Christchurch - that seems English to me

I already had a lot of respect for the customs controls in Australia when I entered the country, but I was even more afraid of the customs controls in New Zealand before the trip.

On my last day in Adelaide, I packed all of my Australian souvenirs and things that I no longer need in New Zealand (e.g. Australian travel guide) into a package and sent them off to Germany. I was too worried that they would be confiscated from me when I entered New Zealand.

A double-sided A4 sheet (with very small print) had to be filled out during the flight. There were questions such as: How long you are staying in the country, whether you are bringing outdoor equipment with you, are you bringing food with you, which country you were in before, do you already have a return flight, have you touched any wild animals, are you bringing medication with you...

Everything had to be stated properly; if you were unsure, it was better to answer yes. After landing we went to the passport office and then the marathon started. The first customs officer was ready: “Did you declare something?”, “Yes”, “Then put them in the left row.” The left row was of course the longer row. The second officer continued: "What kind of food do you have with you? What outdoor equipment? What animals have you touched? Do you plan to stay in the country?" After I answered all the questions, I was given the yellow card (the choices were green, yellow and red) and was finally allowed to pick up my luggage from the conveyor belt, which had probably already made several rounds. After I had my luggage, I went to the next official. I gave him my yellow card and he asked me the same questions again. I was then allowed to move into the yellow row and all of my luggage was scanned again. If it was green I could have left straight away, if it was red my entire luggage would have been examined in detail... After the scanner I was allowed to leave the airport and take the bus into the city.

Taking the bus here is not very tourist-friendly. There are no announcements and no displays on the bus. The bus stop signs outside are very small and it is impossible to tell which stop you are at. Fortunately, there is modern technology that allowed me to keep track of exactly where I was and where I was getting off.

I then simply left my luggage at the hotel and went straight into the city. Directly opposite my small hotel is the old university (which is now used as a cultural center - with many small shops, galleries, cafes, cinema...) and in front of it was a stop for the old tram, which is now used as a hop on - hop off for tourists is being used. My first thought was: "It looks very English here!" When I read about the city in the travel guide that evening, it said: "Christchurch is the English city of New Zealand." Ahh yes, I was exactly right.