New Zealand - South Island: Week 1

So we're currently rounding up week 5 in New Zealand. Our first 3 weeks were spent in a camper van touring the South island.

"Kiwi" the Kamper van ;)

Departing from Christchurch, our first stop was after a 3.5hr drive to Lake Tekapo, a gorgeous glacier fed lake with an aquamarine blue colour from the silt particles coming off the glacial ice. This reminded us very much of beautiful Lake Louise in Alberta. The Lake Tekapo area is also part of the largest of 5 "International Dark Sky Reserves" found in the world, meaning it is an area deemed free, or near free, of light pollution making for premier conditions to view stars in the night sky and the Aurora Australis in NZ winter (you guessed it...the "Southern Lights!") Our next morning saw us hiking up Mt. John to the University of Cantebury's observatory where we had better views of this picturesque lake.

Lake Tekapo

Sunset at Tekapo

Mt. John

Lupin field by the lake

After spending an evening at a free camp site (surrounded by semi-abandoned campers which was a little creepy), we drove 1.5hrs to the larger sister lake, Lake Pukaki, which is fed directly by the glaciers of New Zealand's highest mountain at 3,724m, Aoraki/Mt. Cook. Rhonda & I spent a few hours hiking along the torrential glacier river to view this very impressive mountain.

Aoraki/Mt. Cook

Afterwards we set our course to Queenstown, New Zealand's answer to Whistler.

-Terry

"Home" for Christmas

Jelly Belly map in Queenstown

Tongariro Crossing hike

Auckland Museum

Christmas makes us reflect on family, friends, and home. Having our first Christmas away has made us look at "home" in a different light and leads us to ask questions like "What is home?" "What do we miss about home?" The funny thing is...we don't really seem to be missing "home" yet. 

The concept of "home" is changing for us, we find it is primarily a place where we feel comfortable to relax and live a daily life that is similar to how we lived in Vancouver. To us this means cooking our meals, a clean and quiet lounging space, decent bed and pillows, and a hot shower. With other creature comforts we have more flexibility. 

As an example of our changing needs, in Vancouver we have a ~1000 sqft condo and as we travel more, we're realizing how much excess space we have! Being in a camper for a number of weeks, traveling with a 40L bag's worth of belongings, and sharing other people's homes has opened our eyes to exactly how little we really need in order to live a life that is comfortable for us.

Being away we toy with the idea of how we can make travel a larger part of our regular lives and how that would impact our "home/home environment." Things we've considered are flexibility of housing, income, and time. For housing we'd need to be able to cover our ownership/housing costs whether it be tenanted, a roommate, or posting as an AirBnB, etc. For income, ideally we'd be able to make a decent income while abroad, or have a position that allows for travelling in the form of time off or working remotely. For time...well this relates much to the work concept and other life commitments (ideally, to consolidate and have larger chunks of time to travel). 

Technology has also done a lot to make our travels easier by closing the distance from family and friends, we can keep in touch so easily. It has made being on the other side of the world feel very similar to living in another province/city while back in Canada.  

-Rhonda & Terry

Great Ocean Road - More pics

Just a quick picture post of some more shots of our drive on the Great Ocean Road:

-Rhonda & Terry

Christchurch, New Zealand

Christchurch

We landed in New Zealand and spent the first 3 days at an AirBnB.  It was fabulous - hotel like comfort and it had an amazing, fully stocked kitchen!!  We took advantage of the opportunity to prep and cook food for our next leg of our journey which is 18 days on the road in a camper van.

Christchurch is a city that is still recovering from a large earthquake that occurred in 2010 and continual aftershocks that lasted into 2013.  The majority of the ruined buildings have been leveled and cleaned up and as a visitor you think the city center is under an economic boom with construction taking place everywhere and the perception there's lots of empty lots for more redevelopment and growth.  The AirBnB owner shared some of her story with us and we were surprised to hear about the length of time the people had to live without running water or toilets and insurance claims that are still waiting settlement.  

We visited 2 very interesting post-earthquate developments, one being a shipping container shopping mall called the Restart Mall.  The outdoor mall was set up utilizing shipping containers for all the stores complete with a food court.  We were told that the opening of this mall was a real boost psychologically for the people - it gave them back some normalcy in their life.  We also visited the Cardboard Cathedral which was a sustainable design by a Japanese architect made mostly out of cardboard, wood and polycarbonate. It's beautiful in a very modest and humbling way.  Terry and I both had this feeling of simplicity and that it was a perfect setting for a church.

Restart Mall: made of shipping containers

Cardboard Cathedral - Vaulted Ceiling utilizing cardboard tubes 

reinforced with plywood (simple but gorgeous) 

Cardboard Cathedral - Steel Containers were used to provide rooms off the sides 

Cardboard Cathedral - podiums and chairs made out of cardboard & plywood 

Melbourne & The Great Ocean Road

Melbourne - The State Library (fish eye view)

Melbourne - Blue Whale Skeleton (very cool!)

So after Tasmania we flew into Melbourne and spent a few days in the neighbourhood of South Yarra which is a trendy area with lots of options for shopping and restuarants.  We spoiled ourselves with an AirBnB condo and enjoyed having a shower and in-suite laundry.  During the few days in Melbourne we ventured downtown and toured both the State Library which is impressive in a quiet, reserved way and the Melbourne Museum which won us over with their opening exhibit of a massive blue whale skeleton (which we then found out was only a "pygmy" blue whale!)

The main reason we were drawn to Melbourne was to drive the Great Ocean Road by car. Dubbed one of the world's greatest drives, it is incredibly gorgeous with picturesque coastlines and roads that hugged the curves of the outermost landscape.  Unfortunately, those same curvy roads may have also led to some significant motion sickness on Rhonda's part.  The major attractions for us along this drive are The 12 Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge is magestic.  The force of the water is absolutely humbling and intriguing as it beats and erodes the earth. Pictures just do not do the views justice!!

Great Ocean Road - Several of the 12 Apostles 

Great Ocean Road - 2 of the 12 Apostles

Great Ocean Road - Loch Ard Gorge

Great Ocean Road - Random Gorgeous Arch and View