Spring 2003

Flying south-east at 877 km/h

Katharia has just finished school and now does a one year work&travel holiday in New Zealand.

The plane that took us from Sydney to Christchurch (photo taken in Sydney).

My first room in flat 45 of Ilam Village, untidy as always. The wall on the right is naked concrete, without paint or whatsoever. Besides that, the room was awesome and very spacious.

SPAM, the eponym for spam eMails and, unfortunately, not sold in Germany.

Christchurch cathedral with the small police station.

Another photo from the perspective that is chosen for the $10 tourist...err...visitor photos. I never saw anyone buy a photo from the poor photographer!

Sumner Beach - the clouds and New Brighton beach (landmass in the background) looked a lot more beautiful in real life than on the photo!

Part of the University of Canterbury Students' Association (UCSA)'s cafeteria, and the 'Sweet Hearts' (now renamed to 'The Sparrows') that were playing there.

My office at uni.

Nice view from the Port Hills over Christchurch. The photo does not fully reveal the true beauty of the mountains that rise in the background, towering high above the Canterbury Plains.

Christchurch's harbour Lyttleton Harbour, which is separated from Christchurch by the Port Hills, forming the beginning of the Banks Peninsula. The facilities are mostly concealed in the lower foreground.

The small bay in the right background is Diamond Harbour.

View over Christchurch, with mountains in the background.

Us three trampers: Katharina, me and Duncan.

Two germans at a birthday party, hosted by Naomi (on the left). She is 50% german and 50% japanese.

Delicious food...

...for more than 90...

...hungry Snowboarders.

Always remember to drink enough during sports!

Dave devotedly stirrs the vanilla custard.

More winter sportspeople.

Cheers!

Dress-up for the party in the evening...

...even featuring a band!

Dancers

View out of the window (I didn't want to expose my camera to the cold).

Snow

Skiers

Reminds me of "Lord of the Rings"!

Rugby: Canterbury vs. Wellington in Christchurch's Jade Stadium.

The Stein 2003 with 2500 Studenten, lots of sun and good music.

the crowd

T Shirt Slogans, a trademark of "The Stein"

beautiful long-term summer weather

Drink supplies for the Ilam Village BBQ

Alina, Martin and others (in the lower right: my left foot ;-) )

Exchange students

more of them

Julien

SWR1 (a german radio station) called during the break of a champions league soccer game (VfB Stuttgart vs. Panathinaikos Athen). Volker (on the phone) was thus extremely nervous.

Lift 42 that goes to my flat...

Christian on New Brighton beach (a suburb of Christchurch)

On the Port Hills again

Julia had heard of my homepage through Katja and then sent me an eMail when she was in Christchurch for a couple days.

Fireworks started from New Brighton's pier, celebarting Fawkes Night on the 5th of November.

Sheep and mountains

Mountains and long white clouds

the road ahead (towards Arthur's Pass)

Mountain lake

my car

more mountains

Nice limestone rock formations near castle hill, with the snow glittering in the sun. What a pity that my camera was unable to adequately capture the sun's reflections on the snow!

Oops, I should have thought of that earlier...luckily, I got away with it.

beautiful landscape

Forest and Snow (also glittering nicely)

Typically dark NZ cows, with sheep and mountains in the background

more mountains and more long white clouds

mooh!

One of the many one lane bridges

At cave stream scenic reserve, where one can cross the mountain through a cave in about an hour. The water is bitterly cold, though!

sign with shadow

View onto the outlet end of the cave, the recommended entrance

a bit further to the right

Two germans on their way into the cave

On our way to Kaikoura

a beach

smooth stones

nice rocks

Christian

Tobias

View onto the sea through a gap

Boring beach in Kaikoura

One of the many typical Cabbage Trees, resembling palm trees but not too closely related, named after the taste of an edible part.

Camping right in the centre of Kaikoura; it's not quite as idyllic as the photo suggests, though: there is a highway just to the right of this picture.

Rocky shore in Kaikoura; the world famous seal colony densely populates the area and hustles in front of the tourist's camera.

cragged rocks

yet another BBQ

Andy

awesome Southpark doll on the cupboard!

The tramping club's annual beach party

Meet the $100 man! - in the old university (now: Arts Centre), a small museum commemorates Rutherford, who researched there when he was still a nobody, and is now depicted on the highest valued bank note.