Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Just Kidding!
Our hostel in Christchurch is also known as Addington Jail, built in 1874 to house inmates from Christchurch’s overcrowded Lyttelton prison. These inmates never stayed long – the longest stay was 1 year and 5 months, with most prisoners staying just a few months. The prison was closed in 1999, having processed 60,409 prisoners, because it was too insecure and too close to the city. The remaining prisoners were sent to a much more suitable confinement: the modern Paparua prison on the outskirts of Christchurch.
Since Addington was in operation for more than 100 years, it makes sense that the jail was left with many prison ‘collectibles’ before its conversion to a backpacker hostel. Thus there is a small room filled with museum-worthy mementos from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Henk and I ended up in Cell 18, all the way at the end of the prison’s upstairs hall. Our room has been modernized, the walls painted a crisp, fresh white and outfitted with a TV/DVD player, but there are many signs that we’re sleeping in a former prison cell. Our window still has bars to keep us inside, and it is high enough in the room that I need to stand on the bed to see the outside world from it. The ceilings themselves are high as well, with thick walls keeping us in. Plus, the door to our room is extremely thick and heavy itself—and still has the (now blocked off however) prison guard ‘window’ built in to keep an eye on inmates inside. From inside our cell, we can hear the echo of other ‘inmates’ walking the halls outside clearly; there are thick walls, but not much soundproofing. I guess for a prison, that makes sense. :P
Two doors down from us is Cell 20, a cell kept in its original state, complete with ‘prisoner artwork’ (mostly sketches of naked women) and two former prison beds. It’s so strange to stand inside a former prison cell, thinking of the hundreds of people who lived their days locked up in a room like this.
Around the hostel are various signs warning us new ‘inmates’ to behave, or face solitary confinement. On our first walk through the prison to explore, Henk and I found this creepy little room, also left in its original condition – original working condition, as well! Henk sneakily locked me into solitary for a minute, and I had no way of getting out! o.o
Our first night in jail, Henk and I decided to get in the ‘mood’ by grabbing some Dominoes Pizza (better than bread and water!) and watching Clint Eastwood in ‘Escape from Alcatraz’ in the prison cinema. The movie was projected out onto our large ‘screen’: the prison walls! Watching the movie made me think of the inmates that used to reside here in Addington, and how they would have tried to escape from the building we are in. I later learned that many tried to escape from here by climbing the wall surrounding the yard, only to fall and serve more time with the addition of a broken leg. Others did manage to get out, only to be discovered by local farmers and brought back.
The only downside about our confinement in prison is that we’re obviously a bit outside from the city of Christchurch itself – but only by a 40 minute walk! (We’re used to walking by now.) The next morning we explored the city, and quickly saw that there wasn’t too much to do. There were things such as a tram and gondola ride, but nothing too spectacular. We did pop into the large church in the city center for a look around. That night I helped Henk make another one of his great pasta dishes – this one included spicy chorizo sausage pieces! I enjoyed learning from him, and we decided I was going to ‘design’ our meal for the next night!
Sunday morning we decided to stay in and watch some more prison/gangster movies, such as Midnight Express and Scarface – neither of which I had seen before! Our only venture out was to the supermarket, where we picked up the ingredients for our dinner: chicken, more pasta sauce, lemon, and mushrooms, plus some cinnamon buns and chocolate milk for breakfast! That night I was excited to really cook for the very first time! I sautéed mushrooms and onions, along with a sweet mixture of raisins, peanuts, and apple to top our pasta. Henk made our chicken and pasta (because raw chicken is gross! :P hehe) and then we combined our ingredients into a delicious dish.
After a quiet weekend, we planned something exciting: seeing live kiwi birds! Less than 50% of New Zealanders have seen a live kiwi (despite calling themselves ‘Kiwis’) – but we weren’t going to leave this country without spotting one! So I booked us in for a nighttime nature tour at Willowbank Reserve, where they recover and protect kiwi eggs and have a kiwi breeding program. Oh! Before our nighttime tour, I got my nails done by a Thai woman who declared that my nails were so beautiful, it was a necessity she decorate them with free nail art!
