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Published: November 10th 2006
To follow up on our suggestion that Dunedin is a very Scottish town, we wouldn't hesitate to say that Christchurch is a very English town.
Christchurch is the South Island's biggest city with a population of around 350,000. To give you an idea of its "Englishness", we can go directly to place names - Christchurch is in the region of Canterbury, it has a river running through it, the Avon, (littered with punts) which has two embankment streets named Oxford and Cambridge Terrace. T thinks the central architecture is reminiscent of Oxbridge colleges although I think that St Anne's college would be a more fitting comparison. Although the original university buildings in C'church no longer serve an academic purpose, they still conjure up images of a by-gone English era.
We came from the west coast via Arthur's Pass, the major route across the Southern Alps. The drive was spectacular but hard work for Lady C who was at times forced all the way back to 1st gear. We broke the journey up and gave her some respite with a night stop at Arrthur's Pass village - a little place strung along the road and a mecca for climbers and
mountaineers who care to explore the surrounding playground. We (Tommy) chose instead to move on in search of "Edoras" the large lump of rock used in the LOTR movie to portray the central town and seat of the King of the Rohan. The actual location is called Mount Sunday - a craggy roche moutonee plopped on a vast plain and accessed by 40km of gravel roads west of the small village, Mount Somers. Although the search is not hard, we couldn't exactly remember what it looked like and so we ended up with two contenders. Tommy, the big LOTR geek that he is, stood and marvelled at this mythical place whilst I just appreciated the scenery for what it was.
We arrived in C'church later than expected after our LOTR detour and having been trapped in C'church's one way system. Our first impression of the city was quite negative in that we headed out for dinner at 8pm on a Friday night to find that almost every restaurant in town had turned into a bar, had finished serving food or were showing the rugby on telly. Unbelievable! Kiwis eat early but this was taking the mick for the largest
Dandelion Water Feature
A novel way to spray water around!city on the South Island. We did eventually find a single outpost who catered for us European diners who want to consume after 8!
The next day we explored C'church and because it was Saturday there was plenty of activity at the Art Centre (formerly the Uni) including an open air market, art exhibitions and street entertainment. We visited the space age art gallery which had some interesting NZ modern installations and some cool windmills things outside the building that change position at 12 o'clock. As it was such a beautiful, Spring day, we spent the rest of the day strolling around the town and relaxing in the beautiful Botanic gardens which seems to feature every species of tree in the pacific region. Just gorgeous.
We decided to spend our second night in one of C'church's coastal areas, Sumner, a pretty place which traps the sun and attracts surfers to its breaks. We took the scenic route to get there, a winding road across a high saddle from which panoramic views of the city and the Canterbury plains can be seen. It's a road that is more frequently used by cyclists training their thighs for hill work, than
commuters.
After leaving C'church we headed north to Kaikora which, given different circumstances, would have been worthy of its own blog entry on account of its famous global reputation for whale watching - particularly Sperm Whales. As it turned out, two days of bad weather added another entry to the "disappointment blog" and it wasn't to be. Both T and I were a little upset that once again we wouldn't get to tell our whales tales but we used this down-time to really relax for a day. A welcome break from our hectic schedule on the road. Next stop, Marlborough country.
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Shaving on holidays (like on weekends) is Illegal
Dude, you look far too clean shaven in all these shots for someone who's not working for a year. I can't believe you haven't been arrested yet... I hope your getting royalties from Tourism NZ too - your pic's, as always, are gold! Have fun!!