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Published: November 9th 2008
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Christchurch Cathedral
Not sure what the big blue thing was but the lovely one in blue was very cold at this time We decided on New Zealand for a short-ish visit because we thought that it might be polite to check out the neighbours before we started our travels around the rest of the world in earnest. In our, or perhaps just my, mind New Zealand has always seemed to be pretty much like Australia except that they worship the All Blacks and can be laughed at for saying ‘fush and chups’. I find that I was pretty right but not really complete.
We flew into Christchurch from Brisbane last Tuesday, Melbourne Cup Day. Weather fine, sun shining, gentle wind blowing. And that was that. The sun then disappeared until a brief appearance on Friday being replaced by howling winds, rain, sleet and snow flurries. I kid you not - snow! We have been congratulating ourselves on hiring a little camper van and leaving the swag in Brisbane ever since - even though I should make it clear that the swag would have handled the weather. Just not so sure it would have been as comfortable as a little ‘Hippie Camper’ with a little fan heater to take the edge off the icy conditions.
The weather was useful though. We had
Rakaia
Testing the water - and it was very very cold been debating weather we should make the purchases of some necessary wet weather and warm gear now or when we hit the real cold of Europe. One morning walking the streets of Christchurch convinced us that it would make considerable sense to invest - and use - nice warm gear now. We checked out the stores, of course finding a Kmart first. Nothing doing. Why would they have warm clothing? They are ready for summer. Chanced on a Kathmandu Clearance Store. They had plenty of the right kind of stuff and at reasonable prices. Bought the necessary and TWOMD is now warm.
We stayed in the flashest caravan park that I have ever seen in Christchurch. A Top 10 in striking distance of the airport and the camper rental place. One night was enough though with the price close to double any others we have found.
Our ‘Hippie Camper’ is small. A Mitsubishi van fitted out with a fridge, sink and with the standard table that converts into a bed. Some of the more height challenged can sit on the seats in the back. Others develop an unattractive slouch or end up with crook neck - or both.
Fairlie
Look at the background for the reason for the new headwear (purchased from the craft co-op in Fairlie). When we were going through the hiring process the woman kept talking about a ‘Happy Camper’. I wasn’t too sure what she was getting at. First real experience of the Kiwi accent. When you are driving along you can ignore the flowers painted all over the vehicle and they are handy when you are looking for it in a parking lot but, other than that, they just a bit embarrassing I suppose.
Christchurch is probably a fun city but we were keen to get out of it and headed down the coast on the second day to a little place called Rakaia. It rained all the way and we were able to debate whether the little white things on the windscreen were sleet or snow or some other phenomenon not know in the Top End. Rakaia has the longest bridge in NZ primarily because the river, I think called the Rakaia, is a wide ‘braided’ river. I have to say that it is one of the widest I have seen rivalling, and possibly beating, those we saw in Denali National Park in Alaska.
Following the, so far, excellent advice of the proprietor of the Rakaia Family Park, we
Colourful recycling
At Lake Tekapo - how to brighten up the neighbourhood while helping the planet headed next day to the mountains. Yes it had been snowing up there but then we had the woolies and Pat has her flash jacket so no worries. She added to the wardrobe with a Tam’o’shanter from a craft shop in Fairlie. This is a cooperative store selling the produce of people from the district. It is closing this month after 30 years of operation. Kiwis are friendly people and some love a chat.
I have made it this far into this post without talking about the country, partly because I know that whatever I say will either not do the place justice or will sound over the top. If you don’t like rolling green hills, dotted by sheep, framed either by snow capped mountains or a wild sea then you wont like this place. Driving past the first 20 or 30 paddocks full of sheep I made the considered judgement, based on my limited experience of sheep farming, that these were holding paddocks for ewes with laambs. After many kilometres and many, many paddocks of sheep I am now prepared to offer an opinion that the carrying capacity of land in NZ is simply a great deal higher
Not the Swiss Alps
but Twizel in spring!! than anything I have ever seen before. All that green grass is coming in very handy for the Kiwis.
The country is changeable. On our drive into the mountains we moved through the standard picture postcard countryside through a saddle in the hills and suddenly we are in the high country that looks for all the world like the area around Jindabyne. Not so green up here. More shades of brown, until you hit a bit of flat land and then the massive travelling irrigators can do their work and you are back to green again. The record number of spans so far on these thirngs is currently 22. Each span is about 10 metres and they appear to be controlled by some electronics on each of the spans.
There was too much cloud cover for us to see Mt Cook - the one on the South Island rather than the one near Wellington (I am told there are 2) - and we were told that if you can’t see it from Lake Pukaki then you will see nothing from Mt Cook. There were some walks up there but we didn’t make the trip. A series of lakes
We ate the big one
The salmon farm on the Oamaru side of Twizel. follow the valleys down to the coast. Most are enhanced by dams with hydro systems installed but it looks as if most of them were already there, with the dams providing a better blockage. We camped at Lake Rautanwiha.
With the dams, lakes and rivers along with the associated canals and channels, this is a prime country for fishing. Very much Barnes country. We actually bought our fish. A largish piece of salmon, freshly caught from a salmon farm and at a very nice price.
Driving down out of the mountains the country looked to us like we expect Scotland to look. It wasn’t just the countryside, the names of the towns and farms were also almost all Scottish. A few Irish must have snuck in so there were a few Antrims and Bally this and that but the Scots dominate. It is unfortunate that the Scots either have little imagination or were very homesick although the Maori names provide some relief.
Camped the next night at a very nice little fishing village called Moeraki. I suspect that in a few years this place will change dramatically. A beautiful beach, rocks and headlands. We arrived early enough
Moeraki Boulders
Not much from a distance but close-up is another story - worth the walk on a windswept beach. to go for a long walk along the beach and headlands. We were actually looking for a pub that we had been told was in the vicinity. Eventually found it within 100 metres of the caravan park.
Continued on down the coast road, staying off the highway as much as possible and ended up at a place called Curio Bay where we camped in a clearing in the flax plants. Strange but very nicely sheltered. Long walk along the beach, poked around on the rocks and later that night spotted some very rare and endangered yellow eyed penguins. Couldn’t get close enough to tell whether they had yellow eyes but it wasn’t hard to believe that they were endangered. They were landing across a petrified forest, which is basically sharpish rocks with waves crashing all over the place. There was a perfectly good beach next door but apparently this was not the done thing.
Invercargill the next day. The Lonely Planet pans this place and it is possible to see why but it also pans Bluff and that isn’t such a bad place. It is an old port town and looks it. Not quite as clean and tidy
One of the Moeraki locals
This sealion was having a quiet snooze on the edge of the harbour. as everywhere else has been and very windy but a lot of spectacular scenery and just a little rough around the edges.
On now up the West Coast and hoping for some sun possibly.
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