Anyways, our tour that night began with some eels, which Henk and I got to touch! So slimy! Our guide, who we vaguely remember being named Shannon, or something similar, asked if anyone had ever eaten eel. I had, and I told everyone it was actually quite tasty! Next we went through an area with a bunch of Kea birds. We were familiar with these rubber-eating birds, but our guide informed us something new; Keas have the intelligence of a 7-year-old child! They displayed this by being extremely forward, jumping right onto Henk’s shoulder, and eating honey off of the spoon I held.
Kunekune pigs were next! These things were kinda creepy looking, and huge! They almost looked like some sort of ancient pig.
Finally, we arrived at the highlight of the night: the kiwi birds. There were seven birds altogether, and we had to be super quiet so we wouldn’t scare them too much. Kiwis have extremely poor vision, but a heightened sense of smell. Their long beaks have nostrils at the very tips, and by keeping their nose pointed at the ground, they use it ‘like a blind person's walking stick.’ We tried to get some pictures, but the lighting was extremely poor, as kiwis are nocturnal and the area must be kept pretty dark. However, it was light enough that we saw two kiwis attempting to create more kiwi eggs! Looks like their breeding program is in full swing… hehe! :P
The other animals we spotted that night were some white heron and a couple local New Zealand owls. We took the bus back to city center and walked back to our prison hostel. Since we had such a late start that day, we were still full from the sushi and bento box we grabbed for lunch after my nails were finished and skipped dinner.
The next day we spent in town again, I got my eyebrows waxed and decided to purchase a new hair set (shampoo, conditioner, gel, and leave-in conditioner) by Redken specifically for curly hair. We managed to get a $20 discount for bringing in my old (then empty) shampoo and conditioner bottles. But we had to bring them in to get the discount! We walked all the way back to our hostel, and while I got on the phone booking our next Stray bus and hostels, Henk went all the way back to town to get my hair set. That’s a good 2 hour walk to save $20 NZD! But we are taking advantage of all the discounts we can get. :P Henk also picked up some chicken and beef teriyaki takeaway, and managed to get some free sushi! (Because he’s so cute, of course!)
That night we had a couple movies playing in the background, but focused on getting our bags packed. We had an early departure on an Atomic Shuttle the next morning – taking us back to Greymouth!
See ya everyone!
Francesca
Since Addington was in operation for more than 100 years, it makes sense that the jail was left with many prison ‘collectibles’ before its conversion to a backpacker hostel. Thus there is a small room filled with museum-worthy mementos from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Henk and I ended up in Cell 18, all the way at the end of the prison’s upstairs hall. Our room has been modernized, the walls painted a crisp, fresh white and outfitted with a TV/DVD player, but there are many signs that we’re sleeping in a former prison cell. Our window still has bars to keep us inside, and it is high enough in the room that I need to stand on the bed to see the outside world from it. The ceilings themselves are high as well, with thick walls keeping us in. Plus, the door to our room is extremely thick and heavy itself—and still has the (now blocked off however) prison guard ‘window’ built in to keep an eye on inmates inside. From inside our cell, we can hear the echo of other ‘inmates’ walking the halls outside clearly; there are thick walls, but not much soundproofing. I guess for a prison, that makes sense. :P
Two doors down from us is Cell 20, a cell kept in its original state, complete with ‘prisoner artwork’ (mostly sketches of naked women) and two former prison beds. It’s so strange to stand inside a former prison cell, thinking of the hundreds of people who lived their days locked up in a room like this.
Around the hostel are various signs warning us new ‘inmates’ to behave, or face solitary confinement. On our first walk through the prison to explore, Henk and I found this creepy little room, also left in its original condition – original working condition, as well! Henk sneakily locked me into solitary for a minute, and I had no way of getting out! o.o
Our first night in jail, Henk and I decided to get in the ‘mood’ by grabbing some Dominoes Pizza (better than bread and water!) and watching Clint Eastwood in ‘Escape from Alcatraz’ in the prison cinema. The movie was projected out onto our large ‘screen’: the prison walls! Watching the movie made me think of the inmates that used to reside here in Addington, and how they would have tried to escape from the building we are in. I later learned that many tried to escape from here by climbing the wall surrounding the yard, only to fall and serve more time with the addition of a broken leg. Others did manage to get out, only to be discovered by local farmers and brought back.
