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Published: March 29th 2010
Christchurch
The iconic tramcarWelcome to New Zealand - or “In Zid” as the locals call it.
The place is beautiful but you do need to overcome the “In Zid” accent. It is quite simple really. Replace the letter ‘e’ with an ‘i’. So basically, ten dollars, becomes ‘tin dollars’. Then remember to replace the letter ‘i’ with a letter ‘u’. So six dollars, becomes ‘sux dollars’. There you have it, you can now speak kiwi! So fush and chups, is? And, time to go to bid, is? You got it! So you are now free to visit “In Zid” for short or as it is more commonly known, Niw Zuland!
Christchurch was the first port of call and the base for my thrilling conference! Thankfully day one was a free day and I spent the day exploring the stunning little city of Christchurch.
It is the capital of South Island “In Zid” and is at the Northern Edge of The Canterbury Plains. It only has a population of 350,000, and so retains its charm and character and is known as the most English of “In Zid” cities. It has a lovely central square, cathedral square, with trams cars running in a
Christchurch Cathedral
The tram starts and finishes in Cathedral Square, the main hub of Christchurch 2.5km loop from the square. The crystal clear river, the River Avon, with its weeping willow clad banks, winds its way through lovely parkland and the stunning botanical gardens. Street names include Cambridge Street, Gloucester Street, Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace and there are straw hat, public schoolboy dressed ‘punters’ who will, for a small fee of course, take you on a leisurely punt under the willows trees down the Avon. It really is all very English!
So the less said about the conference the better. Two days in full, boring speakers……insurance!!! Not the best 48 hours of my life.
Friday evening sees the end of the conference and the Gala Dinner. The location was top secret and the coaches picked us up and drove out of town to the ‘In Zid’ RAF museum.
Dinner was in the hanger with the old airplanes and 40’s style singers and this truly was a memorable evening and luckily found me sat next to an insurance dude from Sydney who was actually, a nice dude! There are not many in insurance let me tell you!!!
So the night for me ended quite early and I was back at the
The Crater Rim Walkway
Just outside Christchurch overlooking Littleton Harbour hotel for midnight. Caz was due in on the late flight and was in a taxi en route to the hotel.
So Saturday commences and this is work over for me, and the start of a holiday for us both.
We still had the evening in the hotel paid for by the insurance conference, so why waste it! We spent the day experiencing the delights of Christchurch and then headed out to Banks Peninsular, where a cable car whisked us up to the crater rim, overlooking Littleton Harbour. With stunning views over the Harbour, we decided to make our way down the Littleton itself but was only rewarded with a working port town and a few tree dweller type travelers, you know the sort, never done an honest days work in their lives, braided hair, haven’t washed for days and sit around drinking all day……god I used to love those days!!!!!!
Sunday was the start of our road trip and the day dawned to blue skies again! Not that I am known for constantly talking about the weather, but everyone said that all it does here is rain…..well so far so good.
We picked up the
Lake Tekapo
The "blue" lake car, usual story, hired a Hyundai Getz but they haven’t got one and they will upgrade us free of charge! ( Whenever you book a hire car, always book a cheap small car….they don’t have any!!! So they always upgrade you to a larger one!)
After a few hours of the flat, slightly boring Canterbury Plains, we entered the road into the Southern Alps and the next week was to be some of the most stunning scenery we have seen. Think of the Lake District, add Scotland and multiply it by ten….or as they would say here, by tin!
We headed to Lake Tekapo for our first evening and arrived at lunch time, checked in to out accommodation and trekked up Mount John, to view the stunning vista of the Southern Alps. A few cold days had led to snow on the mountains so it really was picture postcard!
Lake Tekapo, is impossibly blue! The Glacier at the foothills at the head of the Lake grinds the rock into a kind of rock flour, and the sediment then hangs in the lake and is refracted by the sunlight. This makes for jaw droppingly stunning blue water and
this is prevalent in many of the lakes in this area.
Clear blue skies once again greeted us as we left Lake Tekapo and headed for Queenstown. At Lake Pukaki, we turned up a 59km cul-de-sac to the foothills of Mount Cook, ‘In Zids’ tallest mountain at 12,400 ft.
We arrived at the foothills of Mount Cook and kitted up, boots, water, map etc etc and began our intrepid walk up the glacial valley. Firstly we pass a memorial to the many people of all ages and races, killed whilst trying to climb Mount Cook.
Then it is onto a small milky looking lake, the newest and coldest lake in New Zealand. It is only 30 years old and has been created at the bottom of a Glacier which is melting due to global warming. The bottom of the glacier is blackened with rock debris scoured from the mountain, and large chunks of the glacier continually break off and become ice bergs. Its a wierd place!
The path continues up the valley crossing a few tarzan like swing bridges and following a freezing cold glacial river to the base of Mount Cook with the snow covered
The road to Mount Cook Village
Impressive views up the valley of Mount Cook peak watching down upon us! What a stunning place!
