Our last day

We had a lovely last day in New Zealand. Walked downtown to the bus depot to meet Pam and then we all hopped on a bus for Lyttelton, (on the other side of Port Hills and the harbour for Christchurch) and then a water taxi for Diamond Harbour which is just across Lyttleton Harbour about 10 minutes by boat. 

As you can see the clouds were very low as they had been last Friday when we did the hike with our group at Port Hills, which you can't see today either.

Once we arrived on the other side it was like magic: blue sky, sunshine and very warm.

A bit of fog remaining.

Isn't the water an incredible colour?

We had coffee in one café, then over to "The Three Boys" for lunch. A very relaxing day with only enough walking to get us there and back again!

A bottle of New Zealand Savignon Blanc to celebrate lunch!

I had a nummy salad with bacon while the others had salmon sandwiches. I love how the kiwis have bacon on everything!  My kind of place. Mmmmmmm

We went back home via boat, bus and walking to Brockworth Cottage to spend our last evening. Dinner was eating up all the leftovers, lots of Brie cheese and olives.

The next morning, Thursday, our travel day, we were all organized to leave by 10am when the owner arrived to say hello and make sure we had enjoyed his place. He was telling us that this cottage was originally a train cottage for the train employees. He has owned the place for nine years.

Wendy had organized the Super Shuttle van to pick us up at the cottage and drive us to the airport, the best deal in town we decided. Our flight to Auckland was not until 4 but we had to be out of our cottage at 10 so we had a plan. Judy wanted to sit and read so we left her in a comfy chair at the airport after we all had coffee together and Wendy and I headed over to "Experience Antarctica". Just a few minutes walk from the terminal and lovely and cool. We had an interesting hour and half. The best part was seeing the Little Blue penguins. We had not met any on our travels in the South Island even though they hang out at a couple of the beaches we were at. Not when we were there though. Wrong season or something. Anyway it was great to see these cute little guys in their pool and enclosure. All of the 17 penguins here are disabled in some way so would not survive in the wild. One of them just won't swim so that is "awkward" for a penguin since they subsist on fish.  

Blue penguins are the world's smallest penguins.

Christchurch is the staging area for the resupply ships and airplanes for Antarctica and the bases down there. We saw the 4 US Hercules airplanes that are used by the Americans for their base. They land on skis there and wheels here. NZ is very involved with research in the Antarctic, and there is keen interest in that continent. No, that won't be our next trip, Winnipeg was cold enough; don't need to go any colder.

Our flights home were uneventful except for a bumpy ride over the Pacific. Sleep was minimal for me, more for the other two. Dinner was good. This last picture is for my brother David.

We departed at 4pm on Thursday. We landed in Vancouver at 1:00pm, Thursday - before we left Christchurch!  Figure that one out (I think we found that missing Thursday from when we left Jan 6).

Home again, home again jiggity jig!

Tuesday in Christchurch

Today we are all dragging our feet, must be time to go home. It's actually sunny and very warm so we are covered in sun cream. New Zealand has a hole in their ozone layer so the sun is particularly strong. Found that out the hard way on Sunday. It was cloudy and coolish so I had not bothered with the cream. During our walking tour the sun broke through and in a very short time I had a very pink strip above t-shirt neckline on the side facing the sun. Had my hat on so nothing else got any sun. Ouch!

We headed off downtown so Wendy could meet Pam and her husband Mark for coffee while Judy and I did some last minute shopping and browsing around the ReStart container shops. We had our coffee there before heading to the YMCA to meet up with Pam and Wendy to see the "street art" exhibition. It was in a warehouse attached to the Y, an interesting exhibition with all types of street art from grafitti to murals and everything in between.  Who knew these guys could be recognized artists and make a living doing this?

A street-art forest with bird song sounds. 

A number of panels of plexiglass with paint blobs on them look like just that.

But if you stand in exactly the right place at the end they all line up for this image. Clever.

The last room of art was giant aerosol cans painted up as a canvas.

