Notes from the Sleepy Islands
[01] The sleepy town (by New Zealand standards, it would be called a “city”) of Christchurch is 2 hours ahead of Sydney. But if you think of time in another way, it’s 2 decades behind. It depends on your perspective.
[02] I flew into Christchurch on 4 February 2009. My flight touched down at 10:30pm. The 3 hour flight took off from Sydney at 5:30pm. Down under, discounted airlines don’t feed you unless you pay them. I’m not sure what they do in Europe. I was a little famished and expected the airport to have some eateries open for the famished traveller. No such luck. All they had available was a water fountain (we used to call them “bubblers” at school) and the odd vending machine. But all the Bank of New Zealand foreign exchange booths were open. All that money and nowhere to spend it!
[03] I caught the shuttle bus from the airport to my motel. Most motels provide their own shuttle bus service. It was 11pm by the time I got to the motel which was around 5 minutes from the airport. Not much by way of takeaway nearby other than what one could salvage from the 24 hour petrol station nearby. Even Pizza Hut delivery was shut.
[04] At the servo, I picked up a copy of the local broadsheet newspaper, called The Press. I occasionally write op-eds for this paper, usually fairly flippant light-hearted pieces about cricket or tourism advertisements or the various scandals Kiwis and Aussies share. The readers seem to enjoy reading an Aussie poking fun at his own, while I enjoy the hard cash The Press throw my way in return for each column.
[05] The day I left for Christchurch, the front page story of the Sydney Morning Herald was about the Australian government’s latest salvage or bailout package to protect us Aussies from what seems like an almost certain recession. There was detailed analysis of the facts and figures of the bailout, along with discussion of the economic impact and the political fallout. The Press (owned by the same company as the Herald) also had facts and figures on its front page, though judging by the paper here, people here don’t seem to perturbed about a possible recession. Instead, we had facts of figures of a sporting diva from Auckland named Vili who won the trophy of New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year for the second year running. Another front page story concerned a domestic cricketer who wouldn’t be playing in a Twenty-20 match that day. Us Aussies are far more money-hungry, and our Kiwi cousins just can’t get enough of their sport.
[06] The Press also carried such important international news as the White House’s attempt to crackdown on the misuse of the Obama brand – “Yes Pecan” ice cream, Obama chocolate lollipops, Obama lipstick and cigars (a bit too early to be plugging those, you’d think. At least wait for the first female intern to arrive) and even a product called “The Audacity of Soap”. So I had to fly all the way to Christchurch to learn this shit?
(first published Fri Feb 13 2009)
Words © 2009 Irfan Yusuf
[02] I flew into Christchurch on 4 February 2009. My flight touched down at 10:30pm. The 3 hour flight took off from Sydney at 5:30pm. Down under, discounted airlines don’t feed you unless you pay them. I’m not sure what they do in Europe. I was a little famished and expected the airport to have some eateries open for the famished traveller. No such luck. All they had available was a water fountain (we used to call them “bubblers” at school) and the odd vending machine. But all the Bank of New Zealand foreign exchange booths were open. All that money and nowhere to spend it!
[03] I caught the shuttle bus from the airport to my motel. Most motels provide their own shuttle bus service. It was 11pm by the time I got to the motel which was around 5 minutes from the airport. Not much by way of takeaway nearby other than what one could salvage from the 24 hour petrol station nearby. Even Pizza Hut delivery was shut.
[04] At the servo, I picked up a copy of the local broadsheet newspaper, called The Press. I occasionally write op-eds for this paper, usually fairly flippant light-hearted pieces about cricket or tourism advertisements or the various scandals Kiwis and Aussies share. The readers seem to enjoy reading an Aussie poking fun at his own, while I enjoy the hard cash The Press throw my way in return for each column.
[05] The day I left for Christchurch, the front page story of the Sydney Morning Herald was about the Australian government’s latest salvage or bailout package to protect us Aussies from what seems like an almost certain recession. There was detailed analysis of the facts and figures of the bailout, along with discussion of the economic impact and the political fallout. The Press (owned by the same company as the Herald) also had facts and figures on its front page, though judging by the paper here, people here don’t seem to perturbed about a possible recession. Instead, we had facts of figures of a sporting diva from Auckland named Vili who won the trophy of New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year for the second year running. Another front page story concerned a domestic cricketer who wouldn’t be playing in a Twenty-20 match that day. Us Aussies are far more money-hungry, and our Kiwi cousins just can’t get enough of their sport.
[06] The Press also carried such important international news as the White House’s attempt to crackdown on the misuse of the Obama brand – “Yes Pecan” ice cream, Obama chocolate lollipops, Obama lipstick and cigars (a bit too early to be plugging those, you’d think. At least wait for the first female intern to arrive) and even a product called “The Audacity of Soap”. So I had to fly all the way to Christchurch to learn this shit?
(first published Fri Feb 13 2009)
Words © 2009 Irfan Yusuf
posted by Irf at
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
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