Here's what I got for ya today! I decided to take a trip out to the Christchurch Gondola ride. Its fairly easy to get there using public transportation to the city center and then hop on a shuttle that takes you out of the city about 10k. The ride is about 1k long up the side of Mt Cavendish and there are beautiful views all around. You can see the coast, the Southern Alps, and Lyttelton Harbor. There is a restaurant and an observation deck at the top as well as some hiking trails, mountain bike trails, and a historical attraction where you ride through time and they show you how New Zealand was settled.
Here's a little video of the trip back down along with a few views from the top. The ships you see are in Lyttleton Harbor which was where the early expeditions to Antarctica set sail from. It used to harbor a few cruise ships but I'm told they mostly go to Auckland now so Lyttelton is mostly a shipping town now since it was heavily damaged in the earthquakes. If you look at the closeup photo you can see stacks of wood either to be shipped out or maybe being brought in to help rebuild.
This is inside the restaurant and gives the history of the harbor as it related to the first Antarctic expeditions
Lyttelton Harbor
Lyttleton Harbor
The Southern Alps in the distance, it looks like clouds but its actually snow capped mountains
Once I got to the summit, I decided to do some hiking. I only did the Cavendish Bluff Trail because the Pioneer Womens Memorial was damaged by the earthquake and the lady at the gift shop said there wasn't a lot to see because its under reconstruction.
Summit visitor center and restaurant in the background
Headed down to the bluff overlook
A view going back up the trail
Another view of the hiking trail
Lyttelton Harbor from Cavendish Bluff Overlook
This is at the entrance to the Gondola, it's a long way to just about anywhere from here!
When I got back into the city, the shuttle drops you off right next to the Canterbury Museum. It's free and I decided to check it out. They have 3 full floors of artifacts. Not everything in the museum deals with Antarctic exploration or is specific to New Zealand.
There is a lot of jewelry made from this green stone here.
There is a section on the native island type of living and then when you leave that section you walk into an old street depicting life size storefronts of Christchurch in the early days of modern settlement.
This is all antique furnishings and clothing upstairs. The next section is celebrating 75 years of flight to New Zealand
I sure wish airlines would go back to this kind of seating!
Just a little flight simulator to show what it was like to fly before the days of cramming as many folks into a metal tube with wings became popular. Here's a quick history lesson in three easy pictures, mostly it's for me to remember the dates of the Antarctic expeditions.
This is completely made of wood
This is the first medal given by the Mayor of New York City to members of Antarctic expedition in 1926
Like the other "Fergie" that sits in the hotel lobby where I'm staying, this is one of seven Ferguson Tractors that were modified for Sir Edmund Hillary. Now we've seen two of them, maybe we'll see all seven before I leave? Probably not! After seeing all the Antarctic equipment it made me want my mummy...Ok, terrible joke I know! They really do have a mummy at the museum and her name is Tash Pen Khonsu. They estimate that she was about 25 when she died and through a whole bunch of scientific mumbo jumbo I don't understand, they determined that she had never had children and that she was healthy right up until she died. Uhhh, they do know she died? right? According to the video she had exceptional teeth for back in the day. And here all this time, I thought they only checked horses teeth to determine age...sheesh! ;-)
I was going to check for a pulse but I'm pretty sure it's too late for her.
Now for some of the random stuff at the museum!
They had a ton of things to see but the most surprising of all was below. I came all this way only to find a giant crystal from ARKANSAS on display in the Canterbury Museum! How cool is that?
I left the museum and headed back to the bus station to catch a ride back to the hotel and caught a few interesting pictures.
These people are all lined up to get tattoos! Today was some kind of suicide awareness day and this tattoo parlor was letting people pick one of 4 designs for 22 dollars with all the proceeds going to a charity to help raise awareness for suicide prevention. I had a lot of fun hiking and going to the museum but I really enjoy talking to the local people. They are really interesting and also really disappointed in how long it is taking to rebuild their city. I always want to ask them about local stuff and they always want to ask me about politics, funny thing is, they don't like either of our Presidential candidates either, at least not the folks I've talked to. They are a little more free with their words here so I won't repeat what the bus driver said about Hillary Clinton but he clearly doesn't like her and he doesn't even live in the USA. LOL!
Of course I stumbled upon a motorcycle shop while headed to the bus station. I spent an hour in there talking with the guy. Funny thing is their shop bike is a Triumph Tiger but they sell Indian and Victory motorcycles. The guy was really interesting and told me all about the many ways to lose your license, amongst other things. If you are caught riding over 140kmph (86Mph) you lose your license for 28 days and get an 1800 dollar fine . I think me, my dad and my uncle might all be walking if we lived here. If you are caught riding or driving during your 28 day stint, they impound your motorcycle or car on the spot and extend your loss of license for 3 months. The guy at the shop said there are some great motorcycle roads here and you can ride a lot of the southern island if you put in a really long day of riding.
Overall, a great day of exploring, I was taking all these pictures using a little travel tripod I brought along so it was sometimes difficult to set the timer and get in front of the camera before it snapped the picture. Stay tuned, I'll see what I can find tomorrow!
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