Spring is sprung

At long last. Clocks went forward here on Sunday and the weather took a turn for the better today, so its time for a little al fresco living again

Old wharf habits die hard...

Including a beer on a Thursday after work

OK, work may be stretching it a little:-) But I did have to drive down here...

Akaroa is a perfect little french village - boucherie, boulangerie, and no actual french to spoil it. Although their cultural heritage shows in that most places were closed all afternoon.

And yes that is blue sky and sunshine, but don't worry - by the time we finished supper it was raining again...

from Southland to earthquake devastated Christchurch

From Invercargill, we carried on along the Southern Scenic Route and the Caitlins Coast. Even though the weather was a little overcast, the scenery was still amazing…

… and we continued to Purakanui Falls…

 … and on to Kaka Point and Nugget Point…

… then finishing the day in Dunedin. It has often been said that Dunedin has the best preserved Victorian and Edwardian buildings and it did feel like we had stepped back into the 1960’s.

The city is also home to one of the largest universities in NZ, the University of Otago, and the number of students about testified to this. Saturday morning was perfect for a nice walk into town and a visit to the local farmer’s market and tasting the local produce, including some great cheese from Whitestone. We also visited the Speight’s Ale House and tried all of their brews – a very nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon J

The next day saw us continuing our journey up the east coast to Oamaru, the main centre of the Waitaki District. The town is renowned for its Victorian precinct and harbour…

… and Steampunk HQ, where Victorian era is fused with the future (think Back to the Future III)

From Oamaru, we carried on up highway 1 then took the inland Scenic Route 72 from Temuka up past Mt Hutt in the Mid Canterbury district. Unfortunately, the weather was against us and all the mountains were hidden in the clouds for all bar two minutes when the sun shone through and showed us the tops of beautiful mountains before closing up again. We did see the level of destruction that the recent storms had caused with huge uprooted trees and debris all across the plains as we headed up towards Christchurch.

Talking of destruction, a large part of Christchurch was devastated by a number of earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. There is an eerie feeling in the CBD area as there weren’t many people around as I would expect in a major city. Instead, sounds of jack hammers and bulldozers are everywhere as the rubble is still being cleared away. We did a walking tour with a local lady, so got a history lesson too. Having seen the photos of what the city used to be like it was heartbreaking to see many old buildings in such a state:

The Cathedral

The Arts Centre

        

And Starbucks has seen better days:

Having said that, the city is making a comeback and New Regent street was one of the first to get back on its feet

And the Re-start Mall, where shops are made out of shipping containers and look quite funky:

It’s also known as the Garden city and the parks were in full spring bloom and looked lovely

It was a wet day today, so we went to the Air Force Museum and learnt all about NZs history and the part they played since flying began.

Tomorrow we head to Akaroa and the Banks Peninsula before continuing our journey north.

snowfields to the 'worlds fastest Indian' aka Queenstown to Invercargill

Queenstown is a lovely place and certainly feels like a ski resort, and yes, we did party one evening (with some of the NRL Warriors team, which I was told by one of the band we were listening to, they are the rugby equivalent of Manchester United – how true this is, I don’t know). I also did some lovely walks and the town is beside Lake Wakatipu at the foot of the Remarkables mountain range and the scenery is stunning:

The scenery from Queenstown to Te Anau was also magnificent as Route 6 hugs the lake’s shoreline all the way down to Kingston:

The small town of Te Anau is known as the ‘walking capital of the world’ and also sits on the largest lake in the South Island, Lake Te Anau

From Te Anau, we visited Milford Sound, which in itself was really stunning, however, the journey there (by coach as we didn't want to put snow chains on our van) was truly amazing! The road had only re-opened the day before as the bad storm we drove through from Franz Josef to Queenstown (which closed the Haast Pass after we got through and is still closed 9 days later!) had caused an avalanche and it had taken 4 days to clear. The road crew were still clearing away debris and we had to wait for the bulldozers to pass at several points. Here are some of the places we saw along the way:

Mirror Lakes

Cascade Falls

And then there was the stunning Milford Sound which is nestled within Fiordland National Park

And then there were the fur seals

From Te Anau, we carried on south past Manapouri where we saw the mist over the lake:

And then carried on down to Invercargill, NZ’s southern most city. It’s also the hometown of the late Kiwi legend, Burt Munro, who still holds the world record for the fastest land speed (under 1000cc) on a 1920 Indian Scout motorbike at the Bonneville Flats in the US. Funnily enough, we only watched the DVD of ‘The World’s Fastest Indian’ (staring Anthony Hopkins) a few days ago J

Burt eventually sold his bike (at the age of 77) to Norman and Neville Hayes as he wanted the bike to stay in Southland. E Hayes & Sons is a huge hardware and engineering shop that was established in 1895, so as well as everything under the sun that a professional or DIY enthusiast might need, it also has many restored motorbikes, cars, old tools and machinery on display. It has a tool wall over 100m long, so Mark was in his element! The shop is also known to locals as a ‘man creche’, and I can understand why.

