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Published: November 2nd 2008
We arrived in Christchurch on the 20th Oct after our 2 weeks in Fiji and it was cold, well colder than Fiji anyway! We spent our first day van shopping, and after a couple of hours had found the van for us, and she goes by the name of Madge (previous owners had called her Maddy, given that she was a Mazda, but we think Madge is better without being too different!) We didn't stay in Christchurch very long, but we did do most of the 'sights'. The highlight being Fred and Myrtle's Paua shell house displayed at the museum. Fred and Myrtle were a couple who lived in Bluff (South of the South island) and collected and displayed all sorts of stuff including Paua shells in their house (mainly their front room). Their house was open to the public and it became a bit of a tourist attraction. Since their death the front room and hallway have been moved to the museum in Christchurch where there's a short film and you can wonder through the house - so weird but amazing!! Other things we saw were the Arts centre, where Ian had a go at weaving, and aslo the International
Antarctic Centre, where we endured an Antarctic storm - the room temp was a constant -8 but with the wind chill, it was actually -18.......FREEZING!!!! Whilst there we got to ride in the Hagglund - the vehicles they use in Antarctica, and did an assault course type thing, including floating through a lake - think Alton Towers rolercoaster but better!
We then headed out to Banks peninsula, a nice spot just outside Christchurch centre, before heading south. We stopped in Geraldine, where we saw the world's largest knitted jumper and a mosaic of the Bayeux Tapestry made by a guy who loved mathematical puzzles.....the tapestry itself included such puzzles. Then it rained! Then it snowed, and snowed!! The next day we headed to Lake Tekapo and Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park. Mount Cook's the tallest peak in NZ, and also Australasia and it was looking pretty spectacular with last night's snow and the day's blue skies and sun. We did a few walks (not quite to the top of Mount Cook!) and saw some glaciers and also an iceberg lake.
Heading south from Mount Cook we saw some Maori rock art and also some film locations (Lord
of The Rings and Narnia), but also happened across a set being built which we found out was for a film titled 'Til Kingdom Come' which is a bilblical film being filmed next March. At Oamaru, a pretty old looking town (architecturally), Ian had a go on the old penny farthing and we saw some yellow eyed penguins.
Moeraki boulders were next, big boulders that have been dug out of the cliffs by the sea, and then on to Dunedin, a Scottish founded city (Dunedin is actually the old gaelic word for Edinburgh). At Dunedin we visited the Cadbury factory where the chocolate is good (unlike Australia where the chocolate is bad!) and has the Southern Hemisphere's only chocolate fall. Thankfully we didn't leave with a massive box of chomps this time! We sampled the local brew at Speights brewery and went to the cinema to see Prince Caspian for a tin of beans each (charity food collection event) and then ventured into town for a night out, which included our teapot of cocktails and some very dodgy live music!
We climbed to the top of the world's steepest street, and did the usual visits to the museum
and art gallery before heading out to Otago peninsula where we saw albatrosses!!!! They're massive, standing a metre tall and a 3 metre wingspan! Heading south again we saw some more seals and penguins at 'The Nuggets' and continued south through the Catlins, seeing beaches, waterfalls, forests, lakes, a blowhole 200m from the coast, a lighthouse, a petrified forest, and the most Southerly point of the South Island. It was all very windy, a bit like the antarctic storm!!
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