Theatre, music and new library

A walking festival takes place in Christchurch each year.  One of the walks we went on was through the red zone, a large area that previously was filled with houses.  The houses were damaged in the 2011 earthquakes and have been torn down.  The land now has been declared not suitable for building, but may be a large park or used for other purposes in the future.

Grass, trees and gardens, but no houses

We walked several kilometres along the Avon River and joined in on “Meet in the Middle” a festival at one of the city parks with food trucks, entertainment, information tables and dragon boat races.  

The headline entertainer at Meet in the Middle was Tiki Taane, a Maori man originally from Christchurch who now has made it as a solo artist performing dub music (reggae-based electronic music).  He was a crowd pleaser.

Tiki Taane performing

Last week we attended a performance by PostModern Jukebox at the Isaac Theatre Royal, one of the few brick buildings that survived the earthquakes.  The New York-based group had a lot of energy and talent, performing big-band versions of a variety of modern music.  

Members of PostModern Jukebox

The Isaac Theatre Royal at night

Mrs. Krishnan’s Party is a participatory play we attended along with friends.  The play was performed by the Indian Ink theatre company, a group that tells stories based on Indian cultures. Indian Ink was recently invited to perform at the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts in the US, so they may be coming to a venue near you.  If you get a chance definitely go see them.

A new central library, Tarunga, just opened this week in Christchurch and it truly is amazing.  It has everything from a recording studio to a sewing machine for embroidering your design on a patch you can sew onto your shirt.  Plus it has lots of books, a touch screen wall, a lego room and a slide.  

Christchurch Mayor cutting the ribbon to open the new library

View of the library stairs from the top floor

Recording studio at new library

Paul found a table tennis center this week and was able to play for a couple hours.  The center is a beautiful facility with 18 tables, leagues, coaching and social play sessions - plus a morning tea break in the middle of the session.

Cindy has been learning how to play Mahjong with friends. 

Mahjong tiles

Cindy practicing mahjong at home

Our friend Wil came over from Eau Claire to travel in New Zealand and is spending almost two weeks with us, including a week traveling to the south.  We'll post more on that trip soon.

You Know You Are In New Zealand When...

We notice several things that tell us we are in Christchurch and New Zealand, and decided to share some with you, in no particular order.  Don’t worry, we will still have our New Zealand quiz in another blog post, and no, this post won’t help you on the quiz.

Maori words on some signs:  Maori and English both are official languages of New Zealand.  Maori is not used in any other country.  

Colorful buses:  This is a photo of the Orbiter bus which has routes going clockwise and anti-clockwise around the outer areas of the city.  Most Orbiter buses are green.  Other common buses we take are the Purple bus which goes all the way to Sumner, a Christchurch suburb on the sea, or goes the opposite direction to the airport.

Cafes:  Unlike Wisconsin, which has numerous bars, Christchurch and all of New Zealand have numerous cafes; there is a real café culture here. 

Road cones:  Christchurch had thousands of road cones in 2011 after the earthquakes and still has lots today. 

Cabbage trees:  These are a native tree. Cabbage trees were used by the Maori people as food, fibre and medicine.  

A Penguin bus:  This takes tourists to the Antarctic Centre where you reportedly can sit on a snowmobile, experience wind chill in a cold room with fans blowing on you, and see penguins.  We don’t feel a need to pay the $59 admission fee to go there – we will just experience cold in Wisconsin this winter, minus the penguins.  

Lots of green and gold kiwi fruit – each kiwi fruit costs between 15 and 35 U.S. cents.

Murals:  These popped up all over Christchurch in the CBD (central business district) after the 2010-11 earthquakes.  Some still remain and others have been added. 

Eggs sitting unrefrigerated on supermarket shelves.  Hardly anyone puts eggs in the refrigerator here. 

Weather reports on line include how many clothing layers you should wear.

Notice the clothing layers recommendation on the left.

Earthquake check signs from the devastating earthquake in February 2011 still remain on some buildings.

Everyone has 3 wheelie bins:  red for rubbish, yellow for recycling, green for organics.  

Shopping malls and stores close at 6 pm most days, except some malls stay open till 9 pm on Thursdays and Fridays.

Mail is still delivered by bicycles in some parts of the city and by little motorized vehicles in other parts. 

Every house has at least some garden / flowers area.  This photo was taken outside a university dorm.  Christchurch is known as the Garden City.

Cheers!

Voting, It's Not For The Birds

We voted in the Wisconsin mid-term election and sent our absentee ballots in by international mail.  And, we want all of you to register to vote if you haven’t already, and then want you to vote either in advance or at the polls. 

In front of the New Zealand Post Office with our absentee ballots

We went on a braided river walk this week to see nesting birds.  Braided rivers have multiple channels, shallow water, and multiple, small, often-changing islands of stones and sediment.  We met at a Department of Conservation (DOC) building, and the DOC staff introduced two trustees from an organization called BRaid that works to protect braided rivers in New Zealand.  These two knowledgeable folks led the short hike and helped us find and identify several birds including the wrybill, the only bird in the world with a sideways curved beak.  For the birders among our readers, we also saw pied stilts, black-fronted terns, pied oystercatchers, black-billed gulls, spur-winged plovers, and banded dotterels.

 

Tramping this Thursday was to Sandy Bay – the 10k round trip walk offered beautiful views out over the ocean and cool rock formations on some hillsides.

Welcome swallow with nest building material

A friend gave us lemons from her lemon tree.  Cindy turned some of them into lemon curd and then baked and filled cake rolls.  One went to Paul’s department at the U, and one went to a newcomer’s gathering.  Everyone gave it thumbs up, so the recipe will be showing up again.

Cindy's lemon cake roll

Esther turned 4 this week, and thought the cake made a good birthday treat

We just returned from walking to the Saturday Riccarton Farmers Market.  Two of our favorite things there today were some beautiful cakes, and two young brothers doing busking.  

 

Earlier this week, we went to the opening of a pop-up performing arts venue (Little Andromeda), which was developed by Michael Bell, the son of one of Paul’s fellow teachers.  Little Andromeda will only be open for 45 days, but Michael has 75 acts scheduled to perform during that time.  

Little Andromeda pop-up venue, central Christchurch

Paul and El Jaguar, a street performer

It’s spring and animal babies are a happening thing.  These little Kunekune piglets were born at Willowbank Nature Reserve where Cindy volunteers.

Okay – so get out and vote and tell your friends and neighbors too!