Hello guys, gals, and non-binary pals! This past week I’ve been thinking about what my day-to-day life was like in New Zealand outside of classes, and I wanted to share some things that I got up to. I had so much more free time than I was used to, which gave me the opportunity to pick up some new hobbies and explore the city. One of the things that I loved the most was the public bus system around Christchurch. It was almost always on time, clean, easy to navigate and understand, and it went all over the city. It only cost one New Zealand dollar to ride the bus with my student metro card, which is equivalent to about $0.60 USD per ride! I was able to take the bus everywhere, and the most I ever needed to walk was about 25 minutes or less.
One of my favorite things to do was take the bus to the beach! Sumner Beach is about a 50-minute bus ride from campus, and I would often spend most of this ride reading. Sumner is a beautiful beach that manages to be active and filled with people without feeling crowded at all. There were almost always folks out swimming, surfing, walking, or playing fetch with their dog. One of my favorite things to do was climb on top of this massive boulder in the middle of the beach, sit on top of it, read, and watch the waves. I loved getting to swim in the ocean as well! Being from a land-locked state that’s constantly in a drought, this experience was extra special for me.
Another thing I loved to do was take the bus to the Christchurch Botanic Gardens! These gardens were located inside Hagley Park and were about a 25-minute bus ride away. Because I was there during the spring, I got to see the trees start to blossom and all of the flowers bloom. It was so easy to go for strolls through the gardens, bird watch, and look for families of ducks and their new ducklings. The Avon River (Ōtakaro) ran through the park and sometimes I was lucky enough to see eels swimming there. I loved reading, journaling, and going for long walks through the Botanic Gardens. It was lovely being able to go so often because I got to see how all of the plants transformed from winter to summer.
Speaking of watching eels, another one of my favorite things to do was to go eel-watching on campus! The Okeover stream runs through a lot of the University of Canterbury, and there was a special spot behind a building called Te Ao Marama that was perfect for looking for eels. During my last week there on an especially warm day, I was able to see three of them at the same time!
During my last week in New Zealand, as a friend was moving out of their apartment, they gave me a pair of rollerskates. It was something that they wanted to learn how to do while they were in New Zealand, but never got around to. Since I didn’t have much going on during that last week, I took the roller skates to the netball (kind of like basketball but a bit different) courts in Hagley Park. I went there every day for a week and learned how to roller skate having never done it before. The first time I went happened to coincide with a weekly community skate meet-up where I was able to make new friends who helped me improve a lot. I was really sad to leave these new friends behind as they were incredibly kind and supportive. Luckily, I was able to find room in my bag to bring the skates with me though.
And lastly, here are some honorable mentions of things that I did: ate a lot of gelato, walked to the next town over on accident one time, saw a couple of bands play, went on a lot of hikes, made collages/drew, learned how to crochet and knit, played Dungeons and Dragons, went to the climbing gym, and baked bread.