Hagley Park

I got my camera to cooperate with me, here is my first edition of pictures of Christchurch landmarks. Hagley Park is a beautiful park (161 hectares) in the middle of Christchurch, replete with rugby fields, netball courts, frisbee areas, football fields, field hockey areas, botanic gardens, and a golf course. It is in between the University and City Centre. Even though it is cold and wintry the park is very pretty.

New House and Mona Vale

I have good news, I found a great place to live. My new place is in Merivale and is about a 10 minute bicycle ride from school and city centre. My flatmates are Steph and Madison. Steph is getting her master's in librarian science and has lived in Christchurch all her life. Madison is a chef in the Arts Centre; he is from North Carolina. Here are pics of the new place taken by my flatmates.





I decided on my new flat while hanging out at the gardens of Mona Vale feeding ducks. Here are some pictures I took.
Left: Drive to Main House Right: Pool House

The Search for New Headquarters

The last few days have consisted of finding my way about the city, various mundane tasks, and a little bit of work. Cell phones are oddly expensive here, so I settled for a tron-era phone without all the bells and whistles. Who needs a cell phone to cook them breakfast anyway?

I am in the midst of looking for a flat to share. I had a few promising appointments today; I hope to know the location of my new headquarters soon. That's why I haven't sent my mailing address to those of you who have requested it.

Tomorrow is a rather work intense day. However at the end of the day I get to go to the University of Canterbury Staff Club for beverages. For you murder history and movie buffs the Staff Club is in the Ilam Homestead, which was once the residence of the Hulme family. Juliet Hulme's family lived there when her father was the Rector of the university. Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker murdered Parker's mother (for more information:
http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Heritage/Digitised/ParkerHulme/). In 1994, Peter Jackson filmed a movie about the murder, Heavenly Creatures (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110005/). A large majority of the film was shot on location at the Ilam Homestead.

The Arrival

I forgot to mention the journey through Customs in New Zealand. Since my trip from Auckland to Christchurch was a domestic flight, I checked into customs in Auckland. After checking in with immigration and picking up my luggage from the luggage carousel, I went to the next point in line where they x-rayed all my baggage. After turning in my entry card, I was told to go to line 2 of biosecurity. I understand the New Zealand government is concerned, as they very well should be, of the introduction of invasive species into their environment. However, the term biosecurity scares me a bit. It reminds me of movies like 28 Days Later or other apocalyptic, zombie movies. Luckily, I passed biosecurity and was not placed in quarantine. I did not mention my penchant for zombie lawn games. New Zealand biosecurity website: http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/

The Flight

If you read my previous message, you know that I survived my flight to New Zealand and I am not stranded on some island in the South Pacific. An odd thing happened to me on the flight to LA, someone actually gave me flack for one of my carry on items, my guitar. There wasn't any room in the front cabinet, so one of the flight attendants told me to put my guitar in the overhead cabinet. As I was walking down the aisle. A man asked me where I was going to put that, in a rather nasty tone. I said not that it's your business, but in the overhead, it's a guitar. As I placed the guitar case in the overhead, he made some noise and another nasty look. The lady behind me also made some disgusted noise. What's up with people commenting on my carry on? It fit in the overhead and there was plenty of room for other people's over-size bags. Luckily, that was the only bad part of my trip.
The flight from LA to Auckland went very well for the hellish experience a 13 hour flight could possibly be. I sat in seat 73B. Before you start feeling sorry for me that I was stuck in a middle seats for 13 hours, you should know that the last few rows of the Boeing 747 only have two seats in the left hand row. I finished reading a book on economic sanctions and watched several movies (Clubland, Zodiac, and 300).
The flight from Auckland to Christchurch was brief. An episode of Mythbusters aired for the in-flight entertainment.The highlight of the trip was looking out the window to the snow-capped New Zealand Southern Alps. The mountains were breathtaking. I may actually take a trip to ski down them sometime in the next few weeks.

Land of Kiwis

I am in the land of the Kiwis (to the left is a stock image of the spotted Kiwi). I arrived in Christchurch after a twenty odd hour flight. I am all bleary eyed and trying to keep myself up so I won't be jet-lagged tomorrow. I will post more info on the journey then. I even have pictures to post. However, those must wait until my package of books and cables arrives. By the way, my room has a lovely view of the Anglican cemetery across the street.

To the right is a stock image of the more-often-seen New Zealand bird the tui for whom a a beer is named.

Oh Sandusky, Don't You Cry For Me

My camera did not survive my trip back from Ohio. After mourning the loss of my first digital camera, I set out to purchase a replacement. I found a great deal on an 8 megapixel camera with 5X optical zoom and manual setting options. I expect to take some great pictures in New Zealand with my new camera. I took it out for a test spin last night. Kristin and I attended the Panther City Bandits show at the Aardvark and then we hit Tiff and Andi's. Below is is a picture of Kristin and I at Tiff and Andi's.