Rebuilding Christchurch

Side view of ChristChurch Cathedral

I had plenty of warnings from New Zealanders about the state of Christchurch before arriving its city center on Monday, July 14th. The city is covered in orange cones and construction fences. Many buildings and businesses are boarded up and clearly unoccupied. It feels more or less like a ghost town. The Cathedral used to be a gathering place for the local people, and now it's a broken empty shell. Many streets are closed off due to constructions.

Front View of ChristChurch Cathedral

Down the street from the cathedral is Canterbury Museum, which appears to be undamaged from the earthquake, is open to the public free of admission. One of its exhibitions is Quake City, which is a "multi-media attraction designed to inform, engage and educate locals and visitors to Canterbury about the seismic events that have occured since 4 September 2010." I spent most of my time in the museum looking at the videos and photographs of the damages the quakes had done to the city. Having experienced 1989 San Francisco earthquake myself, I felt very emotional looking at the photographs. It made me upset when some young children running around in the exhibition as if it was a lighthearted playground. 185 people were killed during the quake, I think the parents should either take this opportunity to educate their children or not taking them to this part of the exhibition.

Quake City Exhibition at Canterbury Museum

While I was at Lake Tekapo a couple days ago, I chatted with a older man at Tekapo Springs counter. I asked him how long he's been living in that area. He told me that he moved there a couple years ago after losing everything in Christchurch during the earthquakes. He said that he can't possible stay in Christchurch because it simply upset him too much. People who have experienced earthquakes in such multitude simply will never forget it. I still remember 1989 earthquake vividly.  I hope when I come back to Christchurch next time, it will be much different.

Birds of New Zealand

New Zealand Kea

New Zealand is famous for its birds. Everyone knows Kiwi birds, and New Zealanders call themselves Kiwis. Kiwi birds are critically endangered and nocturnal. Even though I got to see a couple of them at the Kiwi House of Te Puia, I couldn't take pictures.  I had a much closer encounter with Kea at Auckland Zoo. The Kea is very curious and intelligent. It came really close to me in the zoo.  I had to remind myself not to pet it. They are considered vulnerable because more than 150,000 were killed by hunters before 1970. 

New Zealand Fantail

While I was hiking in Kaitoke Regional Park in my attempt to reach Rivendell, a bird with a tail resembling a white fan kept circling around me. I had never seen a bird like it, so I took a few pictures of it. It only showed the fantail while it was flying, so the photo above was the best one I got. Sure enough I saw its pictures in souvenir stores. They are called New Zealand Fantail and of course unique to New Zealand as well. 

 While in Lake Tepako, I came upon countless birds and other animals like the bunny above with its bird friend! It was during sunset, so I couldn't get a clearer photo of the dual. The bird was just hanging out with the bunny.  There are also many Paradise Sheldducks among other ducks living around the lake. The one with white head is female and the all dark one is male.  They are unique to New Zealand as well. I feel so fortunate to see all these native New Zealand birds during my travel.

The Paradise Shelduck

Lord of the Rings Filming Locations

Scenes from Fellowship of the Ring were filed on Mt. Victoria. This is the only sign.

I am having a lot of fun reliving the Lord of the Rings craze from 13 years ago. I don't know why I didn't come to Middle Earth sooner, but I know I want to come back here soon. Now that I have visited many of the locations on several express tours, I will be able to come straight here next time and only spend time at these locations. During Wellington Rover's Lord of the Rings tour, the guide took us to the top of Mt. Victoria in Wellington. Many scenes from Fellowship of the Rings were filmed here but the only indication is the little sign shown above. The guide showed us photographs of the exact spots and the scenes. It was a little embarrassing for me to admit that I have only seen Fellowship of the Rings once, but I remember those scenes vividly. That's how powerful that movie was.

on the way to Rivendell

The weather forecast for Wellington was rain almost everyday while I was there. Little did I know the rain was what we call sprinkle in the Bay Area. It was hardly anything. If I had known better, I would have booked an all day Lord of the Rings tour with Wellington Rover instead of a half day tour. I took a train and then a bus in the morning trying to get to Rivendell. The bus only goes as far as this sign shown above. I wasn't sure exactly how far 6km was. I was hiking uphills on State Highway 2 next to the cars trying to get to Rivendell. Eventually I found a fence and climbed over it into Kaitoke Regional Park trail so I didn't have to hike right next to the cars. Rivendell was all the way on the other end.  I will have to save it for my next Middle Earth trip.

