Christchurch: the city under construction

It is time I start to review and organise all my pictures and videos from my trip to New Zealand (in the summer of 2015). And since I have to do that, it may well be a good time to review and write about the trip in here. It's been too long since I last wrote, and the other day I started to have problems to remember everything we did and when we did it, so that was the first alarming sign telling me "you need to write that shit down, gurl!". So yup, let's go.

Christchurch: the city under construction

In total, from all the time I spent in NZ last summer (1 month and a week, approx.), I slept 3 nights but only spent/enjoyed 2 evenings in the city, so I didn't get to know the city a lot, but I can say some things. Also, thanks to the course I took, I had the chance to visit some sites around Christchurch (also written as Chch), so yeah, it's something. Let's start with the basics (and a bit of copy-paste from the Christchurch's entry in Wikipedia):

Christchurch (Ōtautahi in Māori) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. The Christchurch urban area lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula. It is home to 381,800 residents, making it New Zealand's third most-populous urban area behind Auckland and Wellington.

Don't know if you know, but Chch was hit by three earthquakes in 2010 and 2011, the one on February 22, 2011, is considered the nation's 3rd deadliest natural disaster in history. The city collapsed due to that tremor, and this is the reason why Chch is now a city under construction, literally. You get a weird feeling when you walk around the city center. It's really sad because it reminds you of all the suffering and pain its people must have been through, and you can also perceive all the memories and history that have been lost. I was shocked when I first arrived because you could find parking places almost everywhere, I guess where there had been a building before. And now there only were huge solars destined for parking...

Christchurch cathedral (upper right image, images below)

New Zealand islands: north vs. south!

Nowadays, more or less everyone has to work, lives on a tight schedule and doesn't have a lot of holidays. Therefore, if you have the chance to go to the other side of the world, in this case New Zealand (NZ), it's almost certain that you will have to choose to visit only one of the islands of the country. Sorry, I mean, if you want to travel a bit and spend time on each place you visit. Of course, you can always fly from one point to the other, take a picture and go home, but that's not what I mean. :) Anyway, if you are trying to choose, some will say that the South Island is the best, and others will be like "how can you miss the north one!?". Well, it's a pity but shit (or life) happens. How to choose? Of course, it depends on what are you looking for and what you are more interested in. And, here, I'm going to try and shed some light on "what you will find and can do in each place" so you can be happy and confident of your final decision.

Destination New Zealand: some tips

Jeremy Rebboh in Panoramio

I've had the chance to, finally, travel to New Zealand, after a long time wishing for it to happen. So when I realized I was going to fulfill one of my biggest dreams in life... I had to decide where to go, what to see, what to do, and how much time I could spend in there (sometimes you have to limit yourself). So, after a really good trip, I wanted to share my choices, experiences and thoughts, hoping they can be helpful for someone else. And here I start with a bit of a general introduction and some tips!

Rejse rundt Samsø (Viatjant per Samsø)

I aquest post va... de com és l'illa de Samsø, estèticament parlant (podem oblidar la tecnologia per una estona)! Ja que hi vam passar un cap de setmana sencer, vam aprofitar per fer una mica de sightseeing. No hi ha res que sigui especial, és com la resta de Dinamarca: ben pla! Però segueix sent bonic, i feia tan bon temps... ^^ (algunes fotos estan fetes des de l'autocar... es nota!)

Fotos del ferry, i alguns dels camps de Samsø, sempre amb els molins de fons.

Samsø, un exemple de comunitat sostenible i autosuficient

Bé, doncs... sí, l'últim cap de setmana de maig vaig complir el meu antic i anhelat desig de visitar Samsø, una illa situada al centre de Dinamarca. Aquesta visita va ser possible (gratis!) gràcies a la Universitat de Copenhagen i als professors del curs d'Energy Systems and Climate Mitigation. Així doncs, la meva visita a l'illa va ser amb la universitat, i no podia ser més completa.

El viatge (i transport) en sí mateix, per arribar a l'illa, ja és una odissea. Una persona normal sense cotxe (i sense comptar l'autocar proveït per la universitat, que va ser el meu cas) hauria d'agafar tren (des de Copenhagen Central Station fins a Kalundborg) i ferry (sortides des de Kalundborg) per arribar al port del sud-oest de l'illa, i, un cop allà, diferents autobusos per moure-s'hi. Només l'anada són unes 4-5 hores! Però el viatge val molt la pena, i més si un està interessat en temes d'energies renovables, sostenibilitat, i societat involucrada en el progrés i canvi d'una regió.

Un petit resum: a l'any 1997 Samsø va guanyar un concurs, proposat pel govern danès, que consistia en la conversió de tota una comunitat a un model energètic renovable i sostenible. Al 2007, 10 anys després, el 100% de l'energia consumida provenia d'energies renovables. Els detalls del projecte, de la revisió feta al 2007, i de les perspectives de futur, es poden trobar en aquest link i en aquest document (PDF) (en anglès).