girl" appearance I had going on by saying "I feel like I'm in the OC." But I did. And I will really miss being twenty minutes from the beach and drinking beers with friends on the top of a rock at sunset. 

When Cam and I first started dating, we went out to Sumner on a couple Sunday nights and I looved those times. I love that Cam can go surfing after work any day the weather's good. So this is yet another place that I will really miss when we leave. Cam said we can go out to the Rockaways in New York, but it's definitely possible it won't be the same. 

And finally, Sumner Beach, December 2015 -

Sumner Beach, December 2015

One more view of Sumner Beach. This photo was taken just last week at a work holiday barbecue. We got so lucky with the weather, and enjoyed a really nice send off from work. 



And that's it! I'll miss you Christchurch. All the cafes, bars, parks, tracks, beaches, hills, and even maybe sort of the office. I've had so many good memories in Christchurch, and when the sun is shining, Christchurch can be such a beautiful place. I can't wait to see how the city is doing in a few years - I have no doubt we'll be back.

Until then, 
Erin

#FlatOutBeautiful - Queenstown Half Marathon Weekend

I want to start this post with a quick anecdote - Yesterday I decided that I wanted to bake cookies for the first time. I looked up a recipe online and made a grocery list of 4 ingredients. 

1. Dark brown sugar 

2. Cornstarch 

3. Vanilla Extract 

4. Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

So I drove to the store, and here's what I discovered:
1. They make "brown sugar" in this country. Not light brown sugar, not dark brown sugar. There are not 50 shades of brown. So I came home with 500 grams of soft brown sugar.

2. Cornstarch is actually corn flour here. But when I got to the store they didnt have that, they only had maize corn flour or wheaten corn flour. If I wanted wheaten corn flour wouldnt I just get regular flour? Maybe? Who knows. I got the maize one and hoped for the best.

3. They call extract "essense". ugh. I can't win.

4. Turns out they dont sell those classic toll house semi sweet chocolate chips here either. I had to choose between milk chocolate or dark chocolate and "drops" or "buttons". Came home with some "dark chocolate drops" which Cam confirmed would probably work because dark chocolate doesnt have full sweetness. 

So here I am, more than a year in to living abroad, with less than a month to go, and I still can hardly grocery shop on my own. But hey, the cookies taste delicious.

Queenstown - December 2014.
Just getting you ready for the rest of the post.

The main reason for this post is that last weekend, Cam, seven of our closest work mates/friends, and I went to Queenstown!

Queenstown was the #1 place reccommended to me before I came to New Zealand and it is hands down my favorite place in this country. Every time I go to Queenstown I leave thinking that it is the most gorgeous place on earth, I had the best time, and I hope I go back but if I don't I think I'm satisfied with the excursions I did. Then I go back and find all kinds of new things to do. Well, to be fair, the first time I knew I wasn't satisfied. 

Hellooooo Queenstown

To quickly recap:

Trip #1 - November 2014 - Travelled through Queenstown on my way to the Routeburn track. Got there after dark, and woke up to the most splendid scenery I'd ever seen. Drove around Lake Wakatipu to the get to the track, and after the hike drove the "road to glenorchy" back to Queenstown before heading back to Chch. 
Excursions: FergBurger (It counts), Road to Glenorchy

Trip #2 - December 2014 - Thought my time would be over on 12/20/2014, so my mom came for a visit and we flew on down to Queenstown for the weekend.
Excurions: Queenstown Hill hike, AJ Hackett Bungy, Arrowtown

Trip #3 - March 2015 - Three friends from Hopkins/NY came to visit and we stopped in Queenstown on the way to Milford Sound.
Excursions: Paragliding!!

Trip #4 - April 2015-  It was Jen and Keith's last weekend in NZ and Keith was going to run the Routeburn (See Trip #1), so we all got a bach to wish them farewell. 
Excursion: Gondola + Luge

And finally TRIP NUMBER 5:

Spoiler Alert. 
Excursions: Queenstown Half Marathon, Shotover Jet, Million Dollar Cruise (for the girls), Downhill Mountain Biking (for the boys)

This trip was a long time coming. I had known that I wanted to run a half while I was in New Zealand and knew a friend who ran Queenstown last year and said it was a great course. He didn't tell me about the giant hill in the middle.... but that's besides the point for now. I checked the other day and I actually signed up for the half on July 24th! That seems like so long ago now. 

Photo from Approximately July 24th. So long ago!

The Friday before the race, Cam and I drove down to Queenstown with James and Jess, the other two friends running with me.

Stopped in Tekapo on the way down!

Lupins! Photo Cred: Cam

James had booked our accomodation and warned us that it was "the only thing left" by the time we booked and it was garden view, not lake view. So when we got to Queenstown and checked out the hotel I was absolutely shocked at how nice they were. For the nine of us, we had two 2-bedroom apartments, each with a lake side balcony. 

