Christchurch:
We arrived in Christchurch at midnight and were met by Elena with whom we were staying (again through Airbnb). Elena and John live in Hornby - about 10k from Christchurch centre. Elena explained some details about the earthquakes and what we should do if there were any aftershocks. We said goodnight and got ready for bed and at 1:30am experienced our first one – a 5.2 aftershock!…easy to get to sleep after that! There was another one the next day that we didn’t notice as we were out in town – it’s more noticeable when you are inside as the room moves!
We talked to John and Elena a lot to try to understand what people were and still are experiencing and then Elena took us into the city. The devasation was much worse than we expected - it was the middle of the day on a summer Saturday but the City was very quiet. Whole streets were closed off and buildings that we thought were being renovated are actually in the process of being pulled down. EVERY high rise building has been damaged and will be coming down and there are many discussions going on about what will be built in future. Some people told us that building will be no more than three storeys high and others said no more than seven. Either way, investors want them higher and residents want them lower so the discussions will obviously be difficult. The worst affected area (known as the red zone) will probably be levelled and replaced with parkland. We saw a once restaurant that still had the tables laid with crockery and cutlery. The street looked as if a bomb had exploded and everyone had run off - and that’s the way it still looks today! It was very sad and quite depressing but there were some innovative ideas such as a shopping complex that had been built using big export containers.
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| Being repaired or pulled down? Not sure the ribbon does much.. |
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| Container Shopping city!!!! |
There were cafes and a variety of shops; the containers were painted in vibrant colours and street entertainers were doing their thing in between. it was a really good atmosphere.
With Elena and John’s Maori background we learned a lot about the culture and the trusts set up to finance various Maori cultural activities. Elena and John were great – John even cooked us a full Sunday roast – including Yorkshire Pudding!
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| Us with Elena and John |
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| Karen and Katy |
Akaroa:
As we had a day to spare we rented a car and drove from Christchurch to Lyttleton harbour and along the coast to Akaroa. There is a road tunnel to the peninsula and interesting the entrance road to it had been “moved” to the right by about 20 metres by the earthquake!! Lyttleton too had been badly affected by the earthquake and many homes were either boarded up or had a lot of scaffolding around them. It was on a hill so a lot of roads had also collapsed and were shored up in various places. Akaroa was very French as French explorers had arrived in 1840 hoping to colonise the area only to find the Brits had already arrived the year before. Even so, there are a lot of French people there with nice cafes and restaurants around the harbour.
Lake Tekapo:
We picked up our motorhome on Monday 9th Jan and named her Kiwi Kezza. We drove to Lake Tekapo and arrived in sunshine.
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| Blue, Blue, Blue |
It was a fantastic lake and the water was a strange shade of light blue from the minerals in the water – apparently most glacial lakes share this lovely characteristic. There were also natural hot springs in the village which were open from 10 to 10pm every day so that was us sorted for the evening – pools at 39/37 & 35 degrees respectively. We sat in the pools and watched the sunset over the Lake. No problem sleeping that night!
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| Warm enough for me this pool............... |
Mt Cook and glaciers:
Up early for a walk by the lake and then off to Mount Cook and Aoraki village. Mount Cook looms over the village together with other glaciers in the Southern Alps range - which made for stunning scenery and lovely walks. One big advantage of a motorhome is that you can park up in places not normally afforded via conventional accommodation. This was once such place. We parked in the National Park car park immediately below two glaciers.
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| The glaciers looming over the campsite. |
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| The view from our camper - fantastic! |
Moeraki:
This small place had been recommended to us by several folk. It’s famous for two things. Firstly the Moeraki boulders on the beach. These are ancient rocks which were formed by lime around shells many millions of years ago to become globe like rocks. The softer surrounding rock has been worn away by sea action to leave these unique “marbles” on the beach.
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| Moeraki Boulders.....Balls on the beach!!! |
The second claim to fame is one of the best restaurants on NZ – Fleur’s Place. When asked by a magazine where he would go in the World for a meal Rick Stein chose this restaurant. It didn’t disappoint. Fleur Sullivan is a wonderful character and after the meal was very happy to chat to us about all sorts of subjects – mainly culinary related. Thanks Fleur for great food and a memorable evening!
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| Fleur's Place - doesn't look much but the food is ACE |
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| Malc, Me & the famous Fleur Sullivan |
Dunedin and Otago:
We drove from Moeraki the 70km south to Dunedin where we stopped for lunch and explored the town. Founded by Scots it still bears many signs of the Scots heritage. The main street is Princes St and there’s even a Costorphine district. We then drove to nearby Otago peninsula – with great views of the town and the cruise terminals. At the end (Harington Point) there is the Royal Albatross breeding programme and centre. Out of Dunedin we found a freedom camping spot by a small inlet protected from the wind. Motorhome camping at its best again - only the sound of oyster catchers .........and the rain!!. Welcome to Otago!
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