Driving back down Lake Pukaki to the main highway, the lake has become so still, it is like a piece of green glass and reflections from the surrounding mountains are just amazing. But no time to stop, we carry on for a few hours before arriving in the all action, adrenalin pumping Queenstown.
Queenstown by NZ standards is pumping! All the backpackers converge here to spend there hard earned dollars on frightening themselves to near death by bungy jumping, parachuting and a million other crazy sports you've never seen or heard before! The Shotover Jet is a favourite here, a jet boat that basically skates over water ( less than 4 inches deep in some parts ) and does 360 degree spins and is within inches of the canyon walls all at speeds upto 80kmph! It's mad!
As the saying goes, "when in Rome!!!!" so we had to have a go on the Shotover Jet. And yes, we can both confirm it is mad. How they get liability insurance for it is beyond me!
Queenstown is a beautiful place on the shores of a crystal clear lake
Glacier
The head of the Glacier carrying rocks and debris into the newly formed lake that goes on for miles in either direction. It is in the shadow of the 'Remarkables', a "remarkable" mountain range. Many areas around here are famous for the filming of 'The Lord of the Rings' but we just spent the next few days in awe of the scenery and walking by rivers, lakes and mountains. We did have a lucky St Patricks day however! First thing in the morning, we ventured into a small irish pub in the middle of Queenstown, for a bacon butty and coffee, prior to setting out on our days walk. The 'mad' 1/2 kiwi, half Irish girls behind the counter/bar, gave the chef a really hard time when the butties arrived with an egg on!!!! Beofre I could accept the additon to my butty, the girls had given the chef such a hard time that he took the butties away and replaced them a few minutes later with bacon butties. Of course then, we were offered these for free and just paid for the coffee. Now it doesnt end here. Later that evening as Caz and I ventured into Queenstown after a lovely lakeside meal, we fancied "one for the road" . So as we
Ice Bergs
A strange site at the foot of the Glacier - ice bergs floating in the lake! were passing our little Irish bar, the same girl from earlier ( much earlier ) that day saw us, and invited us in for a drink on the house due to the inexplicable, catastrophic error of the egg butty! Who were we to decline, and so 1 beer, 1 glenmorangie, 2 tequila's and 2 "bombs' later and we left......with as much money as we arrived! Gee's those egg butties were good!
Queenstown to Wanaka is only a hours drive across a mountain pass. En route we saw farming at its best! The Kiwis farm a lot of venison and the rough terrain calls for a different type of herding! Heli - herding! The farmers herd the deer using helicopters and we watched on in amazement!
Wanaka is much the same as Queenstown with all the backpackers! Once again, mindblowing scenery, crystal clear lake and lovely cafes and restaurants.
Our journey back to the Northeast corner took about 5 hours and again passed through some wonderful scenery until emerging onto the flat lifeless Cantebury Plain. The highway was fairly busy as it was a Friday evening and it wasnt long before a huge truck crash just 5 cars
The climbers memorial
Caz checking out the memorials of all the climbers perished on the mountain behind us! It sends shivers down your spine when you watch it unfold in your rear view mirror and there is nothing you can do about it!
The road over the Crater Rim into Akaroa Harbour is stunning, and then arriving in Akaroa is even better. This area of NZ was colonised by the French and this remains a very french cultured town, partly for the tourist but also you getthe impression that the locals love to keep it that way for themselves. There is a real French feel to it and the streets have French names too!
We were shown to our accommodation, a lovely, very old ( by NZ standards ) unit above a cafe, with a balcony overlooking the harbour. This was the peace and tranquility time of our holiday and the next few days were spent wondering around the lovely streets, taking coffee at the little cafes around the place and reading the paper on the balcony overlooking the water.....bliss.
Our last highlight of the holiday was an afternoon cruise in search of a few of Akaroa's famous inhabitants. Firstly there are Hectors Dolphins, the worlds rarest and smallest dolphins. Let me tell
Mount Cook
The view to the top you they didnt look rare to me, there were heaps of them. Then there was the worlds smallest penguin, the white winged penguin....or something like that! How the guy on the boat spotted one I do not know, but it was a cute little thing, darting around the surface of the water chasing tiny little fish that looked barely a mouthful! And finally, the New Zealand Fur seal, once hunted to almost extinction for the fur trade and now back in abundance.
What a stunning place. We will be back.
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Howard PETER
non-member comment
Brings back great memories
Matt n Caz.The photos of Mount Cook, Lake Pukaki and the Shotover River Jet Boat bring back great memories of my time there,some of the best of my life.The drive from Christchurch passed Lake Pukaki to Queenstown was magical and compares to the Great Ocean Road in Melbourne, and thats saying something!!!!.You look to be having a wonderful time and wish we were back with you sharing those experiences,perhaps we will in the next couple of years,fingers crossed. Cant wait to see you both in June to Celebrate my Birthday in Style.Take care and see you soon.Keep on exploring and enjoying the best part of the world ,down under!!Howard and Kym