Abuzzy, Affordable, Alpha, Apollo, Britz, Cheapa, Cruisy, Discover, Escape, Euro, Happy, Hippie, Hugo, Jucy, Kea, Kiwi, Mauri, Mighty, Roadrunner, Rocket, Spaceships, Star, Sweet As, Tui, United, Walkabout, Wendekreisen, Wicked, … and of course Wilderness … what a lot of camper companies, providing everything from a converted estate car or VW style camper to a one like ours, or even bigger. We’ve also seen converted buses and an ambulance!
We return our campervan today and think we chose the right one for us … it didn’t need to be bigger and we wouldn’t have wanted it smaller! The only irritation is that we lost at least a couple of days of our trip in sorting out maintenance issues, and while Wilderness did get them sorted, if the van was better maintained it wouldn’t have happened. In fact, we’ve been driving round for the last three weeks with a cutlery drawer that we tie up with rope every time we set off as the latch has broken and a bathroom floor that needs regular wiping as every time the water pump is turned on, there is a leak from the basin! We could have asked for repairs, but it would have taken more time out of our trip to arrange. Whinge over, but fired up and all packed, ready for our arrival in Christchurch! Incidently, our campervans have taken us just over 4,000 miles in total in 50 days, so well done Chris for doing all the driving.
Christchurch was severely damaged by a series of earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 and recovery will take years. 70% of the buildings in the centre have been or will need to be demolished, and doing this and planning effectively for the future has taken time. Our hotel was only built in the 1990s, and fortunately only required repairs before reopening 18 months ago, but there are still buildings covered in scaffolding, awaiting news of their fate, and a huge number of rubble covered lots where buildings have been demolished … a city with far more parking than it knows what to do with!
A vibrant street art scene has introduced murals, temporary sculptures and green spaces to enliven the city and others to provoke thought, like 185 Empty Chairs to remember the 185 people who lost their lives in the earthquakes.
The cathedral is in a particularly bad way and as an interim measure, a temporary building was designed by Shigeru Ban, a disaster architect, utilising shipping containers, a polycarbonate roof and cardboard tubes which resulted in it being affectionately known as the Cardboard Cathedral.
Three lovely old trams run round the city and the drivers give a far more up to date commentary than any guide book, proudly pointing out the Re-Start Mall where shipping containers are used for shops and cafes.
We took a turn round the botanic garden …
… and the Canterbury museum to see Fred and Myrtle’s front room from their home, decorated with Paua shells and a shrine to Kiwi kitsch Kiwiana. There was also T-Shirts Unfolding, a celebration of the T-shirt, with a huge collection of display, together with history and quirky facts such as a cotton T shirt was regulation underwear for the US Navy to conceal chest hair!
Later we took a ride on the gondola to the top of the Port Hills. We saw Lyttelton harbour below where the early settlers landed, the Bridle Path which they had to climb and the Pioneer Women’s Memorial on the spot where they rested before heading onwards to Christchurch, some 15kms further on.
There are quite a few coffee shops and daytime eateries, but far fewer restaurants opened for dinner, but we found The Villas housed in just that, two old residential houses, where we had a lovely meal and a bar and pizzeria run by Cassells, the local brewery.
We weren’t sure what to expect in Christchurch, but are really pleased we spent a day here. I can’t imagine how dreadful the earthquakes must have been, or what the city looked like afterwards for it to still look as it does 4 years on, especially as there have been huge changes in the last year according to locals. The plans for rebuilding are impressive, so Christchurch would definitely be on the list if we return to New Zealand.
Tomorrow we leave on an early flight to Auckland, then on to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands so the adventure continues!
The mainly straight road took us away from the mountains and towards the plain. We were going to do a couple of kms of the Mount Somers Track to Shaplin Falls … but our plans fell through. Instead, I was able to take a photo of a pukeko or swamp hen, an almost flightless bird that we saw far more of on the North island but didn’t get round to snapping … then we saw no more till today!
Mackenzie Country is named after a Kiwi folk hero, a Scottish immigrant of uncertain background who was arrested in 1885 for stealing over 1,000 sheep and grazing them in an unknown area of high-country pasture with the assistance of a single dog, Friday.
Next stop Rakaia Gorge …
We took the back beach road to Oamaru so we could enjoy what I think will be our last stretch of coastline in New Zealand, and it was striking even though the morning was rather grey.
Having carefully planned our arrival to be at low tide, when we walked down the beach we could see what looked like perfectly curved concrete domes protruding out of the sand. These are the Moeraki Boulders which were formed 55m years ago by lime depositing round shells or pebbles, rather like a pearl in an oyster, to make solid spherical concretions over a metre across. The sea has eroded the cliffs, releasing them from the softer stone and they have embedded in the sand. Needless to say an unusual sight and a tempting photo op!
We arrived at Leith Campsite on the outskirts of Dunedin.
The world’s smallest penguins, they are just 30cm tall and weigh a kilo each, and the first little group got washed onto the beach and started scurrying up the sand. They clambered over some rocks and up a sandy path to their burrows … all very fast! We were standing on a viewing platform and they came very close, but the lights were dim so not to frighten them and we obviously couldn’t use a flash, so the photos are vague. We saw around 40 in all return home and they were very cute!
Leaving Invercargill, our first stop was Waipapa Lighthouse, slightly further south than Bluff and more interesting as it had a lighthouse and also a sealion on the beach. He was a bit sleepy after swimming and fishing, but cast a beady eye our way! Moments later the heavens opened!
We drove through the countryside, past grazing sheep and cattle, along straight roads down to the south coast. Our first view of the sea was at McCrackens Rest where we looked out to Te Waewae Bay, hoping to see Hector Dolphins, but were not lucky on this occasion. Further on we stopped at a free camping spot overlooking Monkey Island.
After camping at Mossburn Country Farm, we continued to Te Anau … The Gateway to Fiordland.
So this is a tale of four lakes. We soon saw our first lake, a huge lake called Lake Wanaka, retreating into the distance in both directions.
Off Travelling Together 