We left Doonadin for two nights at Lake Tekapo, a decent drive of about 5 hours I think. We were booked into another Peppers resort which had excellent facilities including a good kitchen, and a good view of the lake. I went to find the guest laundry to wash our clothes and while there I talked to a lady from Sydney who had traveled from the Nth Island to Picton on the ferry, then drove to Kia Koura. She said the main Rd was closed due to the earthquake of last November and the detour through a big loop round mountains and with much roadworks took 7.5 hours and was a nightmare. This alarmed me as I knew we were scheduled to drive from Kia Koura to Picton in a few days time and were to spend one day in Picton before returning the next to Christchurch which would mean a 7.5 hour drive one way then returning the same route two days later. My mobile phone was not working there and for some reason the landline could not get through to our travel agent, so Lib had a conversation with Rob on We Chat and he on our behalf contacted Emerald Lake Travel to cancel the two nights in Picton and try to get two more in Kia Koura. This took 24 hours to expedite and unfortunately the Picton Motel said they would not give us refund so we did $550 cold, but saved $200 in petrol and avoided two days sitting in a car. Such is life.
Another disquiet at this point was an email (which I could access on the mobile phone) from Peppers at Christchurch saying we had used items from the minibar and they had billed the credit card $70. This riled me because we never use the mini bar.. never.. wherever we go. I disputed this with them and they said they would credit the card and it must have been a mistake, and the amount was credited. Strange business really, I can only assume a staff member knocked off some items (wine, chocolate bar and chips). When you stay in these places you have to give them your credit card details, just like when you hire a car, so they can bill you if they wish.
Our full day at Tekapo was spent driving to the alpine village of Aoraki near Mt Cook past the beautiful blue waters of Lake Pukaki and the snow covered mountains as backdrop. This certainly was jaw dropping spectacular. We picnicked lunch and walked to a viewing point of the Tasman glacier.
With the effects of global warming and other climatic processes taking their toll on New Zealand glaciers, their retreat is imminent. Now approximately 27km long and 600m deep, the Tasman Glacier is melting and calving at an exponentially increasing rate. In recent years the Tasman Glacier has changed from a 'melting' to a 'calving and melting' terminus, resulting in a terminal lake that is rapidly increasing in size. - See more at: http://www.hermitage.co.nz/en/activities/glacier-explorers#sthash.7TE3gmf3.dpuf
I lifted that from a website and somehow the black and white reversed. The lake had mini icebergs floating in it. Apparently NZ's glaciers are melting at an accelerating rate and will disappear in the not too distant future.
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| The other way down the glacial valley |
As we left Tekapo on the morning of 11 March the weather closed in with drizzle and low cloud. If this had come a day early we would have seen nothing of the magnificent mountains and blue lake scenery we had enjoyed in the clear full sunshine of the previous day.
We arrived in Christchurch in the afternoon and took a full hour driving (and parking and walking) around the renovated city to locate our hotel which was built pre earthquake but was contemporary in design and apparently one of the safest or strongest buildings in the city. In the vicinity there were many vacant lots where damaged buildings had been removed and much construction. It was a bit scary. I spoke to a lady who said she fell down when the earth shook and had carpet burns from the ground moving so quickly underneath her. On a building site fence near our hotel there were flower wreaths, all dried out, with the names of people who must have perished there and the date of the eathquake. Presumably they were put there on the recent anniversary of the event. Christchurch is built on reclaimed swamp land, not ideal on a fault line.
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| Construction site opposite our hotel |
It was then on to KiaKoura. What would have been a drive of a couple of hours was double that due to a detour caused by rain on roadworks repairing damage to the road by the earthquake that hit KiaKoura last November. We had three nights in Kiakoura and two full days to explore. We needed this rest. My right foot had flared up and become very painful because of the RA. I didn't take my weekly abatacept injection in NZ (it needs refrigeration) so I missed one, and by day 12 since the injection on the day we left, I was in a lot of pain walking with a serious limp. I had brought cortisone tablets with me as precaution and got into them and the pain eased but was with me for the remainder of the holiday and in fact right up till last week when my resumed injections and tumeric daily intake got on top of it and much to my relief I'm pain free again, a great feeling.
KiaKoura is fascinating place. The weather was cool and windy while we were there but we weren't concerned. It's a coastal town, a tourist venue for Christchurch residents and famous for its fish and chips, historically many families driving from Christchurch to enjoy on weekends. It's now well known as a whale watching base. Whaling was the early industry of the town and and also fur seals. We didn't see any whales but the seals were numerous on the point below the lookout in fact there was a number of them sleeping on the boardwalk or just off to the side each time we went there. They are known to often be on the road and apparently they have no road sense at all and you have to watch for them when driving.
Along the roadside in a couple of places there was silver beet growing in clumps, strong and healthy, which we picked for our dinner. I later learned when we visited the museum that Kiakoura is one of two locations in NZ where silver beet has naturalized and grows wild. The museum is in a new building, a part of the community centre and is packed with history and information. It has not been open long and the lady who was on duty said she was a paid part time employee funded by the admission price which was $12 a head or $30 for a family. The museum board received a grant of some $millions from the NZ lottery and the new display was about 5 years in the making and is a work in progress.
The town is built on the shore of a bay protected by a rock platform where the seal colony hangs out, to the south and east of which is open ocean across which cold winds can rip from the southern ocean or the antarctic. A mountain range runs along the west of the town which is snow peaked in winter. This range protects from the cold westerlies from the alps, but in the cemetery I saw the graves of two young men in their twenties who perished in a storm on 4 December 1904. I guess they were trying to save livestock and were caught out. In the museum there was a photo of a man who also perished in the mountains, found frozen with his brother's dog still by his side. It left me in no doubt that the climate of the South Island can be extremely harsh.
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| Earthquake damage at cemetery |
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| Add caption |
Next day after checkout we went to the amazing Botanic Gardens again. Lib didn't really see them on our first day as she was catching up on shut eye. Following a little souvenir gift shopping in the mall in the city we went to Mona Vale gardens and rested till it was time to head out to the airport, returning the hire car at the scheduled 5.30 pm and waiting for our flight out at 9.05pm, arriving Melbourne about 11pm EST. Rob picked us up and took us home. Home sweet home at about 1am 17 March, after a truly memorable holiday.
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| At Mona Vale- copper beech |
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| Lib and Gord Christchurch Gardens |
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