Tuesday 25th. Feb.

 

Walked with Lila to Kea point (still haven’t seen one – seen very few birds by and large – odd chaffinch, quite a few sparrows and quite a lot of Buzzards) for a magnificent morning view of Mount Cook

 

Mount Cook from Kea Point

 

Then a short drive over a gravel road to another walk to view the grey debris covered lower reaches of the Tasman Glacier and fleeting glimpses of Mount Cook through cloud from a different angle.

A quick drive back to Lake Tekapo to deliver Lila to the Christchurch bus, whilst on the way, trying to get a few good pictures of Mount Cook from a distance with the milky sky blue Lake Tekapo in the foreground.

Last picnic lunch with Lila before I will miss her company: a delightful and beautiful girl in every sense of the word: And within a week she will be in Glasgow for a couple of years poor girl!

Wandered back to Mount Cook pottering about taking pictures of Lake Tekapo and – yes more again of Mount Cook – all difficult against the sun.

Had to wait around an hour and a half at the Glentanner Helicopter base until more people arrived to fill a flight, but well worth it. Quite an experience as never having been in one before, and what a place to make your first flight, over the Tasman Glacier and across the face of Mount Cook, with all the hanging glaciers and the high hut.

 

Mount Cook from the Air

 

Back home to do my first home cooking of the trip – a ragout? of pork, courgettes, peppers and mushrooms - easiest option with only 2 rings and not wanting to make too much mess, but forgot to put in the tomatoes a and had forgotten to buy onions: I am so switched off domestic matters. It tasted brilliant however, mainly I think to very flavoursome mushrooms. I made enough to last 3 days – well maybe 2.

Monday 24^th. Feb.

Drove the short distance from Governor’s Bay to Lyttelton to pick up Lila for the trip to Aoraki/Mount Cook; a lovely sunny day drive once we had cleared the morning rush hour traffic going to Christchurch. Temperature started at 16˚C and rose to 22˚C.  Through the Canterbury Plains, which can be rather boring if you are not interested in Farming; the views are not expansive as you would imagine because of so many tall wind breaks. Mainly cattle and barley country on this route, and not so much irrigation so more parched grassland than lush Diary Cattle fields. As we turned inland a lot more rolling country with harvested grain fields: mainly barley I think. One large smoke plume which I hope was stubble and not a crop: fire risk can be very high in the rain shadow of the Southern Alps. Further on you come to the more hilly area of McKenzie Country; just like Scottish Lower Border Country, and obviously sheep country, but we didn’t see many: what we saw was vistas of parched grass and sparse gravel fields. 3 hours to Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki, both pure sky blue, and from the latter our first view of Mount Cook (for poor Linda & Gavin: yes it does exist, and you are young enough to back and see it yourselves). A further hour’s drive and the view just gets better as you drive in, but a very strong wind was building, and cloud was beginning to build by the time we arrived at Mount Cook Village. Had lunch with Lila in her Youth Hostel as too early to book into my motel, then met up with Martin & Mathias in their campervan, so the 4 Musketeers who first met on The Banks Peninsular Track were reunited. We immediately set off up the Hooker Valley towards Mount Cook. Well vegetated area on a newly refurbished gravel and duckboard walkway, between 3 large ravines bringing down grey milky meltwater from the Hooker Glacier; these crossed on giant suspension bridges.

 

Lila on Suspension (Swing) Bridge

 

 

Managed to get a photo of the top of Mount Cook during a fleeting partial clearance of the cloud before it closed in and started spitting with rain. Met 2 potential Mount Cook climbers turned back by the wind.

 

 

Mount Cook from the Hooker Valley

Very cool evening so fleeces needed, and had a lovely meal in the Old Mountaineers Bar with a lovely companion: Lila.

Sunday 23^rd. Feb.

Having gained the impression that the weather was permanently balmy round here I left my socks and boots on the veranda to air, but awoke to heavy rain and the boots a quarter full of water, but I suppose it is one way to wash your socks.

The rain was also a good excuse for an easy day after the previous exertions, so I went just over the ridge from Akaroa to the Okains Bay Museum where they have a very comprehensive and well recommended exhibition of Maori and Colonial artefacts including a good number of simple canoes, and a couple of the more modest type of the bigger ceremonial canoes.

 

A little blue sky was beginning to appear so I enjoyed the drive through, as I keep saying, the Scottish scenery albeit with powder blue volcanic crater bay and skies, and headed into the flatlands of the Canterbury Plain. I wanted to see the farming and the big braided River Rakaia with the longest bridge in NZ. To get there I went through Lincoln NZ. Very different from Lincoln UK; there are only about 10 shops and a filling station and it is only a stone’s throw from Christchurch. Its raison d’être is that it is home to the very large agricultural university.