down the hill from Edoras, capital of Rohan

On my first day in Wellington, I found a flyer for Hassle-free Tours' Lord of the Rings tour in Christchurch. I immediately made a reservation online to ensure a spot for the all day tour. We actually climbed all the way to the top of Mt. Sunday (the mountain shown in photo below), where Edora was filmed. A castle was built for the filming, and it was taken down after the filming was over. As I climbed up the hill with ease, I knew all the hiking I had been doing had paid off. A month prior to my trip, I hiked everywhere with a weighted down backpack so I could train myself for endurance. My purple UGG Adirondack Snow Boots have proven to be worthy. They are both skid resistant and waterproof. I was able to climb up and down the muddy hill  with confidence and then walk across the shallow creek to clean the boots without getting my feet wet. It felt amazing to be on top of Mt. Sunday.

Edoras was filmed on top of this mountain, Mt. Sunday

Hey Ramen

Street View

I have a thing for ramen. Here I came all the way to New Zealand, and I have been looking for ramen just so I can compare it with ramen back home, ramen in Tokyo, ramen in Toranto, etc. I passed by a ramen shop on my last day in Auckland while going to the airport. I just wasn't hungry at the time, so I had to let it go. On my first day in Wellington, I passed by Hey Sushi  on the way to my hotel. I noticed its sign says "ramen." The place is mostly for take out (take away as they say in NZ). It has 5 stools and 2 small bars against the windows for people who want to dine in. I just wasn't sure, so I took a quick look and moved on. For the next 2 days, I walked all over town looking for ramen and all I found was udon. Udon just isn't the same, and I have no special feelings for it.

Shoyu ramen with chashu (sliced bbq pork)

Finally I went back to Hey Sushi and ordered a spicy beef ramen. I was pleasantly surprised. It's not tonkotsu ramen, but it was good.It came with many slices of beef, half a stewed egg, spinach, and a bunch of other toppings. I was so happy and couldn't believe I didn't go there earlier.

Spicy Beef Ramen

Today, it started to rain like a real winter day, which gave me the perfect excuse to have ramen again! I went back there after coming back from a long hike (tramp, they call it here). I ordered shoyu ramen with chashu (bbq pork) this time. It looked great! It came with so many slices of chashu not just 2 or 3. I also picked a combination of sushi as appetizers (not that I needed anything to make me hungrier). They were good, too! The prices are also very reasonable. If you go there after 4:30, you can get boxed combination sushi for $7 a box (closing sale). These pieces are much bigger and better than the ones St Pierre's Sushi. Before I left, I picked a $7 pre-boxed sushi so I can eat later as snack.

Large selection of sushi for you to choose and pack your own

Oh, I also like that it has a flat screen TV that constantly plays Japanese rock concerts. When I walked in today,  Mika Nakashima was performing Glamorous Sky. I love that song.

prepacked end of day sale - $7 a box

Top Three Things to Eat in New Zealand

Here are the 3 things any Middle Earth visitor should try. One is kiwi especially the golden ones. Green ones seem to be very common around the world, but I haven't noticed gold ones until recently.  I was able to get a box of 10 from New World Market for $1.99 when they were on sale. It even came with a little "kiwi" spoon, which I am keeping with me as a souvenir. The golden ones are less tart than the green ones. I like them a lot.

New Zealanders are very proud of their coffee. They have a popular coffee drink called "flat white" here. It's not latte, and it's not exactly cappuccino.  I had to look it up on Wikipedia, and it was developed in Australia and New Zealand in the 80's. I can get a small flat white from a 24-hour convenient store for $1, which is fully self service. This machine is amazing. It makes 9 different coffee drinks.

A small flat white and lemon coconut slice with cream on the side

Alternatively, You can go to one of the many independent coffee shops all over town and have someone prepare the coffee for you.  I stopped by The Coffee Club this morning to get a cup of flat white with some pastry on the side. Starbucks isn't too popular here, which is just fine by me.  Although you can definitely add sugar to your flat white, I find it so good that I just drink it straight. I found any dairy product to be excellent in this area, which makes total sense since it is their number one export earner.  I had some amazing New Zealand yogurt yesterday, too. 

Another thing to eat is a hamburger. A burger can cost anywhere from $5 to over $20 here depends on where you go. It might be cheaper at Burger King and McDonald's, but I wouldn't want to go to one of those places. Burger Fuel seems to be a good place to go as it features 100% grass fed New Zealand beef patties.  I went there today and had a Hamburgini (one of their smaller burgers) with kumara (sweet potato) fries.  They were great and cost only $11.80 for both.  I couldn't even finish the fries.