Kaikoura.
A rugged peninsula that looks more like a bosom with an extended nipple or a skin tag than a peninsula to my mind!
It is midway between Christchurch and Picton on our drive North toward the ferry and our leaving of the South Island.
The name means ‘meal of Crayfish’ and when Captain Cook sailed passed it he called it Lookers On because the local Maori were unsure and did just that.The first European settlers arrived in 1842 and hunted the whales, nowadays they still hunt for them but just to show these creatures off to the visiting tourists which has led to a boom of different sorts to the original settlers.
The main whales are the toothed, sperm whales which hunt their prey unlike the baleen whales which feed by filtering plankton from the seas.Orcas and many dolphin species can also be seen due to the mixing of warm and cold ocean currents forcing nutrients to the surface.
Our own feeding was catered by a beachside BBQ wagon where Maureen had a whitebait pattie and Vick and I enjoyed a superb Blue cod burger which consisted of two large pieces of beautiful tasting white fish with mixed salad with ginger dressing topped off with tartare sauce in a burger bap.Ace!!
Just on from here past Fyffe House a quaint pink colonial cottage from the whaling days is a point where we were able to get close to a colony of seals that drew a large number of visitors.You are told not to get closer than 10m to them as they can become quite aggressive especially if there are young around.They seemed to split into 2 types those that could not give a toss and continued to ignore you and sleep and those that were put out by you intrusion who decided to make their way back to the sea in their rather cumbersome manner but when they hit the water their true agility is demonstrated.
Driving northwards about 30 km there are a series of seal colonies that can be seen from the road.

Christchurch

Canterbury Plains and Christchurch
This is where the Pacific Ocean meets the fertile Canterbury Plains and with the backdrop of the magnificient Southern Alps which gives stunning vistas.Christchurch is its centre and is a city recovering from two terrible natural disasters in a short space of time.
Christchurch had a long history of pre European settlement with the Ngai Tahu the major tribe.Then in 1850 the first four ships arrived in what was to become Lyttleton Harbour.
Christchurch city’s parks and gardens are generally easy strolls on the flat and the big one is called Hagley Park , accessible from a number of entrances and tree lined avenues take you past ornate fountains and sports fields.The River Avon flows through it and the ducks and the punts on the river give it a typical British feel.The Botanic gardens hasa number of sections given over to native plants and the plants we are so accustomed to seeing in our own gardens.A thirty minute punt ride allows you to sit back as an ‘authentic Edwardian’ gently takes you down along the shallow river but at $25 each was one we decided to give a miss.
Christchurch’s main shopping area in the centre was heavily damaged in the two earthquakes but the High St has recovered thankfully with the use of shipping containers as temporary shopping facilities and believe me they look really neat and produce an interesting mix of types of shops.
The central core or red zone is all fenced off whilst demolition continues and a number of buildings outside of this are still caged off and access allowed only under exceptional circumstances.
The focus of attention is what is to happen to the iconic Christchurch cathedral which was built during the Late Victorian period in a gothic revival style with stone quarried from Port Hills It dominated the Cathedral square and contained many works of art that recorded the history of Canterbury,such as Antarctic exploration and involvement in the World Wars.
Other features of the square were the Old Chief Post Office, the former Government Building and a statue of John Robert Godley who is regarded as the father of the Canterbury settlement.As the founder with Edward Gibbon Wakefield of the New Zealand Company the Canterbury association purchased nearly 500 square miles of land under the Church of England dominated province.A slice of England transplanted on to New Zealand shored described as respectable Canterbury Pilgrims who set out on the 4 ships ,Randolph,Charlotte Jane, Cressy and Sir George Seymour.He didn’t stick around , returning to Englamd in 1852.His statue used to stand in front of the cathedral and the steps in front of the cathedral was the site for many street performers including Christchurch’s wizard who used to cast spells and generally pontificate on various issues.He is now leading a campaign to get the cathedral restored after the last quake in February 2011.The statue of Robert Godley lies in a very moving memorial to the quake in the Canterbury Museum awaiting its resiting when the remedial works to the city centre have been decided and completed.
The Arts Centre was located in the Old University of Canterbury buildings on Worcester Boulevard was the home of 40 galleries, studios and shops .It was begun in 1877 and designed by a series of architects the buildings linked by quadrangles and cloisters.It reminded me very much of my old school buildings of the same style and it was a shame to see the damage to these lovely buildings but heartening to see the restoration work being carried out with some of the most serious forms of scaffolding and structural support I have ever seen. Although this is out of the red zone all of it is currently out of bounds behind the security fencing.
The Gothic Canterbury Museum fortunately seems to have avoided the worst of the damage perhaps by being further away from the central cathedral square is well worth seeing to catch up on Maori culture,a 19th reconstruction of a Christchurch street scene with all types of shops and offices,furniture and various objects from Birmingham and the Potteries districts well represented.
A moving exhibit relating to the earthquakes is also present which tries to help the healing process by telling the story of the way the city and its people have come to terms with what has happened to it.A number of the pieces include the Godley statue,the spire of the cathedral, and the Lyttleton Timeball which was a huge blackball that hung from the Tower of the Lyttleton Timeball Station that was lowered daily at 1pm to signal Greenwich Mean Time to ships in the harbour.The girls really enjoyed a fashion exhibit called the WOW, wearable of the wall fashion with all sorts of styles, my favourite was the two budgie bra made from twin stuffed bosom pals!
A note regarding my obsession with parking, normally I resent paying for parking which I consider gives me nothing for the money I pay.Parking in most places in New Zealand comes free for mostly up to a couple of hours but in Christchurch you generally have to pay in the centre and with all the newly created free space this is a large car park city but I don’t mind paying here so long as the money goes to helping the city regenerate.I would also like to pay tribute to the patient parking warden who allowed us time to reapply our parking ticket to the car after running back to the car just as the ticket expired, good on you Mate……Coogee please take note!!

