Traveling down the east coast of the South Island, New Zealand

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Traveling South
Saturday we headed to Christchurch, it had not been on the plan, but Marcia did some on the road research and found several places we had to see. The first was the Christchurch Botanical Garden. A magical place where we spent two hours walking the paths, oohing and aahing over the flowers and trees. The place should be a must visit for anyone who comes to the city. Then we went to Margaret Mahy Park. This giant playground, with a beach, water features, tunnels, trampolines, and climbing structures was built on the site of some of the devastation of the 2011 earthquake. The place was full of families enjoying the day, kids have a ball getting wet, dirty, and sweaty. Next stop was the casino. No, we did not go to gamble. Rather, acting on a tip we went there to change money...same rate as the banks but no exchange rate! From there on to a park that is a saved part of the bush of the area but, lucky us, it was the Christchurch Farmer's Market day! Marcia spent an hour talking with a flower sales person. I wandered through buying fruit, tasting meats, and finally settling on a pulled pork sandwich.



From Christchurch we headed inland to take the Inland Scenic Route across the Canterbury Plain. The scenery was stunning, as it has been everywhere. With the mountains to our west we drove through miles of pastures, sheep farms, dairy farms, lakes, and little towns. We made it to Lake Tekapo in time to get the last camping spot right on the lake.



Sunday morning we got up and headed up Mt. John. This large stubborn piece of granite had held off the glacier that carved out Lake Tekapo. On top of the mountain are several large telescopes, this being a dark skies area with no air pollution. In fact, last night while we slept in the camper we gazed out the window on a brilliant Milky Way. And of course, I got the south side of the bed so I could keep an eye on the Southern Cross constellation. After a coffee and a scone at a cafe on the top of the mountain, we hiked down, loaded up, and headed for our next stop in the town of Twizel.



On the way to Twizel we had plenty of great views of Mt. Cook, the tallest peak in NZ. We have also driven past Mts. Horrible, Bitterness and Difficulty along with Potato Pile Hill.



After a lunch and walk around in Twizel we went on to our lodging outside the farming community of Kurow. We stayed on a sheep and cattle farm for two days, sleeping in the van but enjoying meals and conversation with Keith and Kaye who run the 4,000 acre dry farm (as in no irrigation). We did not find them all, but they run 2,000 head of sheep and 80 beef cattle on the place. Keith took us for a harrowing ride in his truck to the top of the farm, we were both glad he was driving on the edge of the hills. One of the great features in Kurow was the small town's museum, which pays homage to the man who developed New Zealand's social welfare system--including free health care for all. It was in the 1930s, and is still valued by all Kiwis.



While at Kurow we made a side trip to Oamaru, an interesting city that was the first major port in New Zealand as the process of freezing meat for shipment was developed here. The town has preserved all of its Victorian era buildings as well as its wide main thoroughfare, its width necessitated by the amount of space it took to turn a bull cart. (Funniest sign so far on the trip was found in the grocery store in Oamaru where the local pet shelter donation box posted the following: "The SPCA has a desperate need for kitten meat.") From Kurow we headed for Gore.



On the way we checked out the Elephant Rocks, a formation of oddly formed free-standing rocks created when their hard tops resisted erosion over the eons. Then to another set of rocks, the Moeraki boulders, large round rocks the size of a VW that sit scattered on the beach. Moeraki also featured a rocky peninsula that we walked out on and shared with dozing seals and a colony of albatrosses. We also met and chatted with Stan Lusby, he has stood for parliament several times, last time collecting 29 votes. His home is a tribute to consensus democracy, stop by and he'll fill you in.



For lunch we picked up fish and chips and a mutton pie. Warning, mutton pie is basically a ground mutton burger baked in a pie pastry. Avoid at all costs.



We headed further south down the east cost to Dunedin where we wandered another great botanical garden. Final destination for Tuesday night was the home of a fishing guide, David Murray-Orr and his wife Beverly. We had a great dinner and then out for an evening fish where George landed two great New Zealand brown trout. On Wednesday George and David spent the day fishing and Marcia and Beverly shared gardening notes, had lunch in Gore, and watched the trimmer shape the windbreak trees around the house with a giant machine with a five foot in diameter blade. After another fine meal, David took George out for one more evening fish, accompanied by Marcia, which yield two fish for a total of over a dozen on the day.



Tomorrow we head for the Milford Sound. Looks like it might rain and there may be a break in the heat, averaging mid 80s every day....we love it, not humid and breezy, but the locals find it a bit much.

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