Christchurch

So here we are. The final blog entry of the tour. I sit here in the airport writing this entry and technically the tour is now finished and we are sadly on our way home. The experience is really one we will remember for ever - we have all grown in our own way, but most importantly we have grown as a choir. We all have our own experiences, but also some truly fantastic group experiences which I know I will certainly never forget.

The last entry finished in Dunedin and since then we’ve seen some truly magnificent sights. The bus journey to Christchurch, was extremely long, but all together worth it as we saw some of the most amazing sights New Zealand has to offer. Mt Cook, known to the Maoris as “cloud piercer”, was one of the highlights, if not for the overcast weather playing against us once more. The journey continued to our main stop-off at Lake Tekapo, in which the choir was to do a short informal concert at the Church of the Good Shepard. Now this church you must understand, is the smallest church I think it is possible to have. It could not have been bigger than my room back in England, and fit a maximum of 50 people. Now, considering that there are 43 people in the choir, which pretty much filled the church, the audience was forced to be as small as possible. Though it was a full house! The semi chorus performed The Lamb and If ye love me, as well as an even further reduced Ave Verum Corpus, which apart from a couple of intimate tuning issues went exactly as one would expect. The full choir then got up and performed Steal Away and Hamba Lulu, which, considering the size of the church, must have seemed very impressive. Another thing I must note is however small the church was, the setting looking out on to Lake Tekapo is probably unmatched by any church in the world. The lake was beautifully clear and reflected the green hills behind it. I shan’t go into details, as there will be a picture posted, and it can sure do a better job of describing the lake’s beauty than me!

Following the short concert, the Bus was once again loaded with the choir and off it went on the rest of the journey to Christchurch. The scenery passing was constantly jaw dropping and anyone who missed out on the oppertunity to look at this scenery has missed a truly amazing part of the tour. Personally, however long the journey is, the best way to pass the time is simply to put on the Ipod and watch the scenery slide by as every single moment seemed to take your breath away. The journey did not seem very long as it was cleverly broken up with enough stops so as to not get too tedious. So suddenly we were there, being greated outside the oddly English Christ's College by our hosts for the rest of our stay in New Zealand.

Christchurch was a most intriguing town. The buildings in the centre of town were very English in style, but the atmosphere was distinctly New Zealand. People seemed to be entirely content with sitting and watching the various performers or look at the stalls that were there every day. My favourite part of the city had to be the Arts centre, in which it had many cafes and shops to look at, and even a fudge shop, which seemed to be lifted straight out of a dream, with lovely old ladies handing you delicious pieces of fudge as they talked to you lovingly about your day. Some of us were more than happy to sing a reduced riu riu chiu (in exchange for some more fudge of course), but for the whole weekend they were distinctly accommodating as we all made a trip to bring back fudge for our family. I must remind the family at home that lots of fudge went .....missing.... throughout the stay there, so don’t get your hopes up. Christ's College itself also seemed to be lifted out of a dream. It came across to me as though this school was like the OC (tv show) of New Zealand, except without Misha Barton. Saying that though, everyone from the choir were always very nice to us, and making sure we were always feeling at home. They always made a point to talk to us, and include us in whatever they were doing.

The following morning we were all droppped of by our hosts at school bright and early, ready for an early morning rehearsal for the upcoming concert in Christ Church Cathedral. After this two hour rehearsal we were introduced to the Arts centre and then to the Botanical gardens right next to Christs college. These were beautiful indeed but I won't go into detail about it as it pales in comparison to Kew Gardens back home. After this we were led into the centre of town, in which we were to spend our free time. The shopping around the area was very touristy, with stalls as I’ve already described, and then all the types of shops you would want in every direction. The one thing that was not easy to find was somewhere to eat that wasn’t fast food or a cafe! Standing at a set of traffic lights, I could see a Burger King, Mcdonald’s, Subway, KFC, and a Starbucks. No doubt every treble's dream, but most of the ATB had to search a little harder to find a restaurant with a little more sophistication. Eventually we found a nice little Japanese which catered very well to our rumbling stomachs at a very good price. After that we explored the city in our own groups, trying to find the best deals and what not, but a small group of us was drawn towards the park, in which we threw a frisbee. I must admit here, that in an attempt to take a shortcut back to Christ's College, I accidentally lead myself and another innocent bystander of the choir on the longest possible route back to the college. Something I do not regret, as we most definately saw areas of Christchurch which others did not - especially the council-run Hagley Park, which hosted various sports and activities for people to enjoy at their leisure. Upon arriving we were treated to a quick dinner and a rehearsal with the college’s choir and a great performance of O magnum mysterium by their chamber choir.

