New Zealand - Part 4

Auckland

Auckland is New Zealand's largest city & has an estimated population of about 1.3 million. This equates to about a quarter of the total population of NZ. It's on the northern tip of the North Island, & it's placed amidst a landscape of water. I only had the opportunity to stay for a couple nights, but I was lucky enough to stay with a Couch Surfer who lived next to the highest natural point in Auckland!

A beautiful, but cold winter day in Auckland.

This photo was taken from Mount Eden.

Mount Eden is the highest natural point in Auckland.

From where I stayed, it was a short walk to this volcanic crater on Mt. Eden.

Mt. Eden stands at 196 meters (~643 feet) & the crater is roughly 50 meters (~164 feet) deep.

The volcano erupted several times, the last being about 60,000 years ago. It resulted in leaving a series of craters around Auckland.

From the top of Mt Eden, you can see a panoramic view of Auckland! This view is looking southeast towards some of the other craters.

There's nothing like relaxing without a care in the world. Well, not quite without a care...

Flying out of Auckland provided these clouds for the viewing.

New Zealand - Part 3

Dunedin

Founded by Scottish settlers, it's a town of about 120,000 & it's the second largest city on the South Island. This is the place I eventually want to call home. I did a lot of research prior to visiting Dunedin, so I was really curious to see if it panned out to be what I expected. It's by the ocean with hills surrounding the city & rivers & mountains nearby! It's perfect! Well, it could be a little warmer during the summer, but hopefully global warming work in favor of this.

Railway Station

The town was full of historical architecture.

St. Paul's Cathedral in the background.

Fortune Theatre

First Church

This structure was located on one of the street corners.

St. Paul's Cathedral with the sun beginning to peer through the opposite side of the church.

A short walk up Stuart Street will put you in the Town Belt.

Looking at Otago Harbor & the ocean just beyond it.

Roslyn Village, an area above the Town Belt. This is a photo of some of the shops on Highgate.

Back in town & at the coastline, a quiet esplanade awaits.

St. Clair Esplanade, basically taken from the same spot as the above photo.

I'm not sure what this cove is called, but it's just south of St. Clair.

Seagulls, enough said.

A quiet walk along the ocean.

St. Clair Beach

Looking back towards the esplanade.

Speight's Brewery is in Dunedin & claims to be the "Pride of the South." This tap is on the outside of one of their buildings & delivers free water from a well deep below the brewery.

Inside the brewery. Yes, I had to do the tour.

Malt sampling table.

Ahhh, the tasty reward at the end.

They even let us pour our own glass of Speight's.

New Zealand - Part 2

Christchuch


Christchurch is the largest city on the South Island & has a Victorian, neo-Gothic feel to it from its earlier European settlers. It's located on the edge of the Canterbury Plains, which extends west toward the Southern Alps, and a short bus ride to the Pacific Ocean in the east. When looking west, it looks much like Denver with the Rocky Mountains behind it. Although, one of the most noticeable geographical features of this flat region, is the Banks Peninsula. It's an enormous volcanic land mass rising from the land & projects outward into the sea like a large thumb. Banks Peninsula is where you'll find many outdoor enthusiasts.

In the city of Christchurch, the Tramway covers a 2.5km track & allows people to tour the downtown area.

The Christchurch Cathedral, in the background, is probably the city's best known landmark.

The Cathedral Square is located in the center city, & you can often see some street performers working to make some cash.

New Regent Street was close to where I stayed for a couple of nights, & there were some great breakfast places here. The Tram also passes through this street.

Some of the Victorian style buildings downtown.

On a clear day, the Southern Alps are clearly visible in the distance. This was taken from a viewpoint on the Banks Peninsula.

There are many small towns on the Banks Peninsula & a couple large harbors. This one is overlooking a small section of the Lyttelton Harbour. To the right of the picture is an incomplete view of Quail Island. Roughly 212 acres in size, the island was used to quarantine lepers from 1907 -1925.

Downtown Lyttelton has a comfortable feel to it.

Back in Christchurch, the Avon River winds its way through town.

Punting down the Avon.

A friendly winter game of chess in the Cathedral Square. I didn't wait my turn to play, but have had the opportunity to play on a board this size before!

As I left Christchurch & headed south, I was able to take a photo from the bus to capture a glimpse of the scenary.

New Zealand - Part 1

As many of you know, I eventually want to move to New Zealand. Provided this happens, I didn't see the need to to pay for an expensive plane ticket when at some point I'll be living there. Yet, after some consideration, I decided it was probably in my best interest to visit the country. I figured that when I finally do leave Korea & venture on to NZ, it might look better to an employer if I've already been there. It was an expensive plane ticket, but I'm glad I made the trip. I was able to spend just over two weeks there & luckily had the chance to visit some other countries en route. Prior to visiting, I had done much research on NZ & different towns that I might be interested in calling my future home. There were a number of places I thought would be great to live in, but not all would be good for gainful employment. Therefore, many nights of research lead me to choose three different towns that I wanted to check out. I visited Wellington, Christchurch & Dunedin. Yet deep down, I already knew in which town I had the greatest interest. Now it was time to see if all my research had correctly steered me to the right town of my future living intentions.

On this last vacation, I was able to use an international website community called, "Couch Surfing." I highly recommend this to anyone who may be open to allowing people to stay at your place, or who are looking to travel. I thank all those I've met through this network both in the past, present & in the future!



Wellington

Oriental Bay as the sun descends.

Viewing downtown Wellington from Mt. Victoria.

Looking toward Wellington Harbor from the same viewpoint as above.

From above, the walk is only a short three minutes to the opposite side, & it shows a much quieter Wellington.

The cable car provided a different perspective of Wellington. Mt. Victoria is in the background. Yes, I know that's it's not a mountain... Perhaps a hill & it would be more aptly named?

Looking downtown, this was taken just off the Oriental Parade in Lamton Harbour.

From downtown the boardwalk along the ocean is perfect for a scenic run!

The boardwalk, Oriental Parade, extends around this peninsula & continues for many kilometers beyond!

As you may know, I have an affinity towards flowers, but this isn't quite one. Well, perhaps this could be proven otherwise. This Bromeliad struck me as something different. The botanist at the Botanic Gardens was incredibly kind as to offer me a beer & tell me all about this beautiful plant. Please expand this photo to appreciate its beauty.

I've seen this email passed around, but can you figure out the pattern? Someone evidently put it in writing.

There's a trail that continues to be improved & will apparently connect a multitude of trails together. I believe it will extend from one end of Wellington to the other in it's final completion. What I do know is that this particular section does happen to be on the path of trails to be combined & also skirts by one of the old cemeteries of some of the original settlers.

In Commute


From Wellington I took a ferry to the town of Picton, which is on the northern tip of New Zealand's South Island. It was a cold day, but a beautiful one.


In Picton I had to wait to take the train. I grabbed a sandwich & kicked back to enjoy the day.

This was taken on the train ride to Christchurch. The train ride followed the coast for much of the way & yes, if I turned around the other direction, the east coast was visible.