Hot again, sunny periods. About 28 degrees.
Our drive today takes us past the bottom of Lake Pukaki to Timaru. We could have rushed to Christchurch but we take a more leisurely route. Passing the lovely turquoise waters of Lake Pukaki we come across a visitor centre and fish farm selling, you guessed it, fresh salmon. If only we’d know this when we were in Twizel.
Lake Pukaki has the highest salmon farm ... in the world, and not too far from Twizel if you’re ever out that way. Now, fish seems to be a strange subject in NZ. Wild fish: trout, salmon etc. cannot be sold. It is reserved for sport. It was explained to us that to keep wild fish affodable to the average Kiwi, you cannot buy or sell wild fish. This means it has no value and keeps the lakes stocked and available for your average Kiwi to catch. (Him with the V8 pickup, motorboat, waterskis, fishing gear etc). Those of us without the motor boat, V8 pickup, trailer, etc., have to eat chicken, beef or lamb.
Anyway, back to the visitor centre and fish farm shop. There is a scuplture of a Tahr. Evidently a dozen of these animals were introduced sometime in the 1800’s and after decades grew in such numbers there were considered to be a pest, so were culled almost to the point of extinction. Once they had almost disappeared they were declared an endangered species and are now revered and protected. Here is one of the fine fellas overlooking the lovely lake.
There is a very famous church at our next stop, 50kms or so down the road, next to another famous lake, Lake Tekapo.
The Church of the Good Shepherd was built in the 1930’s. A tiny stone church with a magnificent picture window overlooking the lake.
A sign at the doorway requested no photos to be taken inside this practicing church. The creative ways the throngs of camera wielding tourists made to lean in but not enter this tiny church should be seen to be believed! It is an iconic picture on all the tourist leaflets with the church with a dark sky full of stars in the background. However we decided to take a picture from afar sans camera bearing tourists!
We should have set the alarm to arrive earlier and not relied on Tree time!
A little further down the road is a statue of a sheepdog erected in the 1960’s - dedicated to these essential working animals for the many sheep farmers in New Zealand. Sadly the sun was in the wrong place ( com d’habitude! ) It still looked magnificent overlooking the lake - sadly getting not as much attention as the place of worship down the road.
We continued through the Mackenzie valley with lovely rural views, on through the Burkes Pass and through Fairlie and on to a place called Geraldine. This is supposed to be the nearest to an English small town in New Zealand. It was quaint in a New Zealand prefab sort of way with some original Victorian era buildings. The piece de resistance was a riverside walkway planted with rhododendrons and azaleas in which we ... you can guess.... had a picnic! We also visited the quaint museum with the usual social history displays from Victorian times to present day.
We then continued on to the seaside town of Timaru. After asking at the tourist office where the places to be were we headed for The Bay - one of NZ best loved beaches the signs said.
One view was of a resort and housing..
The other was the docks..
The most inner city beach we’ve ever seen.
And what’s more - the smallest penguins in the world - blue penguins - choose to nest in the rocks just by the docks (in the background of the above pic). Apparently the adults leave their chicks in their nests and return at dusk after a day catching fish travelling about 25 kms to feed and head for their beds!
Before we checked in to our B + B - we paid a quick visit to the Botanic gardens. A fine example of victorian philanthropy - a large grandly landscaped park with various gardens and an aviary.
Graham getting close and personal with a very social Cockatoo - Carol couldn’t resist shouting “ Free the Cockatoos!”
We decided to venture out tonight penguin spotting. So after checking in to our B + B in suburbia we had dinner downtown and returned for some serious penguin watching.
We watched, and we watched, and we watched. A local volunteer passed by and tipped us off that a large chick was known to come out near to our viewing spot. Apparently there are only 2 or 3 penguins left as it is late in the season. 1 usually arrives at around 10pm - another about 11.30pm. By about 10 pm a large crowd had gathered and sure enough a largish fluffy chick appeared apparently waiting for it’s parents to appear. Sadly with no flash photography allowed the photos are a little hazy ..... we saw it honest!
The volunteer explained that as the chick appeared well fed they presume the parents pitch up well after dark ( she stays until 11.30pm)
However they will be keeping an eye on it. By 11 o clock there was no sign of any action - rumour had it the 10 o clock one had snuck in under cover - so we called it a night. That was better than watching TV and drinking wine!?
On our way back to the B + B we were slowly progressing through the suburbs when, after following us for kilometre or so, the police car behind us switches their blue lights on. “Just a licence chick” says the policewoman. She turns Grahams licence over and over asking what we’re doing in Timaru. “Watching the penguins” Graham replies. “Uhuh. Count to 5 for me please”. “What?”. “Just count to 5 for me” as she stuffs something under Graham’s chin. “All clear - no alcohol. Don’t get many tourists in Timaru” she says. “You should go down to where the penguins are” says Graham. “Like I said, just a licence chick, have a good night.”
There is a big police presence on the roads in NZ given the size of the population. They wait in laybys to catch speeding or swerving motorists and are not slow in issuing fines. Our first night we were warned and so it has proved to be. We’ve seen quite a few people pulled over at the side of the road. It works. Very few local people speed in NZ. Also effective against drink driving I imagine.
Tues 29th January
Sunny, hot , 30 degrees.
After a lovely breakfast in the kitchen of Dorothy and Jamie’s B + B we headed off for Christchurch. Dorothy and Jamie are retired sheep farmers who after handing on the farm to their son, moved into Timaru and the B+B is a little project for Dorothy - just one delightful room - which Jamie quietly tolerates. They were very interesting to talk to - over breakfast we discovered their views on government environmental pest control measures, vegans, possums etc., views which were not necessarily our own but interesting all the same...
