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Published: April 2nd 2018
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Kia Ora - greetings from New Zealand.
“As the planet heats up environmentally and politically, it’s good to know that New Zealand exists. This uncrowded, green, peaceful and accepting country is the ultimate escape” (Lonely Planet, New Zealand, 2016, p. 4). There are 4.6 million New Zealanders “scattered across ... an area bigger than the U.K., with one-fourteenth the population. Filling in the gaps are the sublime forests, mountains, lakes, beaches and fjords that have made NZ one of the best hiking destinations on earth” (LP, p. 4). This was our third trip to New Zealand, but first time with a car.
New Zealand consists of the North Island, the South Island, Stewart Island and many other islands. Most visitors concentrate on the North and/or South Islands. We flew into Christchurch, on the South Island. Christchurch experienced a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in 2010 and a 6.3 magnitude one in 2011. 185 people were killed in the second earthquake, and it destroyed a lot of buildings in the downtown area. “Entire streets and neighborhoods in the eastern suburbs have had to be abandoned, and Christchurch’s heritage architecture is irrevocably damaged ... the resilience and bravery of
quickly became evident. From the region’s rural heartlands the ‘Farmy Army’ descended on the city, armed with shovels and food hampers. Social media mobilized 10,000 students, and the Student Volunteer Army became a vital force for residential clean-ups in the city's beleaguered eastern suburbs ... Around 80% of the buildings within the city center’s famed four avenues have been or are still due to be demolished. Amid the doomed, the saved, and the shiny new builds are countless construction sites and empty plots still strewn with rubble.” It’s estimated that the total rebuild will last the next 20 years, and cost $40-$50 billion NZ dollars (about $30 billion U.S., LP, p. 462). There is a lot of construction in the Seattle area as they knock down older buildings to make room for new/higher ones. In Christchurch, almost every block in the Central Business District (downtown) has construction going on, as they rebuild the city.
We tried to stay ahead of the weather and for the most part, we were very lucky. We planned to go to Kaikoura for whale watching, but saw that the next two days were nice, followed by four days of rain. So we headed up
to Kaikoura straight away. Our first day, we took a very scenic drive to the top of the South Island. Just north of Kaikoura, we could see landslides from the earthquake that Kaikoura suffered about a year ago (separate from the earthquakes in Christchurch). The main north-south “highway” between Christchurch and Kaikoura had been closed for about a year and had just reopened for several hours each day in December; the road was closed at night so they could still work on it. The speed limit on highways is usually 100 km/hour (about 60 mph); it was often 30 km/hour (about 19 mph), with flaggers stopping us to let oncoming traffic pass on the one-way sections. The flaggers here are the friendliest around. At first I thought they were waving to drivers because they knew them; turns out, they wave to everybody, tourists included.
Anyhow the drive was gorgeous. Beautiful blue sky, great place for a picnic. The next day we want whale watching. We saw two blue whales, and then one sperm whale diving. The blue whales are apparently very rare, so we were lucky to see two of them. The cruise operators have technology that allows them
to hear/sense the sperm whales. The captain knew where this sperm whale was, that it had been underwater for a certain amount of time and was due to come up. The captain knew where to place the boat so that passengers could see the whale when it came up, and then dive back down again. It was a beautiful sight.
We drove back to Christchurch to pick up our Spaceship. Because it’s summer in the Southern Hemisphere (winter in the Northern Hemisphere), it is high season. It was also Chinese New Year; 50,000 Chinese were expected to be traveling in New Zealand, in addition to families taking advantage of school holidays, and other visitors. Accommodation is often sold out, or very expensive, so it would probably be hard or impossible to get a reasonably-priced hotel room. Compromise - get a sleeper/van that you can drive by day, and adjust so you can sleep in at campgrounds. There is a place for luggage, and a place for a tiny fridge and cutlery; on top of that is a mattress and pillows. There are curtains around the whole sleeping area attached by velcro (opened during the day), and the company provides
linens. Very comfortable, but not much room to move around in.
Our first stop with our new transport was Akaroa. Apparently the cyclone that had hit Australia and made our first day on the sailboat a bit rough (see our last blog on Queensland) had now turned into a tropical storm that was affecting New Zealand (i.e., the four days of rain in Kaikoura). The road that had just reopened north of Kaikoura in December was now closed again because of landslides (and would remain closed for about two weeks). Pete wanted to swim with the dolphins, while I went on a nature cruise; both of these trips were the first that had been run since the storm. Both captains warned that there may not be any dolphins, or they may not feel like frolicking in the water. Pete’s adventure was just as he hoped it would be; I did see some dolphins, but it was difficult because the water was so murky, and filled with algae and seaweed. We both saw a penguin in the water - very cool.
LP says that in summer, weather in New Zealand is “generally” settled; the key word being “generally.” Having
said that, and looking at the weather predictions, we really were lucky with what we got. We figured our main points of interest, and tried to work around the weather. But it often turns out to be pure luck. We went back to Kaikoura at the end of our South Island stay and I could have gone whale watching either late that afternoon or early the next morning. I chose the afternoon. The weather was sunny, but with dark clouds in the background; the water wasn’t too choppy. We saw three sperm whales, each of them with a beautiful dive. Because of the surrounding geology and mineral-rich waters, Kaikoura is well-known as a “home to ... a variety of wildlife: whales, dolphins, fur seals, penguins, shearwaters, petrels and several species of albatross, which all live in or pass by the area” (LP, p. 398). So after we saw the three sperm whales, we saw dolphins, albatross, and many other types of birds. We went back to the whale-watching office/cafe in the morning (to take advantage of the company’s free wifi), and saw that three of the first five cruises that morning had bern cancelled because of rough seas (although it
was sunny out). A girl was in tears because her cruise had been cancelled; many people book the tours ahead of time, and allow only that amount of time to go. No telling what Mother Nature has in store; if you’re going to do this, allow plenty of time for bad weather.
Between visits to Kaikoura, we saw the rest of the South Island. Gorgeous!! That’ll be in our next blog. We’re trying to edit that down from over 300 photos ...
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Jan House
non-member comment
Whales
Loved the whale pictures! You are so lucky to have seen them!