We went down to Bluff and Stirling Point, the most southern point on the mainland that we will get to, and also the furthest from home that we will ever be (18,958kms to be exact)

It’s all uphill from here…

Getting old

At what point do you stop wearing black because its cool and symbolizes death, and start wearing it because it is slimming, practical and doesn't show the dirt?

At want point do the hippie bangles and mystic jewelry give way to copper arthritis bracelets?

Maybe at the time you sit by the fire in an apres bar and start shouting at the kids to close the door behind them....but when the guitarist in the band does it first maybe there is still hope for you

Cook Strait to Queenstown - South Island week 1

Our journey to the South Island started on a very wet and blustery day in Wellington while we waited for the ferry. It was delayed by nearly 2 hours due to bad weather and we were all set for a very bad crossing, especially when we finally got on the boat, I overheard the crew telling the kitchen staff to “stop cooking and batten down the hatches as we were in for a rough ride once we clear the harbour” Oh goody! As it turned out, the sea was a bit choppy but to be honest, we’ve had worse crossings from Dover to Calais. The 120kph winds kicked in later that evening when it felt like our van was going to blow away. The storm finally blew itself out during the night and the next day was glorious sunshine, so we took the coast road from Picton to Nelson and saw some fantastic sites along the way:

Picton from Queen Charlotte lookout

Ferry coming into Picton across Queen Charlotte Sound

The town of Havelock, Green lipped mussel capital of the world. It was a bit early in the day to try them out, so we’ll have them another day.

Nelson is one of New Zealand’s oldest cities and became the second town to be granted city status (even though it only had a population of 5,000 at the time) due to a royal decree allowing the town to establish a cathedral. It also has the country’s highest number of sunshine hours which we were lucky enough to experience during our stay. We spent most days walking around, including a walk up Botanical Hill to the Centre of New Zealand and the stunning views of Nelson below

From Nelson, we headed for the west coast along highway 6, and the town of Westport. A short drive out of town is Cape Foulwind (named by Captain Cook after battling with bad weather in March 1770) which is home to the country’s most northern breeding colony of fur seals. A walk along the exposed headland to Tauranga Bay certainly blew the cobwebs away!

We continued along down the coast towards Greymouth, stopping at Punakaiki Pancake Rocks – amazing natural sculptures looking like stacks of giant pancakes.

We were also in luck as the blowholes were performing well as there was a strong sea swell. And yes, we got caught in the storm and got soaked!

We stopped off at Runanga and had a lovely walk through the podocarp forests of the Coal Creek Valley to the falls

Our next stop was Hokitika, one of the few places where Greenstone/Jade (or Pounamu) is found. The stone has a treasured and spiritual significance and has been used (and still is) to denote status and authority, for adornment and for making peace. Pounamu isn’t mined but can be found near rivers and on beaches between Greymouth and Hokitika. I did a bit of beachcombing and found some nice pebbles, but sadly, no pounamu. We visited one of the workshops and watched how the stone is carved into the beautiful pieces

  

On our way south we stopped briefly in Pukekura (population 2) to try the ‘world famous ‘Possum Pies’. Not bad - they tasted a bit like lamb. The shop isn't allowed to sell you the pies as the meat needs to be sourced from a government approved source, and as there isn't one, they ask for a donation of $4 instead.

We continued to Franz Josef as no visit to this coast is complete without a walk to the glacier. We decided not to do a guided tour as that’s the only way you are allowed to walk on the ice, given its constant moving nature. We had a nice walk from the town and saw a few waterfalls as well as the glacier itself:

Franz Josef is the wettest town in the country and in 1982 lost both its airstrip and bridge when 1.83m of rain was recorded in 72 hours – more rain fell but the gauge overflowed so it was never recorded! The current forecast was for bad weather, so the next day we had a long drive straight to Queenstown. It poured all day and the thunder and lightening was non-stop. We heard later that there had been 40,000 lightening strikes in the area that day (keeping the fire brigade busy) and many of the waterfalls we saw cascading down onto the road had eventually closed the Haast Pass, so it was a good call to get down here as quickly as possible. The caravan park turned into a lake, but the sun is out today and its drying out the grass. The good thing is that all this rain fell as snow on the higher ground and Mark has gone up the mountain today to play on the pistes J