Month: February 2023

Sunday 26 February 2023

On the recommendation of friends, today we drive a little south to Blenheim for lunch. But first, on the recommendation of the same friends, we call into the tasting room of Lawson’s Dry Hills. We sniff and swirl, but don’t spit, some lovely wines and Delphine is extremely knowledgeable about the wines. I fear that she sometimes might, though, get confused about which is her car, so this is probably a good idea

Before heading to the restaurant we call into the supermarket for supplies for a light in-room snack this evening (2 apples, cheese). I believe I have previously mentioned that eggs were scarce. Just in case I scrambled that message, here’s a message from the supermarket

And then we go to the restaurant. Harvest is set in the most beautiful grounds

It’s a still day

and it’s sunny! We sit on the verandah of this gorgeous place and soak up the garden views. The service is great, variously supplied by a Dutchman, an American, a Brit from Bristol and a Japanese woman. We have met so many young tourists who work in hospitality – in NZ for a year and then they head to Australia for a year. And work is easy to find for them.

The food at Harvest is lovely – all cooked on a char grill. I’ve never had grilled mussels before and they were delicious. This is quite the best meal we have had in NZ, and such a beautiful setting. Thanks for the tip, Penny.

It takes us a couple of hours to finish the wine and we then wander, or is that weave, our way around the garden.

The lengths some young men will go to

for a bit of weed

We drive back to Picton, where we see not one, but two firries. Bound for Willington

Their timetables are all over the place and are playing havoc with those booked. We feel confident that we have made the right decision to fly into Wellington, despite the 5 hour drive to the airport.

Second day without rain and we’re hoping for a third tomorrow.

Monday 27 February 2023

Overcast but not raining. We have booked the Queen Charlotte Mail Boat Run for this afternoon – a 4 hour trip around the Sound. It doesn’t leave until 1.30pm so we spend the morning strolling around the dull shops and sipping coffee. The rain has stayed away and there are moments of sun. Things are looking up for our boat trip. We make a sandwich for lunch on board and saunter to the dock to board at 1.30pm.

This truly is a mail boat, but there are probably 150 people on board to witness every drop.

Many of the locals receiving mail are assisted by their mail or male or female dogs

The Marlborough Sounds, or Queen Charlotte Sounds, are truly beautiful and very tranquil.

I know that you know, as I knew (not) that Queen Charlotte was the wife of King George III, otherwise known as the Mad King. They had 15 children together before his mental illness manifested. It’s frankly little wonder that she didn’t succumb to the madness, after all those kids. And what a shame she didn’t send them all into the supermarket to secure an egg each. Charlotte was steadfast to George until he died. James Cook named this Sound in her honour.

There are so many isolated houses around the Sound.

Some of them are truly isolated, just a single cottage in the middle of a forest half way up a mountain. We saw a number of these but resisted photographing them as they are obviously safe houses for cartel members and we were not sure of what surveillance equipment they had.

All of these houses can only be access by water, hence we see all sorts of craft out on the sound

Captain Jason never has his microphone far away from his mouth, but occasionally he learn really interesting things. Like these sea birds, which are indigenous to NZ, and on the World Endangered List, can only be found here. There are apparently only 600 of them left in the world, so by my reckoning what you see here represents 4.85% of the worlds population of these birds

Regrettably I am unable to tell you the name of the bird. We asked Jason twice but his answer was indecipherable each time. Is that part of the act?

We saw fish, dolphins, fur seals, and so many birds. We saw untouched forests, forests ruined by man and commercial pine plantings

We disembarked for 15 minutes at Cook’s Cove

Whilst the rest of the 148 folk photographed the memorial to Capt’n James, we were more interested in the huge number of opened mussel shells lying around on the beach. Big picnic for someone I thought. But no, these are mussels harvested and cracked open by, curiously enough, the Oyster Catcher

Our captain could not explain why the bird is called an Oyster Catcher and not a Mussel Catcher, but there you have it. Quite shellfish of him actually

Cherrie loves this photo, so I’d have rocks in my head not to include it here

Coming back home we see the future America’s Cup crew in training. See how tiny those little sailing boats (VJs?) are against the other boats, and our late ferry

I’ve never been comfortable on the water but in NZ I seem to have found my Sound legs

The end of another great day on the South Island of beautiful New Zealand

Saturday 25 February

The sun is shining! It’s rained the entire time we’ve been in Christchurch, but of course today, as we must leave, the sun shines. We’ve got a 5 hour drive so we can’t muck around. We pull out and head north. I suppose like any city, we depart through industrial areas, until we reach the Waipura wine country, which doesn’t last for long. We then enter a very different landscape to that which we’ve experienced before in this beautiful country. We see rolling hills, rather than mountains, baby pine forests, natural terraces, and that grass again – but this time with a pink tint

We pull off the highway to go to Gore Beach

Where the water is Sandy

Further up the highway the precautions for falling rocks are in place

Much of this drive is right on the water, as far east as one can safely drive on the South Island. We see a sign which seals the deal for us, and we park and take a climb up the steps

We hear them loud and clear and we can finally see them. I wonder if you can Spot the Seal?