The only downside about our confinement in prison is that we’re obviously a bit outside from the city of Christchurch itself – but only by a 40 minute walk! (We’re used to walking by now.) The next morning we explored the city, and quickly saw that there wasn’t too much to do. There were things such as a tram and gondola ride, but nothing too spectacular. We did pop into the large church in the city center for a look around. That night I helped Henk make another one of his great pasta dishes – this one included spicy chorizo sausage pieces! I enjoyed learning from him, and we decided I was going to ‘design’ our meal for the next night!
Sunday morning we decided to stay in and watch some more prison/gangster movies, such as Midnight Express and Scarface – neither of which I had seen before! Our only venture out was to the supermarket, where we picked up the ingredients for our dinner: chicken, more pasta sauce, lemon, and mushrooms, plus some cinnamon buns and chocolate milk for breakfast! That night I was excited to really cook for the very first time! I sautéed mushrooms and onions, along with a sweet mixture of raisins, peanuts, and apple to top our pasta. Henk made our chicken and pasta (because raw chicken is gross! :P hehe) and then we combined our ingredients into a delicious dish.
After a quiet weekend, we planned something exciting: seeing live kiwi birds! Less than 50% of New Zealanders have seen a live kiwi (despite calling themselves ‘Kiwis’) – but we weren’t going to leave this country without spotting one! So I booked us in for a nighttime nature tour at Willowbank Reserve, where they recover and protect kiwi eggs and have a kiwi breeding program. Oh! Before our nighttime tour, I got my nails done by a Thai woman who declared that my nails were so beautiful, it was a necessity she decorate them with free nail art!
Anyways, our tour that night began with some eels, which Henk and I got to touch! So slimy! Our guide, who we vaguely remember being named Shannon, or something similar, asked if anyone had ever eaten eel. I had, and I told everyone it was actually quite tasty! Next we went through an area with a bunch of Kea birds. We were familiar with these rubber-eating birds, but our guide informed us something new; Keas have the intelligence of a 7-year-old child! They displayed this by being extremely forward, jumping right onto Henk’s shoulder, and eating honey off of the spoon I held.
Kunekune pigs were next! These things were kinda creepy looking, and huge! They almost looked like some sort of ancient pig.
Finally, we arrived at the highlight of the night: the kiwi birds. There were seven birds altogether, and we had to be super quiet so we wouldn’t scare them too much. Kiwis have extremely poor vision, but a heightened sense of smell. Their long beaks have nostrils at the very tips, and by keeping their nose pointed at the ground, they use it ‘like a blind person's walking stick.’ We tried to get some pictures, but the lighting was extremely poor, as kiwis are nocturnal and the area must be kept pretty dark. However, it was light enough that we saw two kiwis attempting to create more kiwi eggs! Looks like their breeding program is in full swing… hehe! :P
The other animals we spotted that night were some white heron and a couple local New Zealand owls. We took the bus back to city center and walked back to our prison hostel. Since we had such a late start that day, we were still full from the sushi and bento box we grabbed for lunch after my nails were finished and skipped dinner.
The next day we spent in town again, I got my eyebrows waxed and decided to purchase a new hair set (shampoo, conditioner, gel, and leave-in conditioner) by Redken specifically for curly hair. We managed to get a $20 discount for bringing in my old (then empty) shampoo and conditioner bottles. But we had to bring them in to get the discount! We walked all the way back to our hostel, and while I got on the phone booking our next Stray bus and hostels, Henk went all the way back to town to get my hair set. That’s a good 2 hour walk to save $20 NZD! But we are taking advantage of all the discounts we can get. :P Henk also picked up some chicken and beef teriyaki takeaway, and managed to get some free sushi! (Because he’s so cute, of course!)
That night we had a couple movies playing in the background, but focused on getting our bags packed. We had an early departure on an Atomic Shuttle the next morning – taking us back to Greymouth!
See ya everyone!
Francesca