First look from the parking lot. I like what I see.
(Our future room had one of those pretty balconies)

Just stop. Still in the parking lot. 

Didn't think it could get much better? This is our room. #remarkable

That view tho.

After checking out both rooms, and picking the better one (perks of arriving first), we walked the last 3k of the race course (!!) in to town to pick up our bibs. I was really anxious about the race, so Cam and I got chicken sandwiches and sat by the water for a while before I caught a cab back to the hotel.

One mile to go on the course (the night before)

I got race ready and was in bed before Cam got home. (Also, while getting ready I realized I didn't have ANY food for breakfast. Oops. Traveling for races is hard. Thanks to Cam who grabbed me a scone in town before coming home)

And the next morning it was go time!! Cam (if you can't tell yet, he was the best support crew - major major thanks to Cam.) got up early, took our picture on the balcony (pre-race photos are always the sleepiest), and drove us to the start.

Pre race photos - energy level is not quite READY TO RUN 13.1 MILES.

I was so nervous getting out of the car. As soon as we got about 5 meters from the car, I turned to Jess and said "I can't wait to see Cam again at the finish." #motivation

Lets do this!

And then we got in line, crossed the start line, and ran ran ran until I got back to town. A lot of people have asked how it went/how it was so I think I got my synopsis down: It was hard. It was beautiful. Literally every turn was an incredible view.

Not even joking (maybe one filter) but this was the course!!
Would've taken so many more photos if I weren't also trying to run a race.

The last 11.5 miles were on a trail along the lake, but unfortunately it was really narrow and crowded. I felt like it was hard to boost up or down a hill with the path being so narrow and full of people.

See what I mean about crowded.
Mile 1.5 of the race and heading in to the trail portion

But in the end, I finished, and I saw Cam right in front of the finish, and the announcer man announced my finish! "Erin is across the line! Good job Erin!" And then I found Cam. And then I cried. Ah that post half finish line cry - gets me every time. 

FINISHERS!

The rest of the day is a slight blur - we did a lot of walking and as much sitting as possible. The rest of our friends (the 6 non-runners) were headed on an uphill hike, but I knew I wasn't cut out of that. Cam, James, Jess and I went in to town for a giant pizza and beer feast. We were trying to figure out what we could do that would be exciting (especially for Cam who didn't run) but not too tiring. All of us agreed that the one excursion we hadn't done but would want to was the shotover jet. So we got on the next tour, and headed over to sit down and wait for that to start.

:)

As expected, the shotover jet was incredible!! The bottom of the boat must have been so shallow because it was able to go so close to rocks and the shore without (seemingly) worrying about the depth of the water. It zoomed through the canyon, making several 360 turns in the middle, and had us all cracking up the whole time.

My best friend Kate also went on the shotover jet.
Cam made fun of me for taking this picture.

And after that I was dead. Time for a nap, some beers, dinner, and finally home. When I got home, I checked my phone and I had allegedly walked 22 miles that day. Gooooood night.

Are you getting sick of this view yet? Yeah me neither.

Sunday morning, I woke up feeling surprisingly alright. Cam and I walked in to town to get some meat pies for breakfast (what has happened to me!?), and ended up meeting up with our friends. They were meant to do paragliding (See Trip #2... it was incredible), but it got cancelled due to wind, and they were itching to find another activity.

Not to rub it in, but #tbt. Remember this?

The guys decided to go downhill mountain biking (take a bike up the gondola and then ride down tracks that are marked like ski slopes - green, blue, black, double black) so Cam went with them to do that. Kiki, her friend Terri, and I decided to take the Million Dollar Cruise for $35. Honestly most excursions in Queenstown cost $200 for an 8 second experience (yes bungy jumping I'm talking about you), so $35 for a 90 minute cruise where I could SIT DOWN the whole time? Sign me up. 

Million Dollar Views

Hotel I stayed at with my mom last December!

One more of this view.. Can't stop, won't stop.

Oh forgot to mention I was the captain of the cruise.
Look at that sign above my head  -  that's my favorite part.

Both of our excursions ended at the same time (ish), so we all met up, got some dumplings for lunch, and started the long long drive back to Christchurch. I was honestly so sad to leave Queenstown, knowing that I really am leaving New Zealand this time. But I'll be back. As my mom said, I'm still young ;)

Ah Queenstown. I LOVE YOU. 12/2014

Wine and Dine - Waiheke Island

You're going to Hawaii?

Unfortunately, No. But Waiheke (Not to be confused with Waikeke) Island in New Zealand was pretty stunning in its own right. And it was just determined to be the Number 5 Region to Travel to in 2016! So how bout that?