Turn around and there’s another waterfall

We see that support for Ukraine is still with us

and even Donald has joined the cause

We take a short lunch break at Kaikoura, a pretty coastal town and then continue on our way. As we approach the top of a hill we both immediately note literally hundreds of vehicles down below and are so fascinated as to why that we execute a legal u-turn and drive down to see what’s going on. What is revealed is just a lot of horsing around

It’s clearly a classy affair, as demonstrated by the formal attire of the gatesman

We reach another of NZ’s major wine-growing areas, Marlborough. The vines are impeccably pruned in all the vineyards we see here

And then we reach Picton, on the Cook Strait.

It took us longer to drive here than it will to go back to Christchurch for Tuesday’s flight to Wellington. We made many stops, and it’s about 5pm when we check into our motel. We fling our carry on luggage down and walk to town. Almost immediately I sense that this is my kinda town

and it’s evident that it’s her kinda town too

There’s cafes, bars, restaurants and sidewalk tables galore, and not a single one can fit us in. But we eventually find a private guesthouse which has a dining room and even though she doesn’t have a table, she (like Moana in gorgeous Wanaka) took pity on this old woman (I hesitate to use the term lady) and her friend and offered us the high table. We gratefully accepted and perched on the high stools, we enjoyed a meal of fish. It was not perch.

A slap up lunch tomorrow

Thursday 23 February 2023

Yesterday when we left Lake Tepako it was 6 degrees. The day prior at Mt Cook it was 30 degrees. Today in Christchurch it’s 8 degrees and very very wet. We had planned to drive to Akaroa today but the weather said no. The gondola was a no no too, not that we would have done it in this weather

So we took the tourist tram instead and did a circuit of the city. This city has been rebuilt in the past 12 years. It was the anniversary of the earthquake yesterday. It was the stone buildings which suffered the most, since stone doesn’t give. The Christchurch Art Gallery, which is steel and glass, was built prior to 2011 and built to withstand earthquakes. And withstand it did. Only one glass pane cracked. The tram driver, and tour commentator (upon whom one can always rely…) told us that the building was built over a void and had a rubber shock absorber right around it, allowing the building to move 600cm in any direction. I wonder if she meant 60cm? Anyway, it’s a wonderful testament to design and construction that it survived so soundly when all around it crumbled.

We spent some time in the beautiful Gallery, which is free entry, but they charge like wounded bulls for the piano outside

The weather cleared a little so tossed the tram aside and wandered on foot. This photo is for you Libby, and Prue

Does she look younger than Brenda?

Construction work everywhere, still, and all the stone buildings are taking longer to rebuild because of a shortage of stone masons. Lots of props on buildings, until those pesky masons work harder.

Good progress being made on the Cathedral

Christchurch is prettier than ever I think. It’s a long time since I was here but the rebuilding has done it justice. And there are wonderful murals all over the place.

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that Christchurch is celebrating world pride too

Some are even russian to get their message across

We find a funny little place to eat lunch and browse the drinks menu. Language please….

The rain becomes increasingly heavy. Under other circumstances, my partner would have immediately stepped into her ‘shoptillidrop’ mode, but mercifully we only have hand luggage (did I mention that?) and so she’s hamstrung. Back to the hotel to dry off.

We have become aware that the cyclone and earthquake on the North Island have impacted on the ferries between Picton and Wellington. They are either not running or are rescheduling to a major extent. Plus the swells are 3 – 4 metres. Now I like a couple of swells as much as the next person, but not that much thanks. We were booked on the ferry on Tuesday next, but have just cancelled (refunded) and purchased tickets to fly from Christchurch to Wellington. We’ll keep our plan to drive up to Picton and check out the Marlborough region, but we’ll drive the 4 1/2 hrs back to Christchurch on Tuesday for our flight. Less sea sickness that way. This change doesn’t affect our itinerary at all, just the means of travel.

By 6pm the sun is shining. We venture out, without raincoats and Vera hats, and pass the theatre where I have played previously (well, not me really but I’ve swept the stage there, amongst other things). It was badly damaged in the quake but repairs are now complete

We walk to the charming New Regent Street, built in the 1930s. Each side is a mirror image.

