Chalkboards

For our last night in the Batmobile, we haded to the beautiful Banks Peninsula for a day on a boat. The peninsula is a former volcano that has eroded down to one third its height. The first European settlers were French, who later lost their claim to New Zealand’s South Island in exchange for Fiji. The French community in the Banks peninsula is still strong and most of the street names are in French. We stayed in Akaroa and took a nearly three hour boat ride to see penguins, cormorants, seals, and dolphins. Fenton spent the entire time in a backpack and ended up having a long nap. We enjoyed having the time to focus on wildlife rather than his needs but regretted this long slumber when he resisted going to bed that night. Trade offs.

We had a wonderful last dinner with Stefan and Heike, exchanged some pictures and Skype addresses, then headed to our final New Zealand destination, Christchurch.

12 years ago, Christchurch was much different than it is now. The city was devastated by an earthquake February 22, 2011. Until today, I had not appreciated the extent of the damage. The city was completely unrecognizable. In fact the entire vibe of the city has changed. Christchurch was once a vibrant city with a youthful spirit thanks to the University there. Today, the entire city centre is closed off and construction is ongoing to rebuild. The cost to the economy of the city is incredible. Several buildings had messages on the sides where the people of the city are encouraged to add their thoughts in chalk. One message was “Before I die I want to…” Many answers were scrawled in chalk, some were inspiring, others were silly. Another message was “I hope Christchurch will…” The walls ask the people of Christchurch to find hope, set goals, and create a new and better city. I hope that if I ever visit this great city again, it will live up to its dreams.

Tonight is our last night in New Zealand… or is it? We have still not received any notification from the Australian High Commission that we have permission to enter the country. They have spent a long time processing our application, and despite numerous calls, there has been no promise that a visa will be in place by the time of our flight. It is one of those things that are beyond our control, yet by not having a visa, we are forced to stay in a hotel ($$), change our tickets ($$), call up my new principal to arrange for a substitute teacher ($$), and possibly travel to Auckland to speak to someone at the embassy there ($$). We will not know until we attempt to check in at the airport. May the force be with us.