Sand, Sun, Surf, and Cam

Cam had to be in Auckland for the day on Thursday so we decided to make a weekend out of it and I flew up to meet him Friday afternoon. After flying by myself and paying for an $80 taxi ride (ugh. thank god you don't have to tip here) I met Cam in our DREAM apartment. Cam has a very distinctive style in apartments and I didn't quite realize what I was letting him do when I gave him permission to pick the Auckland Airbnb. When I showed up, I realized that he had found his dream home. I'm lucky I ever got him to leave. On top of having tons of natural light, it had a surf board on the stairs and the book he was currently reading on the bookshelf. And did I mention the location? On a quiet side road, just downhill from Ponsonby (the suburb), and just uphill from an adorable cafe. Hey, I said his taste was disinctive - definitely not bad.

I got a little photo happy when I realized that this is my last time flying to the north island

Bottom of North Island

Flying in to Auckland

We were excited to be in Auckland. So we headed up the hill to town to check out the local fare. After a couple drinks alone, we met up with one of Cam's longest friends and had a quick dinner with him and his girlfriend before they had another party to attend. Busy city people! I swear going back to New York is going to be SUCH an adjustment. After dinner, we took a walk down town, cabbed back once I realized I was exhausted, got a lolly mixture (because we're sugar-oholics), and called it a night.

And the next morning, before we got on the ferry to go to Waiheke Island, I made sure we went to that cute cafe down the hill for some of that world-famous-in-new-zealand avocado toast. We got a donut to go, because #yolo, and headed off to the ferry.

About an hour later, we were there.We dropped off our stuff at the Airbnb that I booked (a perfect bungalo for two of course), headed in to town to the Oyster Inn, almost got scammed on bikes, walked to a vineyard, drank some wine, went home for a nap, and went back to another vineyard for dinner.

Honest reviews?

Oyster Inn - 5 Stars. Holy Moly. Oysters were incredible. The host told me since winter just passed it's prime oyster season. Speaking of the host, he was the sweetest man - I wish he was somehow a part of my family (hopefully that's not strange) - and we had lemonade mint tea. I died. Should've actually died there - that was the best part.

So Good.

What is this photo? This is me being excited and taking photos of everything.

Man scamming us on bikes - He was the worst. He wanted $20 per hour (definitely a made up on the spot rate) or $60/day even though the day was 12 hours long and we only wanted them for 2 hours. Also the vineyards were walking distance, so walking there and taking a taxi back  (I'm noticing a trend) cost us a total $10. Sorry dude.

Walk views weren't too shabby at all.

Mudbrick Vineyard - Beautiful Scenery. As far as atmosphere, I really just wish they had explained their process a bit more. When my mom and I went wine tasting in Nelson, the typical practice was to taste 3-5 wines at the front desk before sitting at a table for lunch, a cheese plate, another bottle wine, etc. I thought we would do that at Mudbrick, but their process is actually quite different. At Mudbrick, they offer a tasting for $10 - $20 (depending on how nice the wines are) and you're meant to have them pour you one, then sit down, enjoy the taste, then go back for the next one. After 3 tastings at the counter it was getting awkward and we finally figured out the system. I felt bad for not knowing that and it kind of tarnished my time. But hey, BEAUTIFUL SCENERY, which is what they're selling, so 5 stars for that. 2(.5?) for atmosphere and honestly the wine wasn't fantastic or really even local... anyway.

Welcome to the good life.

Nap - Naptime was great. I slept. And teased Cam for using the phrase "hey maybe when we're taking a nap I'll look up such and such on the iPad." That's not how you nap.

Home, Sweet, Home

Cable Bay Vineyards - We headed here for dinner upon lots (literally every article I read) of internet reviews that also recommended Oyster Inn. We were one of three groups there in a really forced-fancy atmosphere. I won't go on much more, except to say, I ordered the raviolo expecting some variation on Ravioli and realized that the only variation is that raviolo is the singular form of ravioli. It was one piece of pasta. Cam had a similar experience with the lamb. Well, hey I guess we're trying to eat less meat anyway, right? We had already ordered a bottle of wine, so we drank that, had the $40 bite of food on our plate, and laughed about it the whole way home.

Dinner views tho

The next morning we were up at 5 am to watch the All Blacks beat the Aussies in the World Cup Rugby Finals. First country to win three world cups and first country to win two world cups back to back!!! Tbh I slept through some of the second half but I really did watch the first half. and the end. :)

Also if you're not in New Zealand and probably haven't seen the Air NZ All Blacks Safety Video.. please watch it. When American Airlines/Quantas announced last week that they're starting nonstops from Auckland to LA to create a competitive market (yesss cheap flights), the American Airlines CEO literally said "The only thing we can't do just as well is that safety video... but I'm sure we'll come up with something"

Then we slept in, took a walk down the beach, grabbed our stuff, and headed to the ferry for the long commute back to Christchurch. It felt so good to be home :)

Bye Waiheke!

Just trying to avoid that sunburn on top of a boat.

Til next time Waiheke!