New Zealand - Christchurch

If you aren't up to speed in your recent New Zealand history, Christchurch was hit by two rather damaging earthquakes in the last decade, in 2010 and 2011.  The whole town suffered significant damage, most notably to the city's beautiful stone cathedral.  When we first arrived here last Saturday the whole downtown area seemed completely dead.  Shops were closed, a few restaurants were opening for the evening, but there were hardly any people around!  Driving around the city center is a challenge because you can't go past a block without encountering a construction zone or building that is either condemned, being fixed, or an empty hole in the ground.

All of that being said, Christchurch is still a vibrant city with a population slightly larger than Anchorage and today there were definitely people about and you could tell that locals are working hard to bring things back to normal.

One of the great things about this place is that you can fill a whole day doing free activities - which is exactly what we accomplished!  We started at the botanic garden, which had some cool English style garden areas, a pretty rock garden, and a New Zealand section.  We had fun watching families of ducks with the teeny-tiniest-fluffiest ducklings!  They were so bold that when Hans and I stood still the babies ran around our feet and tugged our shoelaces while the adult ducks looked on very warily.  The magnolias were fading but the cherry trees and rhododendrons were in full bloom.

Kayaks on the Avon River

Our next stop was nearby Riccarton House, on land that was farmed in 1843 by Scottish pioneers, the Dean family.  The cottage is Canterbury's oldest surviving building.  The Victorian/Edwardian era house was also built by the Deans.  While the buildings were cool, our main reason for visiting was the bush grove, a plot of old growth kahikatea forest that is the only remaining section in the entire Cantibury Plain.  The grove is surrounded by an electrified predator-proof fence that one can only enter through a double gate.  You can open the inner gate only when the outer gate is closed and you have to push a button for entry.  It feels like you're entering Jurassic Park!  The grove was very peaceful and the local birdsong was fun to listen to.  We took our time through the grove even though it's supposed to be a 10-minute walk.  While the preserve has been protected for over a hundred years, the plants and trees need assistance with survival by dedicated horticulturalists.

Victoria Clock Tower

Our third stop gets props for my friend Amber for her mentioning of this site.  If not for her it would not have been on my radar.  Because the old stone cathedral downtown has been damaged to the point it needs to be either demolished or deconstructed, world-renown "emergency architect" Shigeru Ban designed a new "temporary" building that is made of literally cardboard, steel, wood, and polycarbon.  It looks like a giant kaleidoscope.  It serves the local Anglicans every day and on Sundays there are choral performances.

We had a pretty greasy cheese-bomb of a pizza for lunch, which we regretted later because we walked over to the Re:START Mall, a collection of shops and cafes built out of shipping containers that have been arranged to make a temporary mall until new and permanent premises are rebuilt.  Picking up on the theme yet?  Christchurch may have a long road to recovery still, but the people are determined to make the most of things as colorfully as possible.  Anyway...about lunch...the mall has awesome food trucks that would have served us better today.  Oh well.

We ended the day at the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, a free collection of contemporary art that had some pretty cool exhibits.  I believe it reopened in around 2013 after the earthquakes.  My favorite was probably the exhibit for New Zealand photographer Fiona Pardington.  Some of her work included still life photographs that were so color saturated and sharp that they looked like 16th-century paintings.

Many downtown buildings are supported with steel beams like this

Get this: the landscape sculpture here is made from 0.5 mm mechanical pencil lead sticks!

For those who always need to know where the are in the art world :)

Here's the old stone cathedral.  The aftershocks killed the giant rose window in the front of the building and the bell tower eventually fell over.  Luckily, only one of the 13 bells was cracked and needed to be recast.  There are plans to build a temporary bell tower next to the Cardboard Cathedral so that the old bells can sound in the city again.

Tonight we don't feel much like dinner because of that pizza.  It's just as well because we have to save our bellies for the Kaikoura Seafest Tomorrow!

