ChristChurch, Queenstown

Picton to Christchurch to Queenstown All Nighter
We had a great time with Jarom and Katie in Wellington. We talked and
laughed late into the night, slept for a few hours then woke up to
catch the ferry to the south island. We grabbed our gear and jumped in
the car to head out. Just one problem, the car won't start! Dead
battery. Julie realized we left the phone charger plugged in all night
and unplugged it and the car fired right up. We drove onto the ferry,
parked the car and headed up to the seating area for the trip over to
the south island.
Weather was great so the ferry ride was smooth and just in case, we
remembered to take our sea sickness pills ahead of time too. It only
takes a few hours to make the crossing so we relaxed, took a few
pictures and worked on the computer bit.
We arrived in Picton, drove off the ferry and headed for the local
I-Site to book our various south island activities. There are I-Site
locations all over New Zealand. They are setup to help travelers learn
about all the things New Zealand has to offer and then help you book
all your activities as well. They do not charge additional fees for
any of this, so you get the same price as if you were to book it
directly yourself. The I-Site staff area a wealth of information and
really helped simplify our trip to the south island. You can use any
I-Site in New Zealand to book activities throughout the country.
Booking things in advance is recommended especially during busy
seasons.
With our flight already set for Bali on the 13th, we had a tight
schedule and if we wanted to hit good weather it would be even
tighter...Julie was exhausted so I let her sleep while I headed into
the I-Site to figure things out and book everything we wanted to do on
the south island. I had to do some restructuring of our original plan
timeline in order to get everything we wanted and hit the weather
right but it all turned out great in the end. It was also really nice
to have everything all set ahead of time.
It was late afternoon by this time and we needed to be in Queenstown
early the next morning for some River Surfing so we hit the road for
the 11+ hour drive. I drove a bit and then Julie took over for a few
hours so that I could try to rest a bit in preparation for the all
nighter I'd need to pull to get us there in time. The most direct
route was through Christchurch. Shortly before Christchurch Julie was
getting tired so we switched it up and I took the wheel while she
drifted off to sleep.
While in Australia we heard a lot about the earthquake problems
plaguing Christchurch over the last year or two so I was really
wondering what it would look like when we got there.
Much of the Christchurch area looks totally normal, everything in
tact, people out and about at the local shops and restaurants, etc.
Then as you head into the eastern suburbs and beach areas you start to
notice things like;
- Streets that are in disrepair (Perhaps it's just because they're old
and the city hasn't got around to repaving them in a while or could it
be something more sinister?)
- Light poles leaning this way and that
- Shattered windows on some homes
- A brick wall fallen over
- A partially collapsed roof or two
- A broken church steeple
- Closes shops and restaurants
It all starts to add up and you begin to get a small glimpse of the
major challenges this community is facing.
Next we approached the downtown city center but were unable to go any
further than the outskirts because the entire city center is shut down
and closed off due to the extensive damage and instability of the
buildings and infrastructure. Mind you this is the second largest city
in New Zealand and a major hub of business and industry for the
country. Looking over the barricades into the dimly lit ghost town of
the city center was a sobering experience.
By now it was dark and we still had a long way to go so we headed off
for Queenstown. I drove while Julie slept and with our tight schedule,
the next few days would have more driving than sleep so I was glad she
did. It was a very long night but we made it to Queenstown with just
enough time for a short nap before heading off to jump in a cold river
for our sweet river surfing adventure!