Kiwis, eh

First weekend in New Zealand and what am I doing? Sitting here in my office, of course! It's not like I could be out there sampling the sights, sounds and flavors, is it?

Well, it is rather hot today, so I decided to seek shelter for a while, empty my camera and write this little post. Also, they have a very nice coffee machine in the lobby. :)

Recap of the week: arrived on Monday afternoon, horribly tired after over 50 hours of not sleeping, popped into my office, checked into my apartment and slept for 14 hours straight. Rest of the week I have been adjusting my day rhythm little by little, thinking a bit about what exactly it is that I should be doing here (workwise), and hanging out with a bunch of visitors from Europe as well as getting to know the city.

There are several Thai, Korean, Chinese, Japanese and English restaurants as well as two liquor stores, one around-the-clock convinience store and several coffee shops and bars within 200 meters of my apartment. And I can't hear any outside noise in my bedroom even on Friday evening! So far I like Christchurch very much. :)

Same in pictures:

After 50 hours of uptime this was the loveliest sight I could have imagined.
























The cathedral in the core of the city. My apartment is only a couple of blocks away from it.
























Avon river. It snakes its way through the city so that no matter where you walk, you always bump into it every couple of blocks.


















Punting on the Avon. There's a lot of tourist stuff around.


















Tourist stuff such as a tram line that costs 5 euros to get on, but that doesn't really go anywhere.


















In the city's botanical gardens I actually managed to find modern art that I like!


















First dinner after my arrival: banana pizza.


















HITLabNZ - this is where I spend my days, mom!


















Captain Cook. You can find statues of this guy all over the planet because he went all over the planet.