We find a lovely place for dinner and enjoy our meal and the accompanying wine, and chatting to all sorts of people. I have become my mother. She would strike up a conversation with anyone and now I find myself doing it. But that’s how we learn things, like the ferry disasters. One couple is from Napier, which is on the east coast of the North Island and they had to wade through tomatoes and apples for days. Whilst enjoying dinner, the rain came down again and the temperature dropped dramatically. One of our new found friends said “well, you are in Christchurch”. A bit like Melbourne maybe, where one often has four seasons in one day.

Walking back from dinner

weaving our way (not wine related) from the protection of one awning to another, I am amused by this

We’re confident it will be fine tomorrow. We’ve still got the Botanic Gardens and the Gondola to do, and then maybe the 90 minute drive to Akaroa.

Friday 24 February

Lots to do today so we jump out of bed early and peek out the curtains. It’s pissing with rain. Back to bed and the crosswords. Eventually the weather clears so we think we’ll do the Gondola first, then the Gardens and then maybe the drive to the coast. But then we change the order

So, we’ll do the Gardens first. It’s about a 40 minute walk, and about 5 minutes in, the rain returns. But like the troopers we are, we forge on. The Christchurch Botanic Gardens cover a massive 21ha and are amongst the largest in the world. Smaller than Central Park but bigger than London’s Hyde Park. It was a lovely walk, the rain variously clearing and returning. Of course, Cherrie is in her element here, and simply can’t help herself

There’s big trees

Historic trees

Lots and lots of ducks on the lawns

and on the River Avon (named after a tributary of the River Clyde in Scotland, not to be confused with the Bard’s river)

This box was of particular interest to Cherrie, but it won’t fit in her hand luggage

And, as always, lessons to be learned. The stairway to heaven is not always clean

The incessant rain puts paid to any Gondola or coastal drive so there’s nothing more to be done except jog to the nearest eatery. Which happens to be Spanish influenced and is a fabulous menu. Wet coats hung up, we indulge in a nice bottle of Central Otago Pinot

The image on the label is Sam’s grandfather, S.E.D Neill, who was a wine merchant in Otago, taken in 1919. Fitting, we think, that this little restaurant, The Curator’s House, sits opposite where Sam went to school. And Jesus apparently. Christ’s College

Cheers Sam. Lovely wine

We take our time over lunch, waiting for the weather to clear enough to walk back to the hotel. It doesn’t, so we just get wet. We leave Christchurch tomorrow and head north to Picton. Let’s hope we don’t need the windscreen wipers.

Wednesday 22 February 2023

It rained all night. Heavily. We know this because we had to leave the outside door in our hotel room open for air. I think all the other guests did too, as we heard many of them overnight.

It was raining when we got up, and when we left the town of Lake Tekapo

Not much to see, obviously. We had planned to take the scenic route to Christchurch, but the advice we received from reception this morning was to take the main state highway, as we probably wouldn’t see anything scenic from the alternative route, given the weather. But we had an hour or so to make a decision, before the highway forked to give us a choice.

We drove through more gorgeous farming country, forgive the photos please, taken as we were driving as too inclement to get out.

and admired the extraordinary windbreak/fences planted. Perfectly pruned, as if a pair of manicure scissors had been employed. These pine hedges are extremely high and long, so long.

Of course, not everyone is so particular

We move onto the town where our decision must be made. State highway or scenic route to Christchurch

Great name for a town eh? Our friend Geraldine will be chuffed. Especially when she sees these

We stop for coffee whilst we cogitate, and are served by a sweet young thing with the most amazing green eyes. She is Maori, fair skinned and she tells us that the green eyes are exclusive just to her tribe, originally from Stewart Island (from where we had that lovely salmon). We sought her advice which route to take and she was unequivocal – in this weather its the state route. Disappointed, but needs must, whatever that means. What it does mean, though, is that we are forced to take the road to the right when we know that our friend Geraldine would have counselled us to the left.

We see more support for Ukraine, which we might not have done had we gone scenic.

The roadside plantings are truly lovely as we approach Christchurch

and my resident horticulturalist asks me to advise you that the tall grasses are Chionochloa Conspicua, otherwise known as Alpine Tussock. We have admired these grasses throughout our trip and at first had mistaken them for Pampas Grass, but this stuff is actually native and it is really pretty.

