New Brighton and Woodend Beach

This past week, we went to 2 different beaches: New Brighton and Woodend. Both are about a 30 minute drive from where we live (mostly because of traffic not distance). New Brighton is a general area of where we'd like to move when our contract is up here at the University. I took some pictures and from the pictures New Brighton looks really nice, but we've discovered is really ghetto. We were told it was ghetto before we moved to NZ but couldn't understand why when it looks so nice.

Our plan for that afternoon was to go to the New Brighton Library so Andrew could study and I could take the kids to the library and the playground. I first took the kids into the library which is really nice, and Logan was being miserable so I decided to take them outside to the playground. The playground was deserted and it's Ocean front and really nice. We were having an ok time except for Logan being miserable and then the junkie that decided to come and pass out on the picnic table at the children's playground. At the Countdown (the local supermarket) in New Brighton we've also noticed lots of gangs hanging around blasting their music and giving people a hard time as they enter/exit shops. I guess this is what people meant by ghetto. We still would like to move there, just to North or South New Brighton which is a 3 minute drive down the road and a totally different world. You still get beach minus the ghetto-ness. If the city put some money into central New Brighton, it could be a really nice tourist destination.

Yesterday we decided to go to a beach outside of Christchurch called Woodend to have a lunch picnic. It was a pretty nice day, a little drizzle (which stopped quickly) and about 15 degrees I'd say. We walked the short trail to the beach which reminded me a lot of an Ontario type trail and then we were at the beach. Ocean front, beautiful sand and not a single other person as far as we could see. Another couple eventually came and took a quick walk on the beach, but for the most part, we had this massive beach to ourselves. It was awesome!

I still can't believe you can go to the beach and it's not really ever busy. Right now they are empty because the water is polluted from the sewage from the earthquake. However even in summer, when everyone is at the beach, it's still never really busy.

For pictures from our beach adventures, check out the link on the right.