CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND
This morning Chris, Thomas and I spent a few hours wandering amongst the flora at the sprawling Christchurch Botanical Gardens before driving outside the city to visit the fauna at Orana Wildlife Park, New Zealand's only open-range zoo. Chris had wanted to experience their "Lion Encounter Ride," where they put you inside a cage on the back of a truck while lions pounce on top and a keeper feeds them scraps of meat through the bars. The idea wasn't all that appealing to me, so I gave it a pass, although I guess it's not so different from being lowered into the ocean in a shark cage with great whites all around you, which I would totally be up for.
I was a lot more entertained by the meerkats, ringtailed lemurs, and giraffes. We were allowed to get up close and feed branches to the giraffes, which was a trip. We also had our first and only chance to see some kiwis, New Zealand's national symbol, which unfortunately are nearly impossible to encounter in the wild, being nocturnal, easily spooked, and pretty rare.
After the wildlife, we went out looking for some nightlife, since we didn't get to properly celebrate Thomas' birthday on Wednesday. But as we soon discovered, Wednesday nights in Christchurch aren't much more happening than Mondays. We ended up spending most of the night at Saints & Sinners, the downstairs bar at Base Backpackers, where we were subjected to a live band playing "funked up" covers of predictable pop and rock songs from the last 30 years. They were ridiculously slick, and I'd bet money that their lead singer had previousy been in some NZ boy band. (I mean, they played "Get Back" by The Beatles, and well, when Paul McCartney makes you look white....) But as much as I wanted to hate them, I have to admit they were pretty entertaining. Guess I'm getting soft in my old age.
This morning Chris, Thomas and I spent a few hours wandering amongst the flora at the sprawling Christchurch Botanical Gardens before driving outside the city to visit the fauna at Orana Wildlife Park, New Zealand's only open-range zoo. Chris had wanted to experience their "Lion Encounter Ride," where they put you inside a cage on the back of a truck while lions pounce on top and a keeper feeds them scraps of meat through the bars. The idea wasn't all that appealing to me, so I gave it a pass, although I guess it's not so different from being lowered into the ocean in a shark cage with great whites all around you, which I would totally be up for.
I was a lot more entertained by the meerkats, ringtailed lemurs, and giraffes. We were allowed to get up close and feed branches to the giraffes, which was a trip. We also had our first and only chance to see some kiwis, New Zealand's national symbol, which unfortunately are nearly impossible to encounter in the wild, being nocturnal, easily spooked, and pretty rare.
After the wildlife, we went out looking for some nightlife, since we didn't get to properly celebrate Thomas' birthday on Wednesday. But as we soon discovered, Wednesday nights in Christchurch aren't much more happening than Mondays. We ended up spending most of the night at Saints & Sinners, the downstairs bar at Base Backpackers, where we were subjected to a live band playing "funked up" covers of predictable pop and rock songs from the last 30 years. They were ridiculously slick, and I'd bet money that their lead singer had previousy been in some NZ boy band. (I mean, they played "Get Back" by The Beatles, and well, when Paul McCartney makes you look white....) But as much as I wanted to hate them, I have to admit they were pretty entertaining. Guess I'm getting soft in my old age.
posted by John Kuge at 8:40 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home