The surrounding area has some very large dairy herds on very lush irrigated pasture: one of these long boom irrigators on wheels looked to be over half a mile long. Any fields without irrigation were parched.

Over the Rakaia Bridge, a very long, low and unexciting concrete trestle over the braided river, that is a multi-channel river between shingle banks thrown up and moving about when in spate; impossible to photograph from ground level but from the plane these rivers look like long grey plaits: very impressive: wish I had my camera handy on the plane.

Further into the plains there were modest simple farmsteads with crops of barley, wheat, kale, clover and some podded crop of which I have no idea at all. Must investigate and photograph at some stage.

Drove back to the Banks Peninsular to stay at The Governor’s Bay Hotel; a little idiosyncratic but very comfortable and living up to its reputation for good food; I had Scallops followed by Groper? I also shared my table with a couple from Blyton near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire would you believe.

The reason for staying close to the Banks Peninsular was that the French girl Lila was going to Aoraki Mount Cook Village the same day as me, and a lift from me was much preferable to the more limiting public transport. Martin and Mathius will be there as well, having hired a campervan.

Saturday 22^nd. Feb.

 

 

Martin, Mathius and Lila had to catch the bus back to Christchurch mid afternoon so we made an Alpine Start well up at six and off by first light around 7.00am.

 

The first leg of the day to the next hut only took 2 hours and that is the whole day for those doing it in 4 days, but theirs is all about a gentle pace with lots of time to view, swim, socialise and drink: there are advantages to that but we wanted those 2 days to see more of NZ.

 

The morning scenery was very similar to that of the previous afternoon, all very Scottish again – we even found a field of turnips for the sheep, but otherwise grass and imported Scots Pine stands and shelter belts. We even found Fly Agaric Toadstools: imported on the pines no doubt. So all Scottish Coastal Landscapes and Seascapes. A mid morning stop at the sandy bay but no time to swim alas, especially as Lila looks good in a bikini. Now up a long wide gully similar to yesterday’s. There is however an awful lot of gorse about: another unintended Scottish import, but it is having one useful effect in that it is providing cover for native species to return. Most of these gullies with their own special microclimate are being managed as Nature Reserves: a lot being done by the farmers. Towards the top a large area of native Beech trees: feels just like the Chilterns until you realise that the bark is dark brown and wrinkled, and the leaves although very similar are more the size of a thumbnail. The afternoon turned out to be sunny, hot and strength sapping: it was chocolate that got us to the top.

 

The View Back

Topped out to a spectacular view back to the last bay, and from the col it was more lower alpine in character as we descended quickly back into Akaroa with time aplenty for cold drinks etc. before I saw my 3 companions onto the bus.

 

Akaroa Again

Settled into my little wooden cottage for the evening: the old town bowling pavilion, refurbished to very high modern standard and taste.

Having been out of contact for 2 days now find intenet access a problem, so this blog is getting behind not least there are more important things to be doing, but this a memo for my benefit as much as for followers back home.

Friday 21^st. Feb.

 

Awake to full fog, but soon signs of sun breaking through, so set off on walk from the hut at 200 metres, up the hill to emerge above the cloud; very spectacular as Akaroa Bay is about 15 km. long by 2 km. wide, and a lovely milky blue. Get to the highest point of the whole walk 699 metres.

 

Akaroa Bay in the morning

 All views still very Scottish, until we enter a 3 km. long wide downhill gully. These gullies create a completely different microclimate and support thick bush of a wide variety of ferns, tree ferns, shrubs and large trees. Get down to Flea Bay for lunch and a swim with Lila; Martin and Mathias declined: it wasn’t too cold, and very refreshing after the heat of the day.

Afternoon walk up and over and around grassy headlands. Down to sea level at one little rocky bay with lots of baby seals gambolling in the sea and rocks: couldn’t get Lila away. Getting hot and tired, we finally glimpsed our destination Stoney Bay with the usual tin roofed wooden house and huts surrounded by trees. Got down to find about 12 of the 4 day walkers in noisy residence on their veranda consuming beer et al: all middle aged to retired Kiwis, Aussies, South Africans and a couple of retired Brits with their son who was helping rebuild Christchurch. Too tired to swim, so settled for following the native’s example by raiding the well stocked fridge for a couple of beers, and chatted up the natives, one of whom a retired Kiwi Farmer. Bought food and wine for the evening meal, and got in queue for the shower: last but one, so the boys cooked a communal meal for the 4 of us whilst I got my shower just before dark.

 

And what an amazing shower. Built around a tree and with a tree growing inside. The header tank was at the top of the tree, and I expected a lukewarm affair at best, but it provided hot water for at least 14 of us: Two had a bath, but more about that in a minute. I forgot to find out the heat source for the shower, but I suspect gas.

