Tues 8th Feb - Mackenzie Country & Lake Tekapo

Leaving the Banks Peninsula, which was beautifully convoluted high rolling hills & valleys, bays etc, you drop straight back down onto the Canterbury plains – which go on for AGES, and are pretty uninteresting! Must be jolly useful for the New Zealanders, as most of their agriculture happens there – but scenic at all.

Then – WHAM – all of a sudden,  you're into Mackenzie country – high rolling pastures at the southern edge of the Canterbury plains, and before you hit the southern alps. Named after the legendary James “Jock” Mackenzie; a rustler who ran and grazed his stolen flocks in this then, unpopulated area very successfully for years in the 1840’s. It was only after he was caught that people realised the land’s potential for grazing, and settled here.

 Then on to Lake Tekapo – on the way to the southern alps – beautiful blue lake (minerals washed down from the hills), and a lovely chapel on the lake (complete with japanese tourist wedding –  no REALLY!), and memorial tribute statue  to the role the collie dogs played in working the grazing in Mackenzie country.

Sun 6th Feb - Banks Peninsula & Arakoa

Today we feel as if we’ve hit the jackpot!

Yesterday on a “whim” , instead of heading south, turned Rt from Christchurch, out onto the Banks Peninsula – the site of historic Maori / British / French clashes; horrid massacres, and, eventually, the site of the final reconciliation for NZ – the signing of the Waitiangi Treaty.

Today is, in fact, a special day here today, as is Waitangi Day – the anniversary of the treaty.

We’ve had a brilliant time around here – arriving yesterday evening, to be brave and set up out first “rough camp”. No sanitised shower block; no electric hook-up; no toilets; just us! Oh yes, and maybe our lovely little NO WORRIES van.

Today we visited Akaroa, and went for a morning sail on a 1922 gaff-rigged ketch, Fox ll. We had the most wonderful weather conditions, and were SO privileged to see many pods of Hectors dolphins playing around the boat – these are the world’s most rare dolphins – also the smallest, and only found in NZ waters. Also, watched little blue, white - flippere’d penguins several circling albatrosses (gulp!), and a colony of NZ fur seals.

What a day!

This whole peninsula was formed by a HUGE volcanic eruption, many millions of years ago – and as you drive out onto the remote summit road, as we are on now – you can actually pick out the huge volcanic crater rim! Wow! Was once totally land-locked, but the sea eventually pounded a way through, thus forming this amazing harbour at Arakoa.

Tonight, we’re camped at OUR  cove (no-one else in sight), listening to the waves lapping, watching the sun going down , and sipping NZ Sauvignon Blanc. 

It doesn’t get much better than this!

Antarctica

We’ve just spent a fascinating day visiting the International Antarctic Centre just outside Christchurch. We’ve done everything from riding a perilous journey in a Hagglund (arctic ATV);  surviving an Antarctic storm with windchill factor taking us down to -18; fed Little Blue penguins; been drenched by special effects in a 4D film experience of Antarctica, and been stuffed full of interesting trivia, which should hold us in good stead for the Antarctic version of Triv/Purse.  Rick also played in the dressing up box trying on genuine smelly old gear! No comment.

">Now off to drive further south and find some Lord of the Rings scenery..................

Over the Cook Straits to South Island

Made it to South Island day before yesterday, and spent or first day motoring south, admiring the views and looking for good places to eat / stop over.

found a brillian place for lunch, at The Shed @ Kekerengu

Saly & Pepper Squid.....
Yum

The camper in Kaikoura, to seal watch on the coast and look out for whales. (saw lots of seals - no whales)

Decided to go for easy option supper which  was great - had our first take away, from the Black Rabbit Cafe. Kaikoura

"Crabs on Dough Pizza" - with Horseradish & Lime sauce, with crayfish, artichoke, bacon & capiscum.
Now that's what I call a take-away! 

Christchurch - South Island - "little England"

First settled in 1850, Christchurch ispretty conservative, has “pinched” many street names from old England, and you could even believe you were punting along the Cam on the pretty river Avon that meanders through the city (if you ignore the roads that criss-cross it).

Our day started off well with a yummy late brunch / early lunch at C1 Expresso



Breakfast Burrito




Eggs Benedict with bacon



Iced coffee on a hot day. Perfect!

