|
Date: October, 2004
Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
After spending a night in Melbourne to see an Aussie I had
traveled with in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, I arrived into Christchurch,
New Zealand, shortly after midnight only to be greeted with a $133 fine
for not declaring a leftover chicken sandwich I had forgotten about! The
customs officials were actually disappointed that was all they could find
because apparently they assume every 20-something male traveler who has
been to Asia in the last three months MUST be bringing heavy drugs into
the country. They were actually total jerks, but let's not start my New
Zealand update on a sour note!
Christchurch itself is nothing special, but 20 minutes east of the city is
an impressive peninsula full of extinct volcanoes covered by lush green
grass and filled with sparkling blue harbors. Standing on top of the first
volcano looking down into the harbor of Lyttleton I was officially
introduced to the mind-boggling beauty of New Zealand!
The next day I
took a bus to Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain. The area around
Christchurch is flat grazing land full of sheep (in a country of 4 million
people, there are 40 million sheep!), but the magnificent snow capped
mountains are easily seen off in the distance.
Just a few hours later
(New Zealand is really, really small) we stopped at possibly the most
beautiful scenery I have EVER seen. It was an almost glowing turquoise
lake at the foot of snow-capped mountains of indescribable beauty. What
was most unique about it though was the lack of civilization. Something
that marvelous in any other developed country would be full of lavish
homes and resorts, yet the only significant man-made structure on the lake
was a quaint little church. Amazing ... absolutely amazing! On the bus,
I met an Englishman and stayed at a hostel with him and two of his girlfriends at Mount Cook
National Park. I spent most of the next day hiking down a mountain range, which included the
remnants of a glacier that had carved a HUGE chunk out of the surrounding
mountains. Again ... AMAZING!
- Greg
For the last leg of Greg's around the world trip, click here...
Or if you want to see what he was up to before Christchurch, click here...
|
