On Seeing New Zealand For The First Time (Part 1)

There is a nineteen hour difference from that shore to my own. To arrive I had to cross the International Date Line and the Equator. I left behind a mild, coastal California summer and was greeted by the cool winds of a southern winter as I stepped off the plane in Auckland.

On the plane down to Christchurch I found myself in the company of a rugby team known as the "Junior All Blacks." The player next to me explained how the game was played and shocked me with the revelation that they play without padding or helmets. He said he had been concussed four times and I "tsk tsked" in response. The team had just returned from a tournament in South Africa and were still feeling the high of it. They referred to one another as "son" and reminded each other that they had a practice that afternoon. This is a hardcore sport.

My uncle settled in the northern region of the South Island. He owns a small kingdom near Mt. Lyford. 


Before we arrived there we spent some time touring Christchurch where the destruction from last year's earthquake is still apparent. My uncle said any director looking to make a film about the apocalypse could easily use the city as a his primary setting. It is in a constant state of being razed and torn down. When they have finished, it will be a completely different city. I've never seen anything like it.

In the city's center, brisk business is being done from converted containers: