Category: The Land of the Long White Cloud 2023

Tuesday 28 February 2023

Our only duty today is to drive five hours to Christchurch airport, to catch the 6pm flight to Wellington. We head off and plan a leisurely trip. We drove this road only three days ago so there’s not much new to see. Although we did catch a better view of the seals, and so many of them today

They were having great fun in the water. We didn’t sight a single whale, but we know where they can be seen, and the station where their weight is recorded

We stopped in a tiny town for a very ordinary sandwich lunch. The town is Cheviot, where I expect they have put a Holt to any swimming (only the oldies will get that little joke, and even then perhaps not many)

We reached Christchurch in time to make a detour to the Air Force Museum. We have it on very good authority that the uniform of a dear friend is on display.

It’s a terrific museum, with lots of aircraft and interesting memorabilia and stories. But could we find Geoffrey’s uniform? Nada. I sent him a WhatsApp message to enquire of it’s whereabouts, only to receive an almost immediate response to advise that when he was in the museum himself just two weeks ago he couldn’t find it either. I hope he is more careful with his civvies.

We returned the car to Hertz. We have clocked up 2696kms.

Uneventful flight to Wellington and we taxi it to the hotel. We are in Room 108A. We should have known when a letter follows a room number that it was the broom closet converted to a Booking.com room. It’s tiny and there are more than 300 office windows facing our room, including the NZ Department of Education, amongst others. We are in very close proximity to the Beehive.

A call to reception returns a ‘sorry house full’ response, and ‘if you have any complaints take them to Booking.com’. Yes, well, you can guarantee we will.

Eateries are too far away to walk to at this time, and our room is too small to contemplate room service so we head to the Ambience Restaurant on Level 1. It takes us by surprise. The lack of ambience is astonishing. A dozen white plastic tables, cunningly disguised as marble, completely bare. Two men drinking beer at one table. The other five eleven are deserted. Having established that this actually is the Ambience Restaurant we are advised that the kitchen closes in 10 minutes. At 8.15pm. We quickly order a steak and the obligatory bottle of red. We are even supplied with a knife and fork each and a wine glass. I acquire salt and pepper and napkins from a sideboard. We consume the meal, which is actually quite nice, while the staff set up for breakfast. By the time we finish our meal we are surrounded by bain maries, jams, toasters, plates, cutlery etc etc. We are back in our room by 8.50pm

Wednesday 1 March 2023

Wellington must be the steepest city in the world. We plan our day to walk downhill. We do so by heading to the harbour and walking along the foreshore, which is very pleasant. This area was left idle for years, after the shipping container terminal was relocated. The Council has spent a lot of money to restore the wharves and cargo sheds into restaurants, bars etc and it’s worked brilliantly

Trains and boats and planes are in full view. Actually, forget the trains, replace helicopter for plane, and there you have it. Although, the airport is positioned that the planes approach and take off over the harbour, so the sky is busy

As we head to Te Papa Museum, we note more investment from the Wellington City Council in terms of this wonderful sculpture of sea urchins

We spend three hours in the Museum. It’s amazing. Set over five levels, we see stories of Colonial history (not everyone travelled with hand luggage)

stories of Maori history, art displays, craft displays and Phar Lap

He’s lost some weight you’ll notice. Poor old chap. His skeleton in Wellington, heart in Canberra and hide in Melbourne. What did Phar Lap ever have to do with Canberra? Why is his heart there, when no one else’s is?

Amongst the Colonial impact on NZ is a significant environmental one. Here is a map of the forestation before and after European settlement

There’s a whole room dedicated to the Waitangi Treaty, which is really interesting, especially at this time of Voice From The Heart, for we Aussies.

There is plenty to question in the text above, and clearly the treaty is not satisfactory to all.

But, in recognition of the differences the Government has established a Treaty Tribunal, which investigates claims made by both sides.

But quite the most amazing exhibition at Te Papa is Gallipoli. It is an enormous installation, enormous in every sense of the word. Ww walk through the ANZAC assault on the peninsula, in grueling detail. The soundscape is brilliant and the larger than life figures so very realistic.

Each of these figures is based on a real person, and their real stories told either vocally or visually. There are diaries, letters, telegrams and all sorts of items. We are in awe of the level of detail of these figures. Look at the veins on him and the tears from her eyes

Whilst the exhibition is specific to Gallipoli, it is a lesson to us all about the stupidity of war, and how those incredible men and women fought for their countries under the worst of circumstances. Everyone should see this exhibition.

We leave Te Papa and walk to the Cable Car, which we catch up to the Botanic Gardens. They are on top of yet another Wellington hill and incredibly steep. By now both of us are feeling the significant kilometres we have walked today and we choose the downhill paths through the gardens.

Cherrie spied a plant. Well, of course she spied several plants but this one peaked her interest. She has one fan aloe (in layman’s terms, one blade) of this plant at home

and is very excited to see it will grow into this

After walking 17,500 steps, 9.5km, we are both limping badly on our walk DOWN the very steep hill back to the hotel. A well earned rest before we are collected at 6.30 by friends of friends to take us back to their house for a most delicious dinner and lively conversation. It is such a lovely evening and Robyn and Tolis are now our friends too.

Thursday 2 March 2023

We check out of the broom closet this morning and catch a cab to Hertz. We collect a little car to drive north to Martinborough. Our friend, Gourmet Garry, has insisted we do this trip because he says the best cheese shop ever is there. It’s an easy 90 minute drive and indeed it’s a very pretty town. But there’s no cheese shop. We potter around, buy a bottle of wine to have in the hotel room tonight, and call it a day. I am heartened to see that others subscribe to my philosophy

On our way back to Wellington, and the airport, we drive through another little town called Featherstone. And there’s a cheese shop. So we stop, buy a little cheese in honour of Garry, and drive straight to the airport. We return the car and check into Rydges. Our flight departs at 6.15am tomorrow (4.15am for you lot) and our wake up call comes through at 4am (2am for you lot).

We have a quick swim with other hotel guests

and realise how absolutely exhausted we are. I blame all that exercise yesterday. I have a quick nap

While Cherrie tries to stay awake

We have had the most marvellous holiday in New Zealand. What a beautiful country. Thanks to you for reading this blog

So for now, poroporaki

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.