Judy, Wendy and Pam.

Pam took us to another neat restaurant for lunch, The Boatshed on the River Avon. We watched kids and parents head off kayaking while we sat in the shade of the awnings.

The restaurant cat hardly moved while we were there to the point we wondered if he was dead, but no, we could see his chest rise and fall a bit.

Lunch was fun together and we had lots of great chat. Afterwards we headed back through the park and home while Pam went to catch her bus. We were ready to just put our feet up and do nothing.

One more day in Christchurch before we head home to Victoria.

Museum Day

Monday saw us walking through the park again - trying to find the most direct route to the Museum of Canterbury (the region Christchurch is in, like a province). We did get a little off on the wrong side of the river Avon and there are just 2 or 3 bridges so it took us maybe 20 minutes longer than we though it would. 

Once we got to the Botanic gardens we were all ready for a latte so we stopped at a cute little place between the duck ponds and the kids play area and wading pools called Duck Duck. We decided it was one of the best coffees we have had. We had fun watching a little guy about 2 yrs old chase gulls and ducks around trying to feed them some duck tucker (food).

We all spent about an hour and a half at the museum. It's free and lots of great dioramas of early Maori and white settler life. Then a street scene that we could wander through of early Christchurch, much like the one in the BC Museum and the Manitoba museum. I loved the toy store on the street because there was a tiny sewing machine, a replica of the one I bought in France in September. Cool!!

Christchurch was destined to be settled by the English gentry and not the convicts who were sent off from England, so it is suppose to be very much in the English style.

We headed off to follow up on one of Pam's suggestions for lunch and decided she has very good ideas! We went to the Hummingbird Cafe in a container at the Restart Mall.  Each of us had something avocado but each one quite different.

Below: Judy's avocado and bacon on a bagel

Middle: Wendy's smashed avocado on toast

Bottom: Marion's bacon and avocado on Rosti

Nummy!!

Upstairs in the cafe.

After lunch we headed across the street to our second museum, "Quake City". This museum is everything about the earthquakes over the years in Christchurch. It is a special exhibit of the Canterbury museum. It was very interesting and it included a seventy-five minute movie of a number of personal accounts by some residents who had been deeply affected by the two quakes. Very sobering and moving. It really made all three of us think about how Victoria would fare given the same circumstances which are totally out of anyone's control.

We headed home again to have showers and then out for dinner at a restaurant down at the end of our street, Trevinos, for a great pasta dinner. First pasta we have had in New Zealand. Super tired tonight so off to bed early. We all need to get home from our holiday to get some rest!!!

Christchurch

We arrived in town Thursday and had a quick visit to the cardboard cathedral (now called the Transitional Cathedral) before going to check into our hotel. We were lucky because one of the volunteers who works in the church was available to chat with us about some of the features. It's very interesting and makes use of 8 shipping containers around the sides that are used for offices. You can hardly tell they are there. Many of the destroyed stores and cafes in the downtown area are using shipping containers to just keep things going until new buildings are built. These containers have now become tourist attractions. 

The stained glass window here is composed of enlarged versions of some of the shards that fell from the original iconic cathedral in the centre of the city. 

This temporary cathedral was designed by a Japanese architect. Its vaulted roof is made of cardboard tubing, quite strong in itself but reinforced with internal beams. Even the cross at the end is made of cardboard tubing. 

Very near to the cathedral is a memorial to the 185 people who died in the earthquake of Feb. 2011.  It features 185 empty white chairs, one for each person who died. 

It's very moving. Many of those killed were foreign students attending English language school in an office building that totally pancaked when the quake occurred. 

That night we had dinner at the hotel which just reopened its dining room 2 years ago after suffering damage in the earthquake. Apparently the rooms were all ok so the HF groups still were able to stay here, but had to go down the street for meals.

My appy that night was very pretty and particularly nummy: tomato feta cheese caprice. 

Tomorrow we get to really see Christchurch and learn more about the Garden City of New Zealand.