That night most of the choir was treated to the Super 14 rugby match at the Westpack Stadium where the local team, the Crusaders, were hosting Wellington’s Hurricanes. I sadly did not go, but watched on my host’s TV as the Crusaders lost to the Hurricanes for the first time in a fair few years. Good thing I had already chosen the Hurricanes as my team after seeing them in Wellington with my other host!

The next day we were left to our own devices with our hosts until 2.30. I was delighted to be given the opportunity to go sailing with David at Lyttleton Harbour. The wind started off quite soft, but by the end it was very strong, and the waves had grown very high. Needless to say that by the end of the time on water, we had all capsized, some more than others... After this it was straight off to rehearsal at the Cathedral, which would turn out to be our best concert of the tour. Featuring in this concert was the Chichester Psalms, The Tippett Spirituals, Ave Verum Corpus, Salvator Mundi, and Rejoice in the Lamb. Sadly I was ill for this concert, but watching from the sidelines was a great experience to here the truly incredible sound that is now being produced from the choir. After this concert very little happened as the storm that had been growing all day finally hit Christchurch, with gale-force winds, and buckets of rain, meaning that we were all grounded.

The next day, was our last full day in New Zealand, and I had the amazing opportunity to go and see a spotted Kiwi in at Westfield centre. I thoroughly enjoyed this morning - I got to see many animals that I have never seen before, including an Alpaca, which I was personally very excited about (largely down to the Emperor's New Groove, but none the less, love those animals!). But the highlight was definitely seeing these Kiwis up close. We went into this room where it was dark during our daytime, and light during the night, so that we can see them actually moving around and generally enjoying themselves. These Kiwis were really big as well, it was so amazing to see these endangoured in their “natural” environment. After this we had to quickly move on to the Cathedral for the evensong rehearsal, which I was able to sing in, and which went very well. It was great to have our last two concerts in the most prestigous place we could sing in New Zealand, and also perform better than we have for the entire tour.

So sadly on Monday morning we had to depart from our hosts in Christ's College after singing in their morning service at Chapel. We then drove out of the city to Akeroae, where they had a “beach”. To be honest, this beach was more something that you would see in Wales. Not really much sand, mostly rocky and uneven, so generally unuseful in every way. But the weather was really incredible, and the views on to the Lake at Akakura was really magnificent. A couple of the guys had the opportunity to go kayaking, but most spent their time trying to fit in one last meal before getting onto the plane and not eating properly for the next 30 hours. At two, we were all back on the bus and heading back to Christchurch to the Antarctic Centre just outside the airport. The main attractions here were seeing the cutest of small blue penguins which have been rescued from the wild either because they are blind or have broken wings, so unable to survive in the wild. The other interesting attraction was the storm room. We were dressed up in big coats and all went into this room which was a simulation of a typical summers day in the arctic. Starting off at a mild -8 degrees, it gradually lowered with the winds picking up, making it down to about minus sixteen with windchill. Some of the boys were stupid - I mean brave enough - to go through the entire thing with just their shorts and t-shirt. Parents, you are forewarned. The final attraction was the Hagland ride, in which you were taken around an offroad course in which the vehicle’s features were put to great effect as we went up and down hills, over gaps, and even waded through chest deep water!

So then we are back to where we started this somewhat long blog entry. Back in the airport, the tour all but over and the last note of riu riu chiu still ringing in our ears. It really has been a once in a life time experience which I have enjoyed massively. New Zealand has been very kind to us and everyone has been exceptionally welcoming to us all. Everyone has loved their hosts who have all been amazing towards us and we can’t even begin to thank them for all the things they have done for us. Most especially all of the boys would like to thank the members of staff who made this possible: Mrs Foden, Mrs White, Mr Ferris, and especially Mr Toyne, for giving us the experiance of a lifetime. We really do owe all of you so much thanks.

From the plane above Los Angeles

Matthew Parker (U6)