We have booked a self contained suite in the centre of Christchurch and found it easily. It’s located in the Heritage Hotel, but privately owned, and we followed the very complicated but clear instructions as to how to find the key and the code and the carpark and the lift and the suite. We did. Opened the door and it looked very nice indeed. Self catering, which we like. Cherrie climbed the stairs to the bedroom and found this

Now, I know this will delight those of you who were disappointed at the lack of disasters so far in this trip. We are, after all, travelling alone and not with our disaster prone travel friends. But, despite our tolerance for most things, this bucket and drip and unmade bed and light menacingly dangling from the ceiling was not acceptable to us today. I logged onto their wifi in the room and found an email from the owners advising us of this ‘disaster’ and that there was a hotel suite waiting for us at no additional cost to us. Disaster averted.

The hotel is located right opposite the Cathedral which sustained so much damage in the earthquake of 2011. It’s still being rebuilt but good progress being made.

It’s still raining heavily, so we don our coats and take a short walk to the markets for a 4pm lunch/dinner. Surprisingly good pasta in a cardboard box with a bamboo fork. See, I told you we are tolerant. A quick trip to the supermarket reveals the continuing high prices in NZ

And back to the ‘suite’ with some basics and no limes.

We see a tram for Ukraine and celebrate the global community

No idea what tomorrow holds. Continuing rain forecast but we shall see. And you’ll have to too.

Monday 20 February 2023

We left Milford Sound, which sits at 14m above sea level, and climb up to the Homer Tunnel, to pass through again. The tunnel sits at 945m. It’s a steep hike up, obviously, a 931m hike up for those of you who don’t have a calculator at hand, and our thoughts were with those cyclists who we encountered riding the wrong way through this narrow and dark one way tunnel on our way in.

Although today the lights are on in the tunnel and there’s not as much water seeping through. Either the bodies have already been removed, or all got out alive.

About 2 hours out of Milford Sound is Te Anu. All travellers going into the Sound are warned to refuel here and purchase provisions, as there is nothing available at the Sound. We had a great coffee and sandwich here on Saturday and stopped again today for a coffee, and the obligatory refuel of course. It was busy and we shared an outdoor table with a charming man who was on a day trip from Queenstown on his motor bike. He just likes to feel the wind in his face and the thrum (I suppose) of the motor under him, from time to time. He had perfect conditions from Queenstown and was looking forward to continuing into Milford Sound. We were able to take some of wind from his sales by revealing that it was pissing with rain in the Sound. He laughed “It usually is” ! Having learned that we had stayed at the Lodge he told us that when his sister took his mother to the Lodge for two days of R&R, it was raining heavily. His sister asked about the possibility of the river rising to flood level and was assured by reception that this has never happened, and absolutely wouldn’t. The couple got to their cabin, and his sister turned the car around and unpacked just the absolutely necessaries. The river came up and Milford Sound flooded. They got the car out and drove the higher ground. The entire population of the day was evacuated to somewhere high and spent the next three days there, and were eventually helicoptered out. I’m not sure what happened to the car. As I think I have previously reported in this annal, we too noticed the river coming up, but nowhere near to the level as to cause us alarm.

We bid our charming coffee friend a fond farewell and continued our way to Wanaka via Queenstown. Everything looks so different when one is travelling in the opposite direction, and it’s all so beautiful. I mean, how much beauty can one take? (Not a question I ask myself often).

We do note a clear support for Ukraine in the countryside

We skirt around Queenstown, and take the slow route through the ski and distillery town of Cardona. We don’t ski or drink (uncharacteristially for some of us) but chew on our home made cheese sandwiches in order to make the five hour journey no longer than six hours, allowing for photo stops.

We are now driving through very different country than that which we have seen before on this trip.

What we have noticed throughout our travels here is that it is a very clean country. All the cities, towns and villages we have been through are pristine, and even the countryside. The Kiwi’s take cleanliness very seriously

We finally arrive at Wanaka, and are immediately taken by the beauty of this town. We check into the Bella Vista Motel, right in the centre of town. Who dreams up the names of these motels? Our bella vista is the back of the shops, and we all know what are at the back of shops don’t we? Bins. But this is just a transit stop, so we throw our bags in (did I mention we only had hand luggage) and head off to the lake. It’s glorious.