Dunedin

We had a long drive from Wanaka to Dunedin , backtracking to Cromwell before stopping off  to see Clyde where Lake Dunstan had been formed by a dam on the Clutha river .This caused the old town of Cromwell to be removed and resited to its present position including some of its original buildings.

We drove on through  to the central Otago town of Alexandra where we took the northern route to bring us to Dunedin via a loop that went north to Ranfurly and then southward to Palmerston eventually entering  Dunedin from the north.

The land of the central region was very reminiscent of the Penine moorlands with sheep dotted all over which then gives way to fertile farmland as you get closer to the eastern coats which gets extra rainfall to account for the greener appearance.

Dunedin’s heyday was as a gold rush city and was the country’s commercial centre in the 1860’s.The city centre is relatively flat but is surrounded by hills giving good views of the city and the harbour.The close historical links with Edinburgh  of which Dunedin is the Gaelic form include many street names and street layouts also includes the ever present bagpiper

The centre piece of the city is the Octagon which is the centre of ‘New Edinburgh’ as surveyed by the Edinburgh based surveyors.One hundred and sixty five years later it continues to fulfil that  role all overlooked by a statue of Robert Burns erected in front of the St Pauls Cathedral which had his nephew as the first spiritual leader to the first group of Scottish settlers who came here in 1848.

Next to the Cathedral are the Municipal Chambers which were completed in 1880 and which after considerable restoration and refurbishment is now the home to the Council  and has a number of reception rooms and is the site of the Visitor Centre.

Another feature of the Octagon is the Public Art gallery which is modern but designed to fit in with the other heritage buildings.A range of art is displayed from early renaissance,Dutch and some preRaphehlite pieces to contemporary and traditional  Maori artwork.

Perhaps the highlight of the city’s architecture is the Railway Station which is one of the country’s finest heritage buildings.It’s not large by international standards but its proportions give it an aire of grandeur.Built in a Flemish renaissance style it opened in 1906 its stonework has a distinctive contrasting detail of Beige Oamaru limestone,Central Otago Bluestone and finely polished Aberdeen granite columns.To my mind the whole thing is a bit of a mix of elements and features, almost like a catalogue for future buildings.I would have expected a symmetrical design but it includes a clock tower , a turret, a single story extension and a rounded return at the other end all with a two storey façade,loggia and portico main entrance. It’s the inside that really takes over though with impressive staircase, stained glass windows  and ornately tile decorated ticket windows and a Royal Doulton tiled floor that contains 725,000 porcelain squares forming images of engines, rolling stock and the New Zealand Railways logo.The station is still a functioning station and is the terminus for visiting the Taieri Gorge Railway which is a 77km four hour trip cutting through 10 tunnels, crossing bridges and viaducts over the Taieri River.

Arrowtown

This picturesque well preserved goldmining town from the 1860’s is at the foot of rugged hills about 20km from Queenstown.In 1862 a small group of miners found gold in the Fox River and within weeks had recovered 250lb of it.Now at todays prices that makes a tidy some of money for a few weeks work.No wonder the population of this little place shot up from nothing to 7000 on the hopes of striking it rich. It is also one of the few towns that didn’t become a ghost town when the good times came to an end and it is one that actually has managed to avoid modern development from its heart.

The tree lined main street has many old colonial buildings and you can let your imagination run away with ideas of claimholders paying in their finds to the bank and then going on to the many hostelries to enjoy the results of their labours before heading back to their small cottages to sleep it off.The town had its share of dubious characters who made a living off these prospectors

Arrowtown is also the site where Chinese miners are remembered for the parts they played in the early days of New Zealand.After the European miners had moved on after taking most of the spoils the Chinese , mainly from Southern China moved in to have their go at making a new prosperous life for themselves and their family sponsors back at home.The Chinese settlement here is a group of buildings that have been preserved as part of the attempts of the NZ government to make amends for the racism these people suffered during their stay.

