Our recent visit to the South Island NZ

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!

Ditch Hopping Yet Again!

Just back four weeks from NZ and we have already booked a return trip at Easter, this time to Auckland and the North Island. China Airlines have just launched an extension three days a week from their Taipei-Brisbane run to include Auckland, and at a ridiculously low fare. I told my sister in law, who then also booked flights across the Ditch. Steve and Adele are going for 7 nights, but Rene and I are just going for 4. We'll jointly have two nights in Auckland and two nights on the Coromandel Peninsula just 90 minutes south east of the city. Easter merges with Anzac Day this year, so the period Good Friday to the following Tuesday are public holidays.

Logistics and infrastructure.

Whilst there's always room for improvement, I've been really impressed at how the various emergency organisations and the military have cooperated in putting well rehearsed plans into operation during the various emergencies that have beset this entire country lately. Katrina's death toll was around 1800 and thus far ours is less than 40.

Let's not forget the truckies and food organisations that have reduced the impact of empty shelves in our shops. Here in Nundah we did without fresh milk for three days and bread for two. Some fruit and vegetables are still out of stock, but in the main all companies have worked extra hard to minimise the impact of consumers. We are among the very fortunate Queenslanders who have not been directly impacted by the catastrophic events of the past couple of months. Many tens of thousands at this point in time are without a home, power and in some cases family and friends. They say devastating events play out in three monthly cycles - if not immediately then at some stage later. The mental health of many people will have been jarred to some extent. One hopes the services are there for them when they need help.

Many country communities are struggling though, since entire districts have been affected by floods and residual water still around a month later. One shire had 80% of roads and bridges washed away, whilst others have been without power for a long time. I took the time to mention how impressed I was with the shelves at the local supermarket and the manager was surprised by my comment but pleased. He said that they had been working extremely hard, and will continue to work hard every hour of the day to provide what we all come to expect as a matter of course when we step into a store. What an incredible country we are so lucky to live in.

Breaking News! Monday Feb 7...

Would you believe just four weeks since the fatal flash floods swept through Toowoomba, the city was hit yet again with a smaller flash flood this morning. Between 6:30am and 7:30am today the city recorded 64mm of rain (around 2.5").

The story of two cyclones...

...one small, and the other truly enormous! As the state still recovers from the massive floods last month, three weeks later the north and far north of the state gets hit by Cyclone Anthony - not extremely large - and a few days later Cyclone Yasi, reported to be the largest cyclone ever recorded in Australia.

The Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh, surveys the sea front of Cardwell - or what was left of it. She's accompanied by the Federal Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister, Wayne Swan, who is our local Federal MP.



This image is of Yasi superimposed on Europe. Winds of up to 300kmh, tidal surges, along with flooding rainfalls all combined to create havoc for our northern neighbours. One person has died in the whole area - due to suffocating from the fumes of a diesel generator operating inside the building and not outside.

Yasi on top of the USA - it was an immense cyclone by any one's standards.

The Senior Citizens Centre in Tully (below) was the designated refuge for the area, but the supervisor (pictured) closed it when she realised the storm would be so very intense. Just as well she got them out and into a safer place.

The day after, these Tully folk - all from one family, plus some friends - pausing during the repairs to the family home.

Port Hinchinbrook was home to millions of dollars worth of boats - now all wrecked and tossed around. Note the buildings which are new and built to withstand the Category 5 (highest rating) cyclone. They appear to have come through this event moderately undamaged (except for a few windows etc).

Another victim of the weather is the farmer, who not only has had their home battered but also their livelihood seriously impaired for at least a year. A significant percentage of the banana crops were ruined - and this region is our major supplier.