Tekapo and Mt. John

Lake Tekapo is a beautiful long lake with a little town at the end called Tekapo. We drove alongside the lake to the bottom of Mt. John. Not a mountain like Mt. Cook, more of a big bump above a very flat landscape. It was left over from the glacial age and is now one of only 5 international dark sky reserve sites in the world. 

We hiked to the top in 50 minutes with the promise of lattes once we got there. Actually a stunning view and we were all so thankful to finally have a dry sunny day . The University of Canterbury has an observatory at the top but we headed right for the Astro Cafe with its 360 degree view.

It was stunning so you can just imagine what it would be like when the clouds lift. The mountains from Mt. Cook Park are right there. After our lattes we did a summit path around the top then back down the same path we came up.

Wendy found a spear grass and got this pic. We had seen it before on the plains but not close enough to get a picture. As you can see you would not want to tangle with it; it's aptly named. 

After we hiked back down we headed over to the Church of the Good Shepherd on the shores of lake Tekapo. It was built in 1935 of stone and oak and seems to be THE place for tour busses so it was swarming with those pesky tourists! It is very cute though and is unusual in that behind the altar there is a picture window looking straight up the lake. Beautiful. 

The lakes in this area: Lake Tekapo and the larger lake we went by yesterday Lake Pukaki are an incredible color of turquoise. This is the result of "rock flour", the sediment in the water which causes a milky quality and refracts the sunlight. Whatever the cause, it's beautiful to see.

We headed off again in our bus, stopping at the town of Geraldine for a late lunch. We had a little time here so Wendy went off to a very strange shop with an equally strange man who has created a replica of the Bayeux tapestry in his wool shop. 

This guy spent 25 years making a copy of the tapestry out of tiny little metal pieces (actually the teeth from cogs from knitting machines) which he put onto wide masking tape, and then painted the images onto the surface. Because the original tapestry doesn't go to the end of the whole story, he created a design to complete the story, almost doubling the length of the piece.  It's all mounted under glass in a back room of his wool shop.  In addition he has hidden a mathematical puzzle within the panels. So far the only people even close to solving this puzzle are all under 14, and probably math wizards in their own right. In May he's taking the whole thing to England to display at Hastings for the 950-year anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. It will also tour other cities in UK. 

Detail of part of one panel. The metal pieces he used are about 2mm square. He also sells a flash drive with all images and extensive historical background. Clicking on a knight in the image will bring up pictures of that knight's home castle and family history. All the books he used in his research are also there. Quite an interesting (and obsessive) fellow! You just never know what you might see in these little towns.

On to Christchurch and our last stop. Hard to believe this 3 week tour is nearly over.

Kia Ora!

Aoraki / Mt. Cook

Mt. Cook or Aoraki (which is the Maori name for this peak) - highest peak in Australasia.

The plan today involved hiking into Hooker Valley, then back for a quick look at The Department of Conservation Centre (DOC) and if time then the Sir Edmund Hillary Museum which is on bottom floor of The Hermitage, a very cool hotel with every room facing Mt. Cook. After lattes in the coffee shop with the group, the three of us decided to forgo the hike so we could spend the 4 hours it would have taken going through both the museum and the DOC Centre. (This had nothing to do with the fact the clouds were so low it was impossible to see any mountains much less Mt. Cook, it was raining and we were still stiff, bruised and a bit sore from our mountain pass crossing in the rain 3 days before. I won't tell you how I got the bruises on the mountain until later - over a glass of wine cause it sounds like "and there I was climbing up a mountain!!!!).

The photo above is one Judy took of a picture in the Hermitage, just so you can see what it looks like without the low cloud.  It was the closest we got to seeing it as well.  The group went off to hike and we started with the museum. It cost $20 each but we could come and go all day. We checked out the museum which is all about Sir Edmund Hillary and mountain climbing, This was one of the first mountains he ever climbed, and he and his team used it to train for Everest. Then we went into their theatre to watch a 35min. movie about the beginning of New Zealand and the mountains. After that we walked down the road to the DOC Centre. It's like an info centre, nature house and all things about Mt. Cook park. It was very well done and very interesting. We watched a short movie there about search and rescue in the mountains. These rescuers risk their own lives to save those who have had climbing accidents on the mountain. 