I like to take a look through the cemeteries of these places because you gain a flavour of where the people came from and they give you some quite moving insights into how harsh and difficult life must have been for those early pioneers.I was interested to find no presence of the Chinese here and discovered that this was because they had been repatriated back to their homelands.It was a shame to discover that the last 500 never made it because the ship carrying their remains sank on its voyage back to China.

The Ford of Rivendell in the Lord Of The Rings story is the scene where the Great East Road crossed the River bruinen and under the power of Eldrond could be raised at will to repel unwanted visitors.

The film site is only just behind the centre of the village and is the scene where Anven ferried Frodo across the the river on her horse before calling up a magical flood to wash away the pursuing Nazgul horseman.In actual fact whilst filming the Fellowship of the Rings a flash flood did actually wash away part of the film set….spooky or what?

Wanaka

Lake Wanaka

After spending 5 lovely days in the Lakeside apartment we moved onto Lake Wanaka,well actually the small township called Albert Town which is about 4km away from the lake.The town is obviously the area designated for more affordable housing compared with up and coming Wanaka which has not yet got the eventladen qualities of Queenstown.Vicky and Maureen both preferred Queenstown but I liked Wanaka’s laid back easy going feel but perhaps it was the age thing again.Wanaka looks like the sort of town that wealthy Harley Davidson owners would frequent whilst Queenstown is more for the younger set.

Our stay here was our first taste of the New Zealand ‘Bach’ experience, this could be best described as anything between a shed and a high end mobile lodge, unfortunately ours was the former with furnishings not by Habitat more like the Salvation Army thrift store!

Anyway it was our base for 5 nights and our first really ropey bed that gave me some problems with my back that I was worried might interfere with my driving.However liberal use of ibuprofen,Sassy Red Beer and the  Tiger Balm purchased in Singapore proved to be a good cure.

We tried to spend as much time out of the cottage as possible although the girls said that they thought the place wasn’t as bad as I did.They visited Puzzle World , a mixture of visual illusion and puzzles whilst I drove around the lake looking at the property market .My idea of visual illusions I suppose.

Lake Wanaka is a smaller lake than Wakatipu and for that reason I found it to be more ‘homely’. Certainly a more liveable proposition ,with a full range of facilities which even included a boutique cinema which showed three different films a day in a range of seating options from floor cushions,lazybory recliners,2 &3 seater sofas and even a Morris minor convertible with its top removed.We saw Steven Speilberg’s Warhorse there which I have to say was a bit of a let down.

Author’s Note   am currently typing this in Christchurch where we are experiencing our first powerout so I am finding it very difficult to see my keyboard.Our host has just called in to see if we were ok and said sometimes happens if a car hits a powerpole or well we are in an earthquake zone!! 

Milford Sound, really a Fjord

 

An early morning start was required for this drive but we were treated to the sight of mist rising in the early morning sun.Until the early 1950's the only way to visit the Milford Sound was by boat or via the Milford Track.Today bus loads of tourists arrive daily to take the nearly two hour boat cruises down the sound.
There are plans to build a tunnel under the mountain range reducing the length of the journey to a very attractive 11 mile detour from Paradise or Glenorchy but at what cost to the lives enjoyed by the residents of these small townships.

Te Anau on the south eastern shoreline of the lake of the same name is Fjordland's commercial centre and the lake is the South Island's largest lake nearly 38 miles long and is 1370 feet deep in parts due to the glacial activity.It is a popular fishing and boating centre.Small boats can take you to see limestone caverns which are the home to thousands of glowworms.

The Chasm..the Cleddau river drops 72 feet

the road from Te Anau to Milford has earned world heritage staus for its epic scenery.This includes lush rainforest ,lakeside forestry, rugged mountains and cascading mountain rivers and waterfalls.
The proposed tunnel may whisk tourists quickly to Milford sound but they will be missing out on one very special drive if they take the short option.

At the end of a long day we were treated to some of the best sunsets we had seen on the trip so far.

Glenorchy and Paradise

A couple of welcoming female orcs?

Glenorchy is very big in the Lord of the Rings as it nestles at the northern end of Lake Wakatipu, surrounded by the snow capped Misty Mountains of the story.It wasn't until late 1862 that settlers arrived followed by about 3000 european gold prospectors who turned up to not find very much and soon moved on.It stayed pretty much wildness country until 1980 when about 50 prospectors mined for scheelite an ore used to make weapons grade tungsten finally gave up.So it stayed until it was rediscovered by Peter Jackson in 1999 when he was looking for a location for Middle Earth.We discovered a female pair of would be orcs welcoming us to the area.