 

 

 

 

I washed up by headtorch; there was no electric lighting, but there was electricity to the fridge and freezer: got their priorities right there then keeping the immense quantity of beer cool.

 

By now the other crowd had got the firepit (an old tractor wheel: why did I go and by one back home?) going and we joined the festivities: everybody I have met has been just great.

 

 

Towards the end of the evening, we gathered round the bathroom to serenade the couple having a late night soak under the stars. The bath is heated by lighting a fire underneath, and the walls are evergreen. Google the Banks Peninsular Track if you want proof.

 

As we headed to bed we found that a blue penguin had preceded us to its box under the the hut: didn’t take a photo as they are shy and it would have been disturbed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday 20^th. Feb.

Pick up Hire Car : Ford Focus 2000cc Automatic

Drive gently to Lyttelton Bay, Governor’s Bay, Akaroa via the summit road, ready for the evening pickup by BP Track van. Excess Baggage stored by the Company. The Banks Peninsular Track is a company set up by the landowners as a diversification project. You pay for the walk which is marked every step of the way (almost literally) but it includes transport to the start, accommodation in the huts and transport of bags to 3 out of the 4 huts. It is about 35 km. long and you can do it in 4 days, or 2 days as I did.

Both Lyttelton Harbour and Akaroa are sea flooded volcanic craters, and the colour is a lovely powder blue.

 

Akaroa from the Summit Road 

Scenery very reminiscent of Scotland, but the grass is very dry and brown at this time of year, yet the trees dark green and very different. When you look more closely the trees are evergreens in a warm climate adapted to conserve moisture, and a lot of the rock is compressed volcanic pumice, and the trees.

Picked up by the Banks Peninsular Track bus and driven to the start hut for the night, Onuku at the end of the road. Only 4 people are allowed on the 2 day walk (12 on the 4 day) and my companions are Martin and Mathius (a Swiss and a German living in Sydney) and Lila a French girl, who, having just finished her Hydrology PhD in the south of France, is having a holiday in NZ; she has friends here and would like to live here at some stage, before heading to Glasgow next week for a couple of years where her boyfriend is doing a PhD in Philosophy? She’s in for a shock!

 

Wednesday 19th. Feb.

Spent the morning walking Christchurch City Centre.

Most roads are now usable because most of the really devastated or unsafe buildings have been cleared down to empty hard-cored lots, or screened and protected by stacks of shipping containers. Equally there are many skyscrapers and multi-storey car parks empty and unusable, but left in situ as they are no danger to street users. I covered an area of 2km x 2km of which I think between 50 to 75 percent was devastated. There must be considerable damage for a further few km, but the suburbs appeared to be only lightly affected. The population of Christchurch is only around 350,000 so it is a relatively small place by comparison to British cities.

 

 

The Cathedral will have to be demolished, but they have built the Cardboard Cathedral to last 20 years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also close by they have built a modest shopping village The Container Shopping Centre: The Kiwis are certainly resilient and inventive, but it will be a very long haul indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

 There is some repair and new build going on but it is only a fraction of what is needed, and people around talk of at least 20 years to reclaim the city. In future nothing will be built above 8 stories high, and talking to one of the engineers on the site of the new Terraces they are building on a concrete raft instead of deep piles.

 

The Terraces

 

 

Then around lunchtime, as recommended by Janet M. and every guide book going, I headed to the extensive Botanic Gardens, and, caught by surprise without umbrella by my first rain shower I headed into the Museum café for the second day in a row. It didn’t last very long and it is still very hot, so in fact I would have dried out quickly in Rohan gear.

 

Christchurch developed rapidly after early settlement in the mid 1800s and it was the communal pride to plant the gardens which now boast a large number of large well spaced 200+ year old trees. I was very surprised to see more Common Lime trees than I see at home alongside Horse Chestnut; the settlers apparently wanted to bring home with them to the extent of also planting formal beds and herbaceous borders of European plants. The Gardens now boast ponds, a rockery with heathers, a big herbaceous border with Hydrangeas and Hemp Agrimony (ref. JO Mrs. – she taught me this one) but also an area of native trees and bushes.

 

After that I headed in the direction of home via The Riccarton Bush, or Deans Bush, which is a large area of probably the only remaining original vegetation; this was deliberately saved by the first farming family (The Deans Brothers) whilst all around they were developing a large profitable farming estate by clearing 400 year old trees for building timber and the thick underbrush for fields. It is protected from animal predators by wire fencing, double gated (airlock) entrances and rangers, and takes at least half an hour to walk round. Janet M. did you get to see it? You would have loved it.
 

