New Zealand - part one

Alright, it's time for New Zealand pictures to arise! It has been a few months since the trip after all and it's at about this time that I am so totally missing it. The weather is warming up and all I can think of is that icy cold weather that makes your nose turn red and lets you get away with wearing big jackets, dorky gloves and beanies. I am definitely more of a winter person, although the Fijian weather was pretty sweet too! Ah what am I saying, I don't mind the hot weather - as long as all I have to do is lie in a hammock all day.

Anyway, with out further ado, I bring you part one of the trip!

As per usual, when flying to an overseas destination, we boarded a plane (or two) and landed in Christchurch after a quick stop off in Sydney. Christchurch was devastated by several earthquakes in the last year. The September 4th 2010 quake was bad enough, but in February of this year, on the 22nd, the Canterbury region faced it's most catastrophic quake. The death toll was unimaginable and the physical destruction of Christchurch was hard to fathom. Like every natural disaster, it made news headlines world wide for several days, or even weeks in Australia. But soon, another tragedy takes the limelight and the world seems to move on.

Landing in Christchurch, I had no idea of the true extent. No news report can really prepare you. Gorgeous weatherboard houses like to above were all destroyed and 14 days after this photo was taken, Christie and I were back in the same place watching this place getting demolished. One of the locals said that houses and buildings that needed to be demolished were running in the thousands.

This apartment building was getting demolished as we watched. Standing next to us was one of the apartments owners. Though most of the city centre was still blocked off, looking inside buildings was astounding - it was like life was just put on pause. Cutlery and crockery lay shattered on restaurant floors and tables remained on there sides.

Amazingly, Christchurch remains so absolutely positive and hopeful for the future. No doubt Christchurch will grow as a community following this disaster. There is hope that most of the older, historic buildings will be able to be restored including the gorgeous city cathedral.

Christchurch remains a beautiful place, especially along the Avon River. Gorgeous willow trees like the above dot the landscape along the rivers, and beneath them are little duck families. My heart was literally melting!

This is the window into a gorgeous cheese shop and bakery where we bought an absolutely picnic-y lunch. Yum!

Christie enjoyed some delicious pork ribs! Interesting...

And we both enjoyed the 'World famous in New Zealand' L&P which is surprisingly delicious. Also, even though we were travelling the world (or New Zealand at least), we still made time to watch the last Harry Potter movie on its opening day. Yes, I am a nerd at heart.

Next up is the beginning of our topdeck tour which I promise is a good story! Much more so then the Debbie Downer post on Christchurch. Hurrah! Catch you on the flip side peeps (got to love having my own blog where I can say exactly what I want).

Ode to ye Converse

Firstly, I am full away that this post might make you see me as a person with an unusual foot fetish but please know that this is definitely not the case. I do not like to touch feet nor think about them too much, I will certainly not touch your feet, even if they are really cool or something. That said, it appears that I do seem to have an obsession with taking pictures of my green converse lo-top all stars. And here is an unwanted and unrequested album of me and my connies over the years.

They wait at airports with me in 2007

And in 2011

The mull over whether to skydive or not (for about 2.1 seconds) before deciding that they definitely should.

They wait patiently to get up in the plane.

They leapt through the sky and the guy taking the photos pointed at them (or possibly just us in general..). Lucky I tied them on tight because apparently people have lost shoes several times before which makes me think that next time I see a lone shoe in the street, it might just be from a poor shoeless skydiver.

They checked out the awesome mountainous surroundings.

The sister wears them too.

The skydived with me again this year. Happy to be back again!

They go canyon swinging. Even if you can't see them well..

They go hang-gliding.

And soar through the sky. This beautiful photo is taken by my sister.

They fly on helicopters onto the tops of glaciers.

They pose pretty well on the pebbly beaches.

Even when my foot got mangled from white-water rafting, the connies still fit on. Ouch!

They rode out long journeys on tour buses throughout Topdeck.

They balanced on rocks nicely.

They relaxed by the lakes of New Zealand.

They held up surprisingly well in the snow and managed to keep my tootsies warm and dry.

Yep. They are good for dancing in too.

And did I mention they are freaking great for doing awkward poses in?

Sorry for the length of this post. Thanks if you stuck it out! And this is the abridged version that had to be cut down seriously. Oh lord.