Out Of Range: From North to South

Now I am back on my trip after the break in Wanganui. From there, I took the bus to Wellington which was not a problem at all. I had to walk about 20 to 30 minutes to my hostel so I could see a bit of the city with all my luggage on my back. The hostel was quite nice, it was a bigger one. I stayed in an en-suite 4-share room on the 5th floor, with quite a nice view onto the harbour. The location was also really good, a one minute walk to a big supermarket, not even 5 minutes to the famous Te Papa museum and everything was accessible by foot.

On the day of arrival, I walked to the lookout platform on Mount Victoria where I had a pretty nice view onto New Zealand's capital. I also walked along the city a bit. On the next day, I went to Te Papa museum and the Botanical Garden. The latter is located on a hill as Wellington is surrounded by mountain ranges. There's also a cable car up to the Botanical Garden but, as a backpacker, of course I walked up there. In the evening, I met Andrew, a Kiwi, and we did some comfort zone challenges together. Comfort zone challenges are a form of social exposure therapy where you do challenges like laying down on a public place. We did the 'lie down', 'work out in public' and 'high five strangers' challenge. It was a lot of fun and I think it's a good way to boost your confidence. And it was very cool to meet Andrew. On the next day, I had a quiet relaxing day, I just walked a bit around town again, strolled around famous Cuba Street and chilled in the park and read my book a bit. The next day, I went to the airport in order to catch my flight to Christchurch. I like Wellington much more than Auckland. It's a really cool city, however it needs a bit more to become my worldwide favorite.

Wellington harbour

Wellington harbour, Mt Victoria in background

view onto city from Mt Victoria

view from further up

Wellington city

view from cable car top station, Botanical Garden

Cuba Street

When I landed in Christchurch, I first had to catch a bus to the city. The bus driver was very friendly and told me when to get off. So I walked to my hostel which was at the edge of Christchurch CBD.

At the 1st day, I just walked a bit around town and went to the supermarket. At the next day, I did a free city walking tour where I have heard a lot about the earthquake on 22nd February 2011. It destroyed a lot of buildings and 185 people died. Today, half of the city is a construction site. In the city centre, there is a shopping mall where you can shop in shipping containers. Of course, the reason for it is terrible but I think, it's a pretty cool idea the people had to make the best of it. Shipping containers were used because they are cheap, portable and stackable. Besides, Christchurch has a nice Botanical Garden, surrounded by the Avon river and located in the Hagley park.

The city does not look that great due to the many construction sites but people here work hard to get things back to normal and there is something new opening almost every week. I would say, it's a special city though I wouldn't want to live there to be honest.

Avon River