It was good to hear working farmers perspective on things.
We asked about the petrol vs diesel thing. We noticed that diesel is way cheaper than petrol by 50 cents (26p) a litre, which is the opposite to Europe. Jamie explained that road tax is included in the price of petrol but not in the price of diesel. This is so farm vehicles that don’t use the road aren’t paying road tax through the pumps. Road tax for diesel vehicles is levied separately per kilometre. Jamie pays $600 for 10,000 kms. If you go over your tranch and are caught then it’s a fine + payment for the kms you skipped.
The drive to Christchurch was flat and boring and took 2 hours.
Christchurch proved to be a delightful city.A river - Avon- meanders through it and as we walked along people passed by on boats and punts. Very English.
Sadly it was devastated by an earthquake in 2010 and 2011 and large areas are still under construction, some areas are still a demolition site where buildings maybe standing but are unsafe and are condemned. Dorothy had described how devastating it had been to watch the horror occurring on TV on the day. She told us a story of a tower office block receptionist deciding to pop out for a coffee and watched the block just coming down like a demolition effort. The people on the lower floors stood no chance but some others from the top floors apparently walked free stepping out on to the crumbled lower floors below with just light bruises. Many young foreign students lost their lives as an English language school for foreign students occupied the lower floors.
We walked by a memorial on the actual plot the building had been en route to the Cardboard Cathedral - it was very moving.
Many old buildings were destroyed or have been demolished. The Cathedral is just in ruins but local campaigners have insisted it be rebuilt exactly the same using the original bricks as much as possible
. Much to Dorothy's disgust as she thinks the money would be better spent on supporting local people affected by the disaster, who would much prefer a newer more economical design.In the meantime a temporary Cathedral has been constructed mainly of cardboard tubes with some steel supports - a design by a Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, opened in 2013.
Carol bought a couple of Christmas Tree decorations in the Cathedral shop - a Kiwi and a Tui - which will enable us to remember the glorious birds of New Zealand and the Cathedral - hopefully for many years to come.
In the centre it’s a mix of tourists and city types in smart shirts and suits, with green electric scooters (the push and glide type) littered everywhere. They have a scheme whereby once you have registered you can unlock any scooter with your smartphone, ride it, then just dump it anywhere, leaving it for the next person. Obviously the city has an opportunity to plan a second time for cycle and scooter lanes as vast areas have just been demolished.
We do some sight-seeing before returning the hire car and checking into the airport hotel.
Weds 30th January.
Hot, mainly sunny, 32 degrees
Our flight on to Australia leaves this afternoon - so after a leisurely breakfast we visit the Antarctic Centre - conveniently next door to the hotel.
It was excellent, we got senior discount ( great - G) . There were interactive displays, lots of information re the varoius different countries Antarctic research stations, HD films, 4D films, occasional flurries of artificial snow, a blizzard simulator and .... blue penguins! We arrived just at feeding time so were able to see these little creatures close up. All the birds were either there permanantly because of illness, injury etc and were quite content. In fact although their lifespan in the wild is about 6 years - one little chap had just celebrated his 21st birthday - perhaps life in captivity is not so bad after all! There were burrows in rock just as we’d seen in Timaru where some birds were embedded in awaiting moulting for 3 weeks before thet could emerge with their new waterproof feathers - apparently this is quite a painful process for them - it must be such a relief to be able to plunge into the water and begin to feed again, this happens yearly.
Carol was able to nip out to a hairdresser near the hotel to change her side parting back into a fringe - and it was done without charge - how generous! Back at the Centre we went on a ride in a bumpy artic transit vehicle on a track with various slopes and challenges- think it was more fun for the driver! The children onboard had a great time though.
Then on to the airport for our flight to Adelaide via Melbourne.....
15.40 We set off on time for Melbourne enjoying a glass of bubbly, a lovely meal with wine.. flight takes just under 4 hours but as Australia is 2 hours behind New Zealand.....
17.50 ( Australia time) On approach to Melbourne the captain explains there is an electrical storm in Melbourne - no flights can land - we head off to Tasmania to await change of conditions
18. 50. Arrive on the runway at Launcerston, Tasmania - the lady behind asks if she can get off - this was where she was heading anyway and her son has come to meet her. Sadly no - there are no customs officials available - we have to remain on the plane. They open the door to let some fresh air in but no-one can get off. The plane is refuelled and given the all clear to return. We head off back to Melbourne bumping along in turbulence.. We ask for Gin and Tonics!
20.00. See Melbourne coastline below us, plane circles awaiting permission to land......
20.45. The captain informs us it is very busy down there so we circle some more. The next message tells us there is no break in the clouds to allow landing after all, the storm is still in full force.... Captain decides to head off to Sydney...along with a load of other planes.
22.30. Land in Sydney! Hang on we’re supposed to arrive here in the campervan on the 12th Feb!
After queuing for an accommodation voucher and re allocated flight tickets to Adelaide for tomorrow, we taxi to a hotel 1/2 hour away.
Bed just after 12.30 ( 2.30 am NZ time!) Thurs 31st Jan. And the bar was closed! Today we need to get a taxi at 6am back to the airport. Thank goodness we weren’t flying Easyjet or Ryanair - with them you really are on your own. Virgin were at least on the ball. Three check-in clerks processing hotels and flights at nearly midnight - we are thankful even though the hotel is crap as they are the last beds in town.
What a day/night! 😱
Welcome to Australia!!
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