Things to love about Christchurch and New Zealand

First some things:

Shoelessness:

This is a little thing, but the Kiwi's (what New Zealanders call themselves), walk around baring their tootsies for all to see.  Not all of them of course, but I'll see a few a day.  And I don't mean at the park or at the beach. I mean walking down a city sidewalk, in the mall, on the bus.   Anywhere and everywhere I have seen naked feet parading about as if there are no pieces of broken glass, spit or any offal that might be lying around.   I've tried it a few times, but just down to the hotel lobby.  I'm not a seasoned skin-on-ground walker yet, I've got to start small.  

The Coffee:
The coffee here is exquisite.  I have never had a bad or poorly poured cup of coffee and while we haven't travelled all over the island, we have stopped in all sorts of coffee shops around NZ and each and every one has been delicious.  That being said,  it's next to impossible to just order plain old boring drip coffee (called Filter Coffee) here.  They just don't do it.  Secondly, they've got things on the menu that I'd never heard of before.  Flat white, long black...they sound like things from an art school. Once you get the lingo down and figure out what you like and want, however, you will be in a super jazzy, everything bright and shiny, feeling on top of the world caffeinated haze.

Less cell phones:
They certainly exist here and people have smart phones and all that jazz too but it seems like less people have their faces in a device than in the States.  On a bus you aren't surrounded by the bluewave glow of iphones all around you and if you need to stop and ask someone a question on the street you don't have to worry that you are interrupting some sort of on going facebook drama that is demanding their immediate attention.  It's a little thing, but I like it. 

Now some places: 
The Botanic Gardens and Hagley Park 

I’m not sure if my love of these places has been given it’s rose-colored lenses by the fact that the Rose Garden has been in full bloom the majority of the time I’ve been visiting them or if it's the fact that I am in Chrischurch in the springtime when every flower is wearing her finery and working full tilt to attract the attention of bees and other such helpful pollinators.  It might also be that this garden has the most incredible trees, varied in species, size and style.   Or maybe is that’s there are a plethora of various little inset gardens for you to take your repose in; the azalea garden, the rainforest garden, the water garden, the rose garden, etc.  Perhaps it’s that the grass has little white snowdrop flowers  beckoning you to walk and picnic amid their cottony countenance.  Whatever the reason, the Christchurch Botanic Gardens are my favorite in the world and I spend as much time in them as I can before heading to the white arid desert ecosystem that houses McMurdo Station.

Alice in Videoland and The Physics Room

The Alice is, by it’s own account, a discerning movie goers Nirvana.   The Physics room is an attached cafe and art house.  Could you ask for a more perfect combination? After seeing whichever little known but excellent foreign film at the Alice theater you can then mosey over to the Physics room and discuss character motives and passions, the placement of this or that in the 2 second scene right after the moment of the secondary plot reveal.  Anyway, you get the idea.     It has about 4 different shows going in a week but they are all shown in the same Cinema, a cosy 40 seat affair with big comfortable red seats and an Egyptian motif and if you go on a Tuesday, tickets are only $10.  the first year we were here the Alice was showing Antarctica: A Year on Ice and it was that documentary that got us interested in wintering in Antarctica. 

The Artwork

Christchurch was hit incredibly hard by an earthquake in 2011.  The main cathedral in town wasn’t the only this that was brought down.  Entire city blocks were, or subsequently have been, leveled.  Old classic buildings were destroyed. The river flooded.  And many businesses were lost.  As a result of this, and unfortunately still 4 years later, Christchurch is in a state of perpetual construction. I was talking with a resident yesterday who told me that officials told them not to expect road construction and reroutes to be done for 10 years as they have to deal with all the systems underneath them first.  However, amid all this construction and, infact, out of the construction has come a community that is making the best out of it’s, literally, crumbled surroundings. In almost every empty lot there is a piece of artwork or display and ,often, they are interactive.  Mini-golf throughout the city,  recycled materials turned into musical instruments,  outdoor sitting areas created from debris.  Even the city officials have a little fun: the road blockers are redesigned to look like sheep.  The city has taken to using the containers originally brought in as temporary structures to create permanent businesses and art designs. The Re:Start mall, also known as the Container Mall is built out of shipping containers and as you walk around the city you’ll see food stalls, art galleries, info booths all made out of shipping containers. 

This is an outdoor dance floor.   $2 and your own IPod in the Dance-O-Mat and for a half hour you can jam out to your favorite beets.  And even lights for the disco ball!  

The Canterbury Museum 

Costing only $2 to get in, the Canterbury Museum is right next to the botanic gardens and the two complement each other almost as well as bananas and peanutbutter.   Naturally,  I loved the Antarctic exhibit as who doesn't love to tour things that have direct bearing on our adventures,  but I was tickled by many of the other exhibits as well.   My favorite was Fred and Myrtle's Paua House.  Fred was a fisherman and would come home with Paua shells (abalone) and polish them up.  He has so many the Myrtle started putting them on the walls. Ultimately the house was covered from floor to ceiling.  They became a tourist attraction and people from all over came to tour their house.  When they passed their house was donated to the Museum and you can tour it just like when they were living there.   Quite unique.