Cherrie gets a very warm welcome from an old hand

and the mix of cultures are very relaxed

Clearly this town offers a wonderful lifestyle, with a lakeside beach attracting sun bathers, walkers, swimmers, wind surfers and just those who choose to sit and watch

I suppose every town has its secrets, but why this piece of wood was so very very scared is unaccountable. But it clearly withstood the ordeal like a rock

After a long walk by the lake we stagger back to our bella vista and change for dinner. Of course, nothing has a table available – short staffed and lots of tourists. Not even this one could find a table for us

but we were lucky enough to charm the manager of a lakeside eatery called Trout. She took pity on us and gave us the table reserved for drinkers. Is it that obvious just by looking at me? Anyway, perched on stools as we were, we watched group after group turned away because the cafe was full. We were so lucky to have a stool, and happy because I love trout. But Cod is the only fish on the menu. My fishing friend Garry subsequently reports that trout aren’t eaten in NZ, just caught. Moana, the manager, looked after us brilliantly, clever gal that she is (got big tip). She ensured we were well covered in the wine and food department and reported that eggs were in very short supply in the South Island and that lemons were impossible to find. We had noticed the egg shortage – some breakfast restaurants have even had to take eggs off the menu. I mean, whoda thought it? Lemon shortages are due to the cyclone damage in Hawkes Bay, from where all NZ lemons come apparently. Moana was not sure of the reason for egg shortages but I had read in the no doubt very reliable Otago Daily Times that some years ago the government phased out battery eggs and soon after the two biggest supermarkets in NZ announced they would not be stocking cage eggs any longer. This all happened so quickly that the checken farmers didn’t have time to fully convert to free range and so only about 70% of full supply are available at any time. However, this current shortage is a mystery. At least to me and Moana. And it’s certainly no yolk for the breakfast cafes.

Having paid another exorbitant bill, but great food and wine and excellent service, we returned to our vista for a bella nights sleep. Tomorrow we plan to leave bright and early for Mount Cook.

Tuesday 21 February 2023

It’s about a 3 1/2 hr drive to Mt Cook, climbing and weaving all the way. We stopped at many lookouts, because those views are so gobsmacking that stops have to be made and looks must be out.

At one stage we were forcibly sent into a lookout by this fella

Now, that’s a curious sign surely? Until you see this

And here she is

What an operation. Several support vehicles and all other vehicles off the road so this house get past.

Continuing on, down the hill we see more extraordinary views, and this sign – which took us by surprise

Wallabies? In NZ? Truly?

Onward, there she is. Mt Cook, in all her glory.

And are we excited to see her?

The lake water really is that colour. Amazing. As we approach Mt Cook we see her beauty. A fabulous sunny day.

This is, of course, the highest mountain in NZ and was conquered by Edmund Hillary in 1946. That triumph inspired him to Everest. We had hoped to spend the night here (under cover) but all accommodation was booked out when we tried several months ago. So tonight we are staying at Lake Tepako, but it’s only an hour and half away so we want to spend as much time here as we can. But, actually, surprisingly for us, there’s not much to do here. Unless you’re up for a several hour mountain hike. We’re not. There’s no village of Mt Cook, just a very large and terribly ugly hotel and several cabins. And, of course, the Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre. I’m not sure he would have approved. But the surrounding country is lovely

and we have been advised by the woman at the Information Counter to do the Tasman Glacier walk. An easy 30 minute round trip with just a few steps. Sounds good, we’d love to see a glacier. So we drive to the parking area for that walk, and off we go. A few steps turns out to be 333. I make maybe 50 before piking. Cherrie makes the lot, and takes this photo on the way down. Of the simple steps

Meanwhile I have pulled off the track to see the blue lake. That’s it in her photo above. What’s blue about that lake?

Cherrie says that there is no way I could have made it to the top. A huge climb, and in 30 degree heat. Her face was red and her legs jelly when she got down. But she saw the Tasman Glacier

I was pretty pissed off with myself for not getting further. But then I thought, my hip replacement was only five months ago, my brain surgery eight months before that and my shoulder replacement four months before that. Maybe my body still has some recovering to do? That’s my excuse and I think red wine is good for recovery, don’t you?

Goodbye to Mt Cook, as the clouds come over. Here’s what she looked like as we drove in, and as we pull out

On to Lake Tepako. Mmm, not a patch on Wanaka. The lake is lovely but the town is very ordinary. Our accommodation for the night was the Godley Hotel. Anyway, we pottered around town and smugly thought we’d be smart and book a table for dinner so we wouldn’t be in the unenvious position of those we had witnessed last night, desperately looking for food. Could we get a table anywhere? Nada. But we eventually did get a booking at a saloubrious joint called McKenzies. 6.30pm. So we walked more and saw this

I questioned the three young men in the car, as to how often they see wallaby. “All the time, saw 30 today” So there you are. They were introduced into NZ in the 1800s for hunting and for those who had private zoos. Poor buggers.

A drive around the lake, which meant we had to travel through the extensive caravan park, showed lovely parts of the lake and gorgeous beaches. People were swimming and we wished we were too.

Dinner at McKenzies proved to be much as we thought it would, and so to bed at the ungodley hotel, as it proved to be.

Christchurch tomorrow.