There is a room just off the main foyer that is devoted to the memory of those climbers who have died on Mt. Cook - over 177 since the first mountaineers climbed this mountain in 1907. Wendy was looking for the name of a young 20 year old university student from Winnipeg who is the son of her masters adviser. She was able to find his name and then to read the file of his accident in 1980. He and his climbing partner were very close to the summit when they fell to their deaths. Very sobering but a neat way to remember all those climbers.

We returned to the museum after eating our lunch sandwiches in a covered picnic area. Remember it was raining and cold so covered was good; we'd had enough of being wet. We got back to the museum in time to watch the movie about Sir Edmund Hillary's life and his climb of Mt. Everest. The rest of our group had wanted to be back in time for this but did not make it. We three thought it was a great day. We all boarded the bus for the ride back to our hotel in Twizel for dinner. Tomorrow we head off to Christchurch after a morning hike.  We are nearing the end of our HF trip. 

Mt. Cook National Park (photo of a picture by Judy)

Bus, Bungy and Beets

We travelled from Te Anau to Twizel (don't you love the names) after rejoining our HF group last night. Tuesday was mostly a day of bus travel but with a few stops.  We had a 2 hour stop in Arrowtown for lunch and wander. Wendy and Judy visited a very old Chinese settlement from the gold rush days that this town is noted for. I wandered up and down the lovely old Main Street looking in some of the shops.  I did have my heart set on buying an Icebreaker tshirt, thinking that since they are made in New Zealand of New Zealand merino wool from New Zealand merino sheep that prices would be much more affordable than Canada. So it was a surprise to find that that is not the case. Très expensive! So I finally stopped looking at them and just enjoyed my wander and buying some post cards for my grandkids. A few of us had lunch at The Tap & Fork Pub which was fun. I had their special burger because it had beets in it - now if that isn't unusual!! Can't imagine finding a burger in Canada with beets on top of the meat. It was delicious but not cheap. Wendy had the seafood chowder which she raved about as well. We had another stop at a famous place on the road, Mrs. Jones Fruitstand. Kind of like the fruit stands in Keremeos, but with a couple of those big buses full of Asian tour groups, I made a hasty retreat back to our little bus as did Wendy but she managed to pay for a small bag of delicious local cherries.

We also stopped at A.J.Hackett's original Bungy Bridge at the Kawarau Suspension Bridge, 43m. high. We were all amazed at the constant line-up to do this. $180 for adults 1 jump, $130 for kids (kids - you would let your kid do this!!!!!?)

Hard to actually get the feel from this picture but it's a long way down then bouncing a few times. I don't even like the Ferris wheel so it was a definite no-go for me. 

Boat retrieval after the swinging has stopped.

We thought this was funny! Note cost for 2nd jump - after your drink I assume.

No dinner pictures tonight (sorry Cynthia) as it was a buffet and nothing to write home about. For the most part the food has been kind of like eating out in Canada - hit or miss. Wine good, we are focusing on just New Zealand wine and they are noted for their sauvignon blanc but prices similar to Canada (or even more). 

We did have a visitor during the night though. We were on the ground floor and windows crack open outwards at top. Wendy was woken at 2:30am when she felt something jump on her bed. She leaped up (only time you will ever see Wendy leap out of bed) and chased the visitor around the room then out the door into the hallway. Reminiscent of bat chasing in France in 2013 but this was a black and white cat with no tail. Apparently he/she is known to do this as it was no surprise to the hotel staff the next morning. I tried to get a reduction on the $5 cost for wi-fi for entertaining their cat but that was a no-go; they only laughed at me.

Looking most unconcerned!

On to Aoraki/Mt. Cook tomorrow, the highest peak in Australasia.