Christchurch and Our Kiwi Experience

We have almost completed our time in New Zealand and have spent the last five days in and around the Christchurch area. We found some beautiful beaches and campgrounds just north of the city where the kids were able to blow off some steam. However, the water is a little too cold at this latitude for Mom and Dad. We also decided to take in the Adrenaline Forest (www.adrenaline-forest.co.nz) which is basically an obstacle course of cables and zip lines twenty to sixty feet in the air. It was a little scary to think that our kids were being trusted to hook and unhook themselves from high wires at those heights when they have difficulty remembering to even do up their seat belts.

From there we started into the Christchurch area through various suburbs where we readily noticed the damage from the recent earthquakes. In September 2010 and February 2011 this city was rocked by two major quakes registering 7.1 and 6.3 respectively. The last one had the largest impact, killing 156 and paralyzing the local economy. There is major damage to roads, homes and businesses with the government now buying people's houses and businesses having to close due to building damage. Suburbs such as Sumner and Lyttleton have lost a majority of their businesses and all of downtown Christchurch has been permanently cordoned off which is devastating to communities that rely heavily on tourism. However, it is evident the city is trying to bounce back one year later. With an abundance of sea-cans in this country they have rebuilt stores using sea-cans and also use them as barriers to shield the road from the cliffs that are still crumbling with the continual aftershocks they receive here.

New Zealand has been fantastic for anyone that appreciates stunning scenery. With temperatures ranging from sub-tropical in the north to temperate in the south it makes for a comfortable place especially with little or no bugs to mind with. It is quite expensive here with 15% GST and with an economy that relies heavily on import, things are more pricey but our Canadian dollar does make up some of the difference. Due to high prices we had to become creative to make up for some stuff such as the per person campground fees...just have the kids lie down in the back of the campervan when checking in very similar to the way our parents got into drive-in movies. Needless to say our budget for New Zealand has ballooned so it appears we will be eating rice and hitch hiking in Australia.

We knew coming into New Zealand that there would be little to no cultural benefit for our children here but I believe they learnt some about evolution and geophysical items such as volcanoes, earthquakes, the continental drift and glaciers to compensate.

Easton should be posting his own blog about New Zealand soon but I have a feeling Elyssa has declined to post due to "nothing to say"....maybe she didn't take in any of the above items after all.

Talk to you from the land of Oz. Bye for now!