Christchurch

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Christchurch

Awoke to another blustery day, and off to the Botanic Gardens. The Flower Festival starts tomorrow. The gardens and the city were well prepared for the event decked out in flags and flowers. I wandered through the garden enjoying the sounds of birds and fragrance of beautiful plants and flowers. The river Avon meanders through the city and the gardens. Tourists were enjoying a “punt ride” on the river, poled by a fellow in suspenders and a boater. Very picturesque. I noticed something flying through the air and discovered the lads at the adjacent Christ College practicing either javelin throwing or spear chucking. It was quite disorderly but fun to watch.
We boarded our coach for a ride into the mountains. The first half of the across the Canterbury Plains passed farming and grazing land. Small farms called paddocks gave way to much larger ranched called stations. On the paddocks sheep were numbered as so many per acre. On the larger stations in the mountains they are numbered as so many acres per sheep. We stopped for morning tea and enjoyed scones with clotted cream and raspberry jam. We were heading into the mountains and there was a chill in the air. The hot tea really hit the spot.
As we continued climbing, the winds picked up. The road we were traveling is the east - west coast-to-coast highway. It is only two lanes and we shared the road with trucks and cars and vans and campers. This was fine on the straight-aways, but disconcerting on the winding narrow mountain roads. We passed the site where scenes from the Narnia and the Lord of the Rings were shot. After filming was over the company had to restore everything to it’s pre-movie condition. Hobbitton was dismantled. Now, they are rebuilding it because The Hobbit will be made into a film.
The mountains ahead are very young in geologic terms and extremely fragile. The sides are covered with gigantic slips where the gravelly soil breaks away in avalanche fashion. The resulting rockslide covers large areas of the mountain. We are heading to Arthur’s Pass to join the Trans Alpine Railroad for a ride back to town. The bus pulled over to a scenic outlook and the rain and winds picked up. The coach was swaying so much that we all decided to stay inside. The driver had no intention of opening the door for fear that the wind would take it off.
At Arthur’s Pass the weather had not improved although the wind had died down a bit. We walked a bit to the train in the rain and made ourselves comfortable for the ride back to the boat. Hot tea, coffee and cocoa warmed us up and a box lunch was provided. It was the spectacular views of the mountains and the Bealey and Minga rivers that made the day special. The rail line is still used to carry coal from the west coast to the docks at Christchurch. The train went through 16 tunnels and over many trestles. The views were stunning if elusive. Just as I was poised to take a picture, we would enter the tunnel. I’m sure I’ll have lots of photos of black tunnels.
Cruising is a wonderful way to visit many places in a short period of time, but it doesn’t give one the chance to really explore. I would love to visit Dunedin and Christchurch and really have the luxury of time to sample the museums and parks, gardens and pubs and visit all the wildlife sanctuaries.
If I come back I’ll try to come in the summer when it’s warmer.

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