New Zealand...Part 2

The SO:

The Hotel I’ve been put up in for my stay is the Hotel So and it is hip as hell. Everything is white or made from glass and hardwood, with clean lines and organic shaping. The room is tiny, yet remains a high level of functionality. Just check out the video I posted of the room, you’ll see it’s a trip.

Transportation:

Getting around Christchurch is a piece of cake. The bus system is quite extensive and there are routes that travel to some of the more outlying regions like Lyttelton. Rental cars and campers can all be rented on the cheap and there is also a tram and a railway system as well. The kiwis also love their cars. I’ve seen scads of badass Land Cruisers and Land Rovers decked out with fog lights and brush bars and such. There’s also a metric buttload of Subaru WRX’s and Legacies and most of ‘em have been riced out a bit. I also saw a low of neat autos we can’t get stateside, my favorite being the Toyota Hilux. The Hilux is basically the overseas equivalent to the Tacoma, only it is not so damn big and you can get them equipped with a diesel engine (I think you can get diesel in damn near everything over here) which makes the Hilux way badass. There are also a bunch of cool trucks we can’t get stateside either: Toyota Prados, Nissan Patrols and Pajeros, and Land Rover D110’s. All of which get the Dan O seal of awesomeness.

Sightseeing:

After getting all checked in on our first full day, a couple of us hopped on the bus out to Sumner to check out the coast. All I can say is “Wow”. What a beautiful blend of mountains and pristine clear waters. Although it is early spring here in NZ, I can tell that once the waters warm up this is alive with surfing, boating, swimming, sailing, you name it. Just check out the pics.

On my second full day I took the bus out to Lyttelton, a small port town tucked into the mountains on the other side from Christchurch. The bay is actually a volcanic crater from eons ago, making for rugged hills all around town. If a genie popped out of a bottle and gave me three wishes, one of them would be to live here. The town is small yet close to a big city, quiet, there are some interesting bars and with ships coming into port, always an influx of characters. I got passed on the street by a gaggle of crazy Russians that almost got hit by a truck because they looked the wrong way when crossing.

After checking out Lyttelton I went back towards CHC and hopped on a Gondola up the Crater rim hiked along the various trails up there for about 3 hours. Lucky for me, whilst in the backcountry area I got to see some sheep! I took a picture of an especially noisy one and named him Bart.

I just downloaded Google Picasa and I’m definitely going to have some time on the flight down so I should FINALLY get some sweet pics posted. Cheers for now. I hope everyone back home is living their lives to the fullest. Hugs and kisses.