I arrived in Christchurch (on New Zealand's south island) on
27/08/2003, so I came right into spring. At the very beginning,
I didn't do much travelling because I didn't have a car, and
my only trip was with the Canterbury University Snowsports Club
and went to the Temple Basin Ski Field near Arthur's Pass. I
wasn't aware of its location, though, and therefore my first
trip with my new car went to Arthur's Pass again.
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| Flying south-east at 877 km/h | Katharia has just finished school and now does a one year work&travel holiday in New Zealand. | The plane that took us from Sydney to Christchurch (photo taken in Sydney). | My first room in flat 45 of Ilam Village, untidy as always. The wall on the right is naked concrete, without paint or whatsoever. Besides that, the room was awesome and very spacious. |
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| SPAM, the eponym for spam eMails and, unfortunately, not sold in Germany. | Christchurch cathedral with the small police station. | Another photo from the perspective that is chosen for the $10 tourist...err...visitor photos. I never saw anyone buy a photo from the poor photographer! | Sumner Beach - the clouds and New Brighton beach (landmass in the background) looked a lot more beautiful in real life than on the photo! |
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| Part of the University of Canterbury Students' Association (UCSA)'s cafeteria, and the 'Sweet Hearts' (now renamed to 'The Sparrows') that were playing there. | My office at uni. | Nice view from the Port Hills over Christchurch. The photo does not fully reveal the true beauty of the mountains that rise in the background, towering high above the Canterbury Plains. | Christchurch's harbour Lyttleton Harbour, which is separated from Christchurch by the Port Hills, forming the beginning of the Banks Peninsula. The facilities are mostly concealed in the lower foreground. |
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| The small bay in the right background is Diamond Harbour. | View over Christchurch, with mountains in the background. | Us three trampers: Katharina, me and Duncan. | Two germans at a birthday party, hosted by Naomi (on the left). She is 50% german and 50% japanese. |
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| Delicious food... | ...for more than 90... | ...hungry Snowboarders. | Always remember to drink enough during sports! |
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| Dave devotedly stirrs the vanilla custard. | More winter sportspeople. | Cheers! | Dress-up for the party in the evening... |
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| ...even featuring a band! | Dancers | View out of the window (I didn't want to expose my camera to the cold). | Snow |
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| Skiers | | Reminds me of "Lord of the Rings"! | Rugby: Canterbury vs. Wellington in Christchurch's Jade Stadium. |
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| The Stein 2003 with 2500 Studenten, lots of sun and good music. | the crowd | T Shirt Slogans, a trademark of "The Stein" |
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| beautiful long-term summer weather | Drink supplies for the Ilam Village BBQ | Alina, Martin and others (in the lower right: my left foot ;-) ) | Exchange students |
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| more of them | Julien | SWR1 (a german radio station) called during the break of a champions league soccer game (VfB Stuttgart vs. Panathinaikos Athen). Volker (on the phone) was thus extremely nervous. | Lift 42 that goes to my flat... |
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| Christian on New Brighton beach (a suburb of Christchurch) | On the Port Hills again | Julia had heard of my homepage through Katja and then sent me an eMail when she was in Christchurch for a couple days. | Fireworks started from New Brighton's pier, celebarting Fawkes Night on the 5th of November. |
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| Sheep and mountains | Mountains and long white clouds | the road ahead (towards Arthur's Pass) |
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| Mountain lake | my car | more mountains | Nice limestone rock formations near castle hill, with the snow glittering in the sun. What a pity that my camera was unable to adequately capture the sun's reflections on the snow! |
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| Oops, I should have thought of that earlier...luckily, I got away with it. | beautiful landscape | Forest and Snow (also glittering nicely) |
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| Typically dark NZ cows, with sheep and mountains in the background | | more mountains and more long white clouds | mooh! |
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| One of the many one lane bridges | At cave stream scenic reserve, where one can cross the mountain through a cave in about an hour. The water is bitterly cold, though! | sign with shadow | View onto the outlet end of the cave, the recommended entrance |
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| a bit further to the right | Two germans on their way into the cave | On our way to Kaikoura | a beach |
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| smooth stones | nice rocks | Christian | Tobias |
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| View onto the sea through a gap | Boring beach in Kaikoura | One of the many typical Cabbage Trees, resembling palm trees but not too closely related, named after the taste of an edible part. | Camping right in the centre of Kaikoura; it's not quite as idyllic as the photo suggests, though: there is a highway just to the right of this picture. |
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| Rocky shore in Kaikoura; the world famous seal colony densely populates the area and hustles in front of the tourist's camera. | cragged rocks | yet another BBQ | Andy |
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| awesome Southpark doll on the cupboard! | The tramping club's annual beach party | Meet the $100 man! - in the old university (now: Arts Centre), a small museum commemorates Rutherford, who researched there when he was still a nobody, and is now depicted on the highest valued bank note. |
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