(In case you hadn’t already “clocked it” – being on holiday is Hell! – sorry about your chilly weather back in the UK)

 Then had an interesting day exploring the city; including the “historic” city tram – a circular route taking in the main historic city centre, then a gondola ride up to the crater rim, with views over Lyttelton Harbour to the East, and back North towards Christchurch City and the Southern Alps – Kaikoura range.

After a nice sedate sit on the tram, took to the streets and feet,  and did a self-guided walking tour – led by Rick, so obviously included several “must-see” pubs and breweries along the way! Even managed to fit in the odd “must-do” cocktail!

Finished up our Christchurch experience with the best  Racks of Lamb we've ever tasted - juicy, full of flavour, oh Yum

No Worries - Our new little Vans-R-Us

Lets face it!

PIG had to go!

Besides being very old, (nothing wrong with that!) he was Spartan inside, very sparsely fitted out, and had never been loved. So he’s gone – hurrah -and has been replaced by the nice people in Christchurch, with a rather better updated version of exactly the same VW vehicle.

Instead of a van about to be retired we now have one only 2-3 years old with many more cupboards, twice as many work surfaces and less sad upholstery. It’s actually pretty much the vehicle we expected to get in the first place. GRRR!

Everybody is now happy and Sue is able to play house to her heart’s content, although with so many cupboards and Sue having done the stowing I’ll never find anything ever again. Thankfully I’m now able to turn off the engine without the distinct possibility of it not starting again. So “No Worries” is our new home for the next 5 weeks.

Please ignore the beer bottles top right - they are an optical illusion!

The lost pink and White Terraces - lost 8th Wonder of the World

Dotted around the central region of North Island is a huge geo-thermal playground, with distinct areas of steaming sulphorous pools ranging from warm to a hot boil; steam vents; bubbling mud pools; geysers bubbling away quietly, then spouting huge plumes of hot water/ stream/mud into the air just to catch you out!  The whole area sits on a series of magma “spikes” and is hugely unstable, and as such, remains a tourist draw, even though it can be pretty dangerous.

The area which really kick-started tourism in NZ  was just to the South-East of Rotarua; two natural  “cascades” of silica terraces, formed thousands of years ago by some catastrophic past eruption. These terraces were extremely beautiful, one white and one pink, due to the different minerals cascading down them to form the terraces – both of which had formed a series of shallow pools, several  metres wide, tiered down the hillside until they reached the lake. At the top of each terrace, the water was very hot; but as it cascaded down, each tier got cooler, until at the very bottom, it was just pleasantly warm.

As you can imagine, this was enjoyed and  revered  by the local Maori tribe, who lived very happily in this benign geo-thermal wonderland for generations; using it for many purposes – pure pleasure: bathing / washing etc; cooking (in the hotter, top pools); and some sacred areas too.

In the early 1820’s the first European’s hit the region – missionaries were the first, and did their best to “reform” these “primitive people”; bring them religion; teach them how to farm “properly” in the English traditions – grow wheat, mill and make flour; build “proper” houses, with gardens in enclosure spaces, on streets with fences. You get the picture!,

Since being “civilized”, eventually the word got out about these amazing silica terraces, and early travelers from around Europe began to arrive to see this phenomenon for themselves.

The Maoris , who until this stage, had never seen “Money”, soon caught on, and - never a race to miss out on an opportunity – realized they were sitting on a goldmine, and organized themselves into an early tourism industry. The tribes who lived at the entrance to the terraces, started charging travelers entrance to their area. To reach the terraces, you needed to be ferried across the lake, which incurred another charge, and, of course, once there, you needed a guide to show you all the wonderful areas, look after your clothes whilst you bathed, provide you with food and drink etc. One of the first guides was a (now) famous Maori lady called Sophia, who was reputedly a beauty and interesting, reliable & knowledgeable guide.

This influx of travelers brought a good income to the local tribes, and led to the development of several hotels close by to service the visitors, mostly run by Europeans. Some local tribal elders  however, were very unhappy with the changes in the traditional ways, and predicted that greed and change would bring catastrophe.

