We returned four weeks ago to the news of Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley both experiencing deadly flash flooding. Recounting events of our holiday seemed a trifle unimportant then, and only now do I feel ready to tell about our truly wonderful visit to New Zealand's South Island to celebrate our first wedding anniversary.
It began in Christchurch, the city that experienced the 7.1 magnitude earthquake last September. We concentrated for 12 nights on the lower half of the island driving in a clockwise direction, keeping the most spectacular vistas of the west coast as our finale. The first two nights were spent in a delightful B&B in a vineyard just 20 minutes west of the city. There Robbert (a Dutchman) and his partner Scott looked after us, even providing a lovely dinner on the second evening - our actual wedding anniversary. They also provided a taste of the earthquake with a 4.3 aftershock and a 3.5 a minute later on our last morning there to let us have the merest small taste of what they had experienced for 40 very long seconds. Damned scary!
Lunch on the first day was at the Langdale Vineyard restaurant nearby. They were closed for a private function, but after a while they said they could do up a platter to share. When it arrived I had to take a photo of it. Delicious! Oh, the Langdale Rose was really lovely too, but it actually came from the neighbouring vineyard and had the Langdale name on it.
After lunch we drove to the coast north of Christchurch and found the beaches littered with masses of piled up timber from trees along the two rivers north and south of here that had been in flood the week before. The timber was flushed out to sea then deposited back by subsequent tides. This was the root system of a tree, notice the beautiful stones embedded in the roots as it grew alongside the river.
You can take a punt in Christchurch. The city is very English, as opposed to Dunedin further south which is very Scottish.
It was a bit ghoulish to photograph earthquake damage, so I limited the number, but this was a church near to our hotel - one of many to be repaired later. Lots of cleared building sites were in evidence too.
The university had some damage, like the tower pictured to the right of the entrance. It was lifted off the base (left of the entrance) before it collapsed and was decorated like a Christmas tree.
Below - looking towards Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula. It was the site of an early attempt by the French to settle here.
The pohutukawa, the New Zealand Christmas tree, flowers in November and December and was in abundance everywhere you looked. I remember outside the New Zealand pavilion at Expo in Shanghai they had an enormous one positioned where visitors left the long walk through gardens stretching down the pavilion's roof. It was a magnificent specimen, but it was fake. Clever Kiwis!
Driving south of Christchurch we came across the Moeraki Boulders, 60 million year old septarian concretions. It was high tide on a rather murky afternoon. In NZ you can have four seasons in one day, and this was one of those days.
More beautiful scenery - just hundreds of calendar moments dotted along the coastline.
Wildlife is in abundance, and one day we saw blue penguins, fur seals, yellow eyed penguins and albatrosses in settings so beautiful and rugged as to be truly memorable.
You may have to click on the picture below to see the adults and pups on the rocks.
We're standing with the city of Dunedin in the background. We were told that 63 cruise ships will call into Dunedin during 2011.
The architecture is very Scottish. Below is Otago Boys High School.
Here we have the Flemish styled Dunedin station opposite the law courts.
The city is littered with attractive British styled churches. It is quite remarkable to see.
The walk (below) is down to Tunnel Beach. It was stunning, but so was the walk back up. Rene took it in his stride whereas yours truly... well, you can guess how I performed.
We had one night on a farm stay B&B, and we had a tour in the afternoon to see the Charolais cattle, the sheep plus the pigs. Dinner that night was created by our guide, Rob, and we dined on local pork sausage and venison. He was a great bloke, and we would like to visit again one day.
This lighthouse is facing due south - next stop Antarctica. Bracing wind made for an interesting walk up to the light. Incredibly rugged coast, typical of the south of NZ.
Wild water rushing everywhere - along creek beds, river beds and down mountainsides.
This lake, like many dozens here, is really this blue due to the sediment from glaciers suspended in the water. We took dozens of pictures of blue lakes everywhere on the west coast.
We only stopped for lunch in Queenstown. It is the centre of snow skiing for most of the year and in summer is still a magnet to tourists.
Fiordland is the home to Milford Sound. This place is truly spectacular with is near vertical sides, massive falls and deep water. While we were here we also had rain, showers and misty sunshine as well as this sunshine at the start. My favourite day of the trip (I think - I really liked it all).
This was taken on the way back to Te Anau, the place where we spent two nights. Gorgeous! I was half expecting Julie Andrews to appear in the photo declaring 'The hills are alive..."
This could well be in Europe, couldn't it? But no, it's 100% Pure New Zealand!
One of the two glaciers we visited, but Fox Glacier was closed to visitors due to extreme wet weather the previous week, so we went half an hour away to Franz Josef Glacier, where we walked right up to the base. Superb experience!
Me on the way back to Christchurch after having crossed Arthur's Pass. More awesome scenery! I deliberately left the word 'awesome' to the end because it is a much watered down word today where its overuse often makes me want to scream. But here, at the conclusion of our visit, I can only use one word to describe this magnificent South Island. Awesome!
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