 Deans Bush

 

This is now completely surrounded by suburbs which I walked through (thanks to my New Zealand maps and my smartphone satellite navigation) back to the Motel. Very beautiful suburbs they are too; lots of space in wide grass and tree lined avenues, and not a single small square box, and not one the same. I can see why Norman and Mon came to NZ.

 

Only mid afternoon, but I was shattered: going to have to pace myself.

 

Thursday I pick up the hire car and drive down to Akaroa in the Banks Peninsular, followed by the 2 day Banks Peninsular Track (I have taken Fred’s recommendation) so you may not hear from me for a few days.

Tuesday 18th. Feb. Activities

Didn't get to walk around city centre as planned: Well I did say I wanted to stay flexible, but it was a serendipitous day on at least two counts.

First of all the motel informed me that what looked like a little row of shop fronts behind a small car park just a 15 minute walk down the road was in fact a Tardis like shopping mall with a much bigger car park at rear (I would estimate it to be about a 3rd. of the size of Meadowhall). Westfield have a chain of shopping malls in USA and New Zealand. That meant that I could get mobile phone sim card, car satnav, insect repellent and sunscreen quickly in one spot.
I was up and running with a New Zealand phone number in about one minute of paying for it: absolutely incredible.
SatNav cost me $150 (£75) To hire one for 35 days with the car would have been $350.

I then caught the bus down to the Museum to learn a bit about the Maori, Captain Cook and the early settlers etc.
I was surprised to find that the Maori only arrived in NZ about 700 years ago, and were in fact still in the Stone Age. That said, however, they were very skilled manufacturers of impements, canoes, and elaborate and artistic adornments and clothing.

 

Maori hunting Moa to extinction

 

I was then going to look at the Botanic Gardens adjacent to the Museum, and I thought that I would join a guided tour. The second bit of serendipity, was that a girl I took to be a guide to the gardens was in fact a private guide for her own drive to a Gondola and walk with history info, to the port of Lyttelton. I said I would join her the following day as I intended to walk into Christchurch centre, but as she had a group of German speaking Swiss for Wednesday she persuaded me to go straight away, and as I was her only client I got her undivided attention in English.
This is something I wouldn't have found on my own, and I can thoroughly recommend, as you go up to the volcanic crater rim on the outskirts of Christchurch, and walk down to Lyttelton Harbour in the crater itself. You then drive back to Christchurch by tunnel (completely unaffected by the Earthquake) through the crater rim.

Nicole Wiedemann is a German girl living in NZ for 5 years, and has her own website.

www.ecowalks.co.nz

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

Posted morning of Tuesday 18th. Feb.

I arrived 3.30pm. yesterday and I am now established in the Motel for 3 days, and although feeling tired (it was 2.30 Monday morning UK time) I survived flights very well, so I am hoping that jet lag won' be bothering; seem fine this morning. Took a long walk after I arrived down to the large green Hagley Park just outside the city centre to regain land legs, refresh myself with real air, and keep myself awake to readjust the body clock.

The flights were very smooth all the way, and flat bed seating unbelievably brilliant: Magic Carpet really. Food great with real linen, heavy steel cutlery and napkin ring and Royal Doulton crockery down to individual tiny one off salt and pepper pots (and I thought modern air travel was about keeping the weight down) Business Class transit lounges great with all free snacks and drinks as if you needed any more than in flight, and showers if you wanted.

Didn't see much from the air as we crossed New Zealand as it was living up to its name: The Land of the Long White Cloud. But Christchurch in the sun. Just to make you sick with envy, Summer has finally arrived here; 28 degrees C. when I arrived and 21 degrees C. this morning; 20 to 26 with sunshine forecast for the next several days.

Start getting myself sorted today, with mobile simcard, car satnav, sunscreen and insect repellant etc. Then hope to look at Christchurch city centre.

It feels as though the only bright bits in UK at moment are these in the garden (apart from Grandchildren, Family and Friends that is)

SNOWDROPS

 

 

CYCLAMEN

 

 

SAXIFRAGE

 

Bags Packed and Ready to Roll: still 3 days to take off, but living out of the suitcases to see how and if it all works; ie. dummy run to highlight any errors.

Thanks to all of you who have left comments (helpful or otherwise) and sent emails of Encouragement and Bon Voyage.

 

 

 

Roger's Solo Trip to New Zealand

 

 

 

 This is what I looked like when I was last on the other side of the world.

Roger as a VSO in Fiji in1967

 

"I do not believe it"

 

Below the reality now

Blog created today so family and friends can watch my progress without me having to contact you all individually. This is assuming that I will have enough time and energy to keep posting as I go. I don't think you should expect too much from me; just a few notes and photos.

At the moment I am getting over the ubiquitous terrible cold with long lasting hacking cough, so hoping I will be over it by the time I have to travel.

Dummy Run on Packing but a few decisions still to be made there.