By the mid 1880’s business was booming, but in 1886, New Zealand  disaster struck one night, when  Mt Tarawera exploded, splitting a large tract of land which resulted in the terraces sinking to the bottom of the lake.  Huge dust clouds rained down for hours after the explosion,  burying many surrounding  villages  in volcanic ash

By morning, the ash had stopped falling and many survivors made their escape –those who had found shelter in traditional Maori homes (with steep pitched roofs reaching almost to the ground, and no windows) mostly survived, but unsurprisingly, the European style hotels, missions etc,with shallow or flat roofs were wrecked incurring many fatalities.

The day before the disaster, Sophia, our guide, had been taking a group of tourists across the lake when they saw an ancient war canoe, full of warriors – visible for moments, then disappearing into the mists!

We visited this village, Te Wairoa, a few days ago –check out www.buriedvillage.co.nz it was absolutely fascinating. We were shown round the site by Sophia’s grandson – a lovely Maori guy called Ho-ne, who had lots of stories to tell, and a LOT of bad jokes. What a character! The village has been partially excavated  and now tells the story of the lost 8^th wonder of the world and delivers a thought-provoking message about commercialism, social conversion and  “civilization”.

On the whole, Maori culture, although downtrodden by the first settlers, has stood up for itself and its traditions, and has managed to maintain and protect its traditions and history, despite also embracing the 21^st Century. What has happened here with the indigenous race feels so much better than the fate of the Australian Aborigines.

Another, much smaller area of geothermal silica terraces exists a few miles further south of Rotarua, on the way to Lake Taupo – Orakei Korako. We visited here early one morning, when the early morning sun on lake Ohakuri was beautiful. Check out www.orakeikorako.co.nz – it’s the only remaining natural silica terrace and, although smaller than the pink and white terraces, was still pretty amazing. There are gushing geysers, colourful terraces, bubbling mud – the lot! The whole area has a boardwalk around it – we were the first to visit, and had the whole place to ourselves for an hour. Magic.  There is also one of only 2 known geothermal caves in the wold here – Ruatapu Cave – with a jade green pool at the bottom, alive with nesting birds and shimmering like a jewel.   

Update on the little Piggy-Van

Good news – they have taken our concerns re this crap little piggy-van seriously, and we are now on our way to pick up a better one in Christchurch tomorrow. This involves getting across to South Island sooner than we’d anticipated, but we’re very glad to be re-jigging our trip and (hopefully) setting off on week 2 in NZ, after tomorrow with a nicer travelling house. At least, will be nice to have confidence the next one won’t suddenly conk out!  Hope to be installed In the new one by the end of Wednesday, so will soon report on the new one..

King Rick – Check this out!

On our last evening in Rotarua, we went on a cultural evening to the Mitai Maori village, to experience a Maori concert and Hangi – their traditional feast of meats, veg & puds all cooked in a huge pit on hot stones with lots of steam.

Imagine my surprise when, on being asked for one of the assembled throng to put themselves forward  to be in charge for the night – Rick volunteered to be KING of us visitors!!!

OMG!

He then had to be trained in how to make a suitable speech to the Maori Chief he would be meeting, and more importantly, how not to upset him! Apparently, on a previous evening last year, a visiting rugby team had not treated the whole cultural experience with due respect, and on meeting the Chief, and lauging at the ceremony, the King of the night was treated to a head-butt and suffered a broken nose! Arghh!

King Rick, duly primed, (and me as first lady) then led the whole evening down to the water to see the Maori canoe full of scantily clad warriers, (oh YES!) then, once we were all seated, King R met and passed muster with the Chief, made  an extremely good speech on behalf of all us visitors, then sat in pole position to watch the dancing and scary Hakka – their extremely realistic war dance.

After that, we had lovely grub – steam/stone roast  chicken & lamb with stuffings, sweet potatoes, lots of veggies & salads & several puds.

And to round off the evening, a walk down by their river to see local glow-worms “doing their thing”

Thankfully, Rick was told he could only be king for a day, so any delusions of grandeur are now back in the box!

Update on NZ Impressions

We LIKE their sense of humour. They certainly don’t take themselves too seriously.

In al little town we passed through called Bulls, we found the following descriptions of their local amenities:-

Library : Read-a-Bull

Medical Centre – Cure-a Bull

Post Office – Post-a Bull

ATM Machine – Rob-a-Bull. ……..etc etc. Nice!