South Island

Our first month on the South Island: 

First views of the South Island

The South Island

·         New apartment! – within a week of arriving in Christchurch, we managed to find an apartment!  This was amazing since it’s apparently very difficult to find apartments ("flats") here.  It is also a very fitting place for us to live as the streets surrounding us have names like “Coleridge”, “Wordsworth”, “Shakespeare”, “Tennyson”, and “Byron”! 

·         Exploring Christchurch – There are so many fun things to do in Christchurch!  There is a new mall (called Re: START) made almost entirely of shipping containers, there’s a Nando’s restaurant, there are several beautiful beaches, and many picturesque hills.  There is an amazing road called Summit Road, which climbs up the hills and allows you to drive along the top of them, giving you an amazing view of the city and the ocean.  A couple weeks ago we went to Victoria Park on Saturday and Sunday to watch movies in the park projected on a shipping container outdoors.

Sumner – a suburb in Christchurch

·         Keith got a job! – Just two days after moving into the apartment Keith accepted a job with Duncan Taylor Builders.  It seems like the perfect company for Keith to work for, and he’s enjoying it so far.

·         We've attended churches – We have tried several churches in Christchurch that are great places to worship God and meet people.  We just have to decide on which one to start attending regularly.

·        Aoraki Mt. Cook National Park – Three weeks ago, we took our first trip on the South Island.  We drove a couple hours southwest and reached a pretty glacial lake, Lake Tekapo (TEK-apoh).  A little further on we came to Lake Pukaki, another glacial lake.  The sun had come out at this point, which made the lake look spectacularly blue.  On the first day we went on a short hike to Tasman Glacier.  The next day we hiked through the Hooker Valley towards the base of Mt. Cook.  We had a spectacular view of Mount Cook almost the entire way - it was stunning!  We are so excited to be living less than 4.5 hours from the highest mountain in New Zealand!

Church of the Good Shepherd on Lake Tekapo

Lake Tekapo

Lake Pukaki

Lake Pukaki

Lake Pukaki

The path to Tasman Glacier

Leaving Tasman Glacier

Mt. Cook

Hooker Glacier below Mt. Cook

Keith testing out the frigid glacial waters!

Lake Pukaki (and Mt. Cook in the distance)

·         Akaroa – We took a short day trip to visit Akaroa, a small town settled by the French.

Akaroa

Akaroa Harbour

View from Summit Road

·        Arthur’s Pass – Last Saturday Keith and I drove two hours to get to Arthur's Pass, the highest mountain pass in New Zealand.  There are many beautiful trails to be hiked from there.  We took a short hike through Bealey Valley.

Excited about hiking!

Bealey Valley Trail

·        Rainstorm – This week we experienced a crazy rainstorm with strong winds and non-stop rain for two days.  The storm resulted in flooding all over the city, and was apparently the worst rainstorm since 1975.