New Zealand - The Banks Peninsula

This morning our only task was to be back in Christchurch by nightfall where we'd be checking into jail AGAIN.  Gosh, we just can't stay out of trouble in New Zealand :)

In the morning I asked Hans pretty please if we could drive to the observatory at the top of Mt. St. John.  There was a small toll to use the road but we didn't mind because it's a very hairy and narrow road that probably needs help with maintenance costs.  Hans drove and I averted my eyes from the edge of the road.  The observatory buildings were all closed but we took in the view of Tekapo below and we each had a coffee from the Astro Cafe.

Once we were fairly close to Christchurch, we turned east to the Banks Peninsula which is the ancient volcanic area that sticks out from the south island.  A lot of the land around the peninsula is fairly flat but access to some of the small towns is limited so you have to drive up, up, up some very hairpin turns that have no guard rails at all.  I was doing okay for the first bit of driving uphill but once we crested the mountain and began descending I had to pull over and have Hans drive.  He is my hero today.  Unfortunately the roads were too intense for me and I was practically in tears over the height and poor road shoulder so I just closed my eyes so that I wouldn't freak out Hans while he drove.  We arrived at the former French colony of Akaroa.

Akaroa is a cute seaside resort town with little shops, B&Bs, and cafes.  We didn't linger very long but it was nice to walk around the esplanade and there were even some great sea shells to collect.  Hans drove back over the mountain and we had an easy night in the Jailhouse.  This time I took advantage of the hot water bottles they provide to guests.  Mmm..cozy.

A 150-year old church in Akaroa

Local War Memorial

New Zealand - Cloud Piercer

This morning we left Queenstown under clear blue skies and calm winds.  As we left Central Otago we could see clouds gathered in the next mountain ranges and crossed our fingers that the weather would either hold or improve.

We drove to Mount Cook Village, past Lake Pukaki under grey and dismal conditions.  The plan today was to do the Hooker Valley Pass trail in the Southern Alps and hopefully glimpse the tallest peak in New Zealand, Mt. Aoraki (or Mt. Cook depending on how colonial you feel).  As we pulled into the car park Mt. Sefton was starting to reveal it's peak through the clouds and around the corner up the valley it looked like the clouds might be parting.  Three miles and three suspension foot bridges later we arrived at the end of the trail.  I'll let the photos speak now:

 Lake Dunstan looking very lovely

Giant fruit.....because GIANT FRUIT

The start of the trail, looking at Mt. Sefton 

Top of Sefton

Clearing skies! 

The end of the trail, Hooker Lake and a view of Mt. Aoraki 

Lake Pukaki under the sunshine 

 Back to Lake Tekapo

The great thing about the Hooker Valley Pass hike is that it's EASY with a pretty strong payoff as long as the weather is decent.  The elevation gain is a very mild 80 meters with very few moderately steep areas.  I offered to take a photo for a solo hiker from New Zealand and she said that it was very lucky to have a clear view.  When we saw the clouds opening up we really hustled along the trail and reached the end in about 75 minutes.  So far this has been the day with the most spectacular scenery and weather.

After, we drove back to Tekapo where we'd be spending the night.  We had seen both lakes Pukaki and Tekapo on our way to Queenstown but today the blue glacial water really glowed.  Tekapo sits in the world's first and largest dark skies preserve which means that the town lights have to be below a certain wattage and they have to be aimed at the ground to minimize light pollution.  There is an observatory at the top of Mt. St. John which is at the western edge of the lake.  We were really really hoping that the clear skies would hold so that we could do some cool night photography but unfortunately it became very overcast after nightfall.  No worries.  I'm paraphrasing, but Hans basically said that we'd be expecting nature to "bat one thousand" if we got our wish for clear star gazing conditions after the hike today.  Instead, we got a really good night's sleep and so far this has been the nicest place we have stayed at.  I strongly recommend Tailor Made Backpackers Hostel in Tekapo!  The self-catering kitchen was set up really well, the rooms were very comfortable, and they had a selection of animals for the guests to enjoy including a cat, two rabbits, five chickens (who charged into the compost pile when they were released in the evening) and two very fuzzy lambs.  Awww...

Also, no annoying housemates throwing spoons at each other (long story from our stay in Queenstown).