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

Stoked For Saturday

 This week was full of new discoveries. We discovered weekly 5ks in the park for $5, which include a free sausage at the finish line; I learned what a "busker" is and attended the world famous Buskers Festival right here in Christchurch; and finally we discovered an amazing New Zealand travel blog, stoked for Saturday and enjoyed an amazing Saturday of hiking, dining, and dance-partying.

There isn't much to say about the 5k except that we ran it, so I'll start with the buskers festival. CPIT, a university in Christchurch, actually has a circus school, so the busking/street performing culture is really big here. Once a year all the top street performers from around the world come to Christchurch for 10 days to perform. There are many free acts all day in the park, but the headliners cost $10-$20 in venues at night. The prices are really reasonable considering that when the performers have shows in London they charge anywhere from $40 to $80/show. On Wednesday a group from the office went to see three standup comedians and a hilarious Australian MC at the casino. I believe they were all British, and they were pretty funny. The first comedian had a joke about the way kiwis say "eh?" at the end of their sentences as if they're asking you a multiple choice question. Example: "the weather's great today a)?........ Or b) the weather fucking sucks" I ran this one past Cam, my resident kiwi expert, and he said that is, in fact exactly what they mean. Good. Thought so.

The comedians were so good, we decided to go to another show. We had heard that one performer, "the boy with tape on his face", was particularly good and wins this festival all the time -- this was also verified by my resident kiwi expert-- so we bought tickets to see him. His show, which here costs $15 NZD, goes for $40 pounds in England. That's $82 New Zealand dollars! He's essentially a mime with a production team so there's a good amt of music and lights that go along with his act and the show is 90% audience participation. It was really entertaining but I think I preferred the stand up comedians.

Those two buskers events kept the week moving really quickly. The last thing I wanted to do early Saturday morning was to get out of bed and go on a massive hike -- but hey, when in New Zealand.

We found a blog this week called Stoked for Saturday- written by two engineers who moved to New Zealand, work during the week, and explore the country on weekends. Sounds pretty familiar eh? (Or b) not at all). This weekend we didn't have a trip planned but couldn't let a gorgeous weekend go, so in true #stokedforsaturday fashion we had a really epic Saturday. Mike and I met Jen and Keith at their house Saturday morning and we drove about two hours in the the center of the country.

The hiking crew -- Same group minus Nick who did the Routeburn

The New Zealand Southern Alps run up the middle of the country, but you can pass through them by using either Arthur's Pass or Lewis Pass. I drove through Arthur's Pass early in my time here and had been wanting to go back for a hike, so was thrilled when my coworkers suggested doing Avalanche Peak this weekend.

Arthurs Pass back in October

The hike is meant to take 4 hours to get to the top of what is called "Avalanche Peak", so five minutes in when I was climbing a nearly vertical rock wall, I was nervous. I had expected a much more well maintained track, like the Routeburn we went on in November, but if I've learned anything in NZ, it's that nothing is going to go as planned. We continued on and made it to the top in two hours. DOC time estimate crushed again :) .

The first thing you see coming out of the bushline

The views at the top were amazing. I couldn't believe we were on top of the mountains and we could see the tops of all of them as well as the Devil's Punchbowl Falls. 

Found a Kea!

Avalanche peak actually had has two paths to the top. The first, Avalanche Peak Track, which is steep and rocky is the one we took up. The other one is Scott's Track, longer and less steep but with better views. We took Scott's track down, as as promised the views were awesome.

 

By the time we got to the bottom, all of us were exhausted and so we quickly got in the car and rode home. 

It's rare for us to come back to Chch on a Saturday night after being away, so we were all in group-travel mode and wanted to keep hanging out.

Kentucky Sours making us feel right at home

We went to Boo Radleys, the bar above Tequila Mockingbird (Get it?) for a cocktail and Keith put a $2 coin on the table in case anyone wanted to play pool. Instead, I suggested we save the coin for the Dance-o-Mat that I had been to with Cam and his friends the night before. All of my friends said they had seen it but never tried it,so we decided Saturday was going to be the night. After some amazing mexican food we went down to the Dance-o-mat. 

What's a dance-o-mat? Just another reason to love Christchurch. (Skye, I wish we had gone!!)

In one of the abandoned lots in downtown Christchurch, right next to the partially collapsed cathedral, there is a dance platform with a laundry machine and when you put a $2 coin in, lights come on to light up the dance floor and you can play music from your iPod for half an hour! When we stumbled upon it in Friday, Cam's friends didn't go for my tswift suggestion, so my friends and I started the dance party with some "Shake It Off." Jen DJ'ed for a few more songs until the Christchurch curfew turned off the dance-o-mat -- definitely not the city that never sleeps. 

After a busy day and a busy evening, I was ready to walk home and fall asleep. Pretty awesome week if I do say so myself. Can't wait for the next one. #stokedfornextsaturday

Just one more thing... Christchurch and it's port hills/mountains were beautiful this week.

Christchurch from an early morning run in the porthills

Hagley Park

Sumner Beach

Lyttleton