Glacier Hunting in Franz Josef

TJ had never seen a glacier. So we went to one. 

But not before doing this pose:

And seeing these amazing waterfalls. I have a memory of them being called Thunder River Falls. That sounds about right. This was just a 10 minute stretch your legs on the bus stop. Just beautiful. 

Franz Josef is a tiny town. It has one ATM and that's pretty lucky because the next glacial town over doesn't even have one. 

We discovered that the grocery store closed at about 8pm. Luckily our hostel had free veggie soup which was fabulous! 

And I do. I really do!

The accidental theme of this long journey of ours is me taking a photo of TJ taking a photo of something. But that's not the interesting part of this photo.  Two branches of the river converge here. A really blue bit and a grey bit. And you can see in the water where they come together. So interesting. 

We planned to walk to the glacier. We had walked about half way the day before and it was no big deal. But then, as it had been on and off, it rained. A lot. So we got a shuttle. Clever, because they leant out umbrellas too. 

That's the glacier. We walked through that barren landscape that would have been perfect for some epic battle scene in a movie. 

Also it seemed pretty logical to believe that giant apes or maybe dinosaurs might pop out of those trees at any point. 

Glaciers are big ice cubes.

And are surrounded by mysterious and awesome things. 

Champion!

We couldn't get too close, which is actually probably a good thing. Many people have dies due to ducking under the barrier and then having the ice and rocks shift. No thank you. It was eerie and beautiful. 

Plus we got a photo with Mr Rangerman. 

Queenstown

Queenstown is for crazy people. Those who like bungee jumping and heli-skiing and the like. Those people are not me. So instead we walked around the town, drank beer and ate free pizza, found a cookie shop with a happy hour and played a lot of cards. 

Such a view

I could probably fill this backpack. With shoes. 

On our last day we discovered there was a bit of a ceremony going on for this steamship. It has been running for 100 years. There were a bunch of steam tractors that blew their steam horns when the boat came into the harbour. It was a call and answer of horns. And all the other boats came along as an honour guard to usher this boat into it's next century. It was all rather emotional really. 

We almost walked more, but then it got cold. And so we went in search of a fireplace. 

Kiwi Bach

My lovely friend Laura took us to her family's summer house, the bach. It's located on the Banks Peninsula, an undeniably lovely part of New Zealand. There are a great many little inlets, neat little stone beaches. We searched the tide for treasures left behind like shells and bits of glass and pottery. 

In the stream that runs behind the bach eels abound. We were skeptical at first as we couldn't see any. Apparently you have to entice them with milk. Because it smells like meat? Or they like the calcium? 

As the milk floated down the river we could see splashes in the water of eels fighting their way upstream to see what was going on.  They were absolutely huge!

Look at those eels! 

We drove around the peninsula, finding our way to Akaroa. 

Akaroa is a cute little town with French leanings... Also they had a fudge shop. Which is clearly the most important thing. 

Showing it's roots

And a lighthouse, which is always a bit romantic. 

I like the idea that lighthouse keepers were watching out for people

Team Canada

Very pretty harbour

Upside down tree... well it is on the other side of the world

Bach mailbox

We spent our time at the bach reading books, playing games, watching sheep and making a delicious pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. And we converted a kiwi gal to being a pumpkin pie lovin' honourary Canadian!

The sun (and TJ's shirt) made us think it was summer

Searching for treasures

Watching the tide

Our time there was perfect and so relaxing. It's so lovely to be in a place that's built for silence, fun and chilled out-itude. 

Christchurch

The CBD was wiped out in the earthquakes so now they have a shipping container mall. It's vibrant, colourful, has cool shops and food stalls. 

We drove the the shore and walked down the pier. There was a strange dude rapping about crabbing at the end. 

Look at all the people trying to catch crabs! 

Pancakes and bacon weave. Both delicious and photogenic. 

We drove up to the top of some mountains and climbed over cow, sheep poops and rocks. 

It was so incredibly beautiful. Every direction we looked was perfect. 

Somehow photos of boats are so romantic. 

Even when they're not in the water. 

And we even had a chance to do laundry. 

Earthquake

I remember hearing on the news in 2011 that there was a terrible earthquake in New Zealand, in Christchurch. I paid particular attention because I have a friend who lives there. But like any news that isn't North American the media forgot about it pretty quickly and so did we. 

I guess I didn't expect there still to be so much devastation in Christchurch. I guess I expected buildings to be going up and life to be moving on, especially since it happened a few years ago. 

The city centre is completely blocked off. They are still assessing buildings to see if they are safe, they are still slowly tearing down old and new buildings alike and are working as fast as they can. 

There are community groups that are trying to make the city a vibrant place. This Gap Filler project is a Dance-o-mat. Ipods are plugged into the washing machine and your music comes over the loud speaker. It's because so many public spaces to dance (studios, clubs) are nothing but rubble now. Even people who are grieving need a place to dance. 

There are so many old, beautiful buildings that are set for destruction (including the Cathedral at the centre of town) and that's quite controversial. Whether they are actually unsafe or the owners don't want to spend the money to fix them is debatable. We ran into my friend's mom protesting the demolition of this gorgeous old building. 

There is just such heartbreak in the city. So much of how the city defined itself is gone or in the process of being fought over. It's distressing and made me cry. 

We walked around the Red Zone, the cordoned off area. It was like the Zombie Apocolypse. It still looked like a city but it was so silent. No cars, no horns, no people, no birds. Every now and they you could hear a big machine plunging itself into a building and concrete crumbling to the ground. There were guards standing at the entrances to make sure no one entered. The whole experience was eerie. 

All that is left of this church is some stones that the congregation has arranged in memory of those who lost their lives. From what I understood from the signs, mass is still held outdoors sometimes on the spot where the church once was. 

Just outside of the city centre there are family homes, abandoned. It was so sad to see that these once lovely homes are just empty. Families have up and moved elsewhere, somewhere safer, I guess. Who knows what will happen to these buildings.

Even though there is grief, the hope that lives on is palpable. These people of Christchurch will not give up. They will not be broken just because their city is broken. There is a real sense of community and of people drawing together to show that a city isn't it's buildings and sidewalks but rather it's people and heart.