Welcome back, Sandra is doing most of the heavy lifting on this one. I find it oddly relaxing listening to other people type – particularly when it’s so fluently too:
Friday, 29th December 2023
We woke up slowly on the Friday morning, knowing that we were not on the road again until tomorrow. The air conditioning was deployed and our usual breakfast enjoyed. Cheviot, as you may have guessed, is not a major tourist destination, sitting as it does astride the SH1 between Picton in the North and Christchurch in the south. We perused Google maps as we felt like we needed to get out and stretch our legs a little bit and see some of the beautiful scenery that is round about. Richard managed to find the directions to the mouth of the Whanganui River a short drive away. It was right on the Pacific Ocean and had a caravan and camping site next door. After a coffee, we set off and ended up seeing some beautiful vistas out to sea and the river mouth was so large and stony that people were actually driving onto it – 4x4’s mind you. We first parked up on a promontory that was the end of the road – there had been a coastal path there in the past but the 2016 earthquake had seen it crumble into the sea. There was a lagoon, as you will see from Richard’s photos – hard to tell if fresh or salt water – the latter being more likely I think. It reminded me of that lagoon in the South of England – the spit of land between the lagoon and the sea having a road on in the UK.
We turned round – wings on the car would be required otherwise! We headed the short distance down to the level of the river mouth and the caravan and camp site beside it. There were a couple of caravans, motorhomes, and a tent I think there – so quite a busy site. In addition, there was a caravan with awning attached which was definitely in the style of a Bradcot. There was a toilet block but we did not test it out. All this for NSD$10 per night. If I may, I would like to take a slight detour. Whilst on the south island we have seen far more caravans of all shapes and sizes including plenty that the UK reader would readily recognise. We did come across one van – Fairway, I happen to know this as a dealer special from what used to be Harrington Caravans in Delamere Cheshire. My instinct was confirmed when the rear of the van came into view and a big GB sticker was on the back. I can only assume it must have been brought with people when they moved to live here. It had certainly travelled a very long way and looked in very good condition for its age.
We both walked on the river mouth – if only to say we had done so! Currently it is the dry season and the river is reduced to two channels towards the far side – but from the 4x4’s on the other bank, neither were particularly deep. It would certainly be a sight to be seen in full flood – again hard to tell if that ever happens these days.
On the way back we were delayed a little:
Sandra:
We returned to the apartment and we cooked grilled steak – delicious and the usual accompanying vegetables. We were short of beer and wine so it was decided that we would stroll up to the local corner shop – about 7pm. It was quiet indeed apart from the odd HGV passing through on the main highway. Sadly, we should have read the information poster on the wall of the apartment – it closed at 6.30pm! Still, a 5 minute or so stroll there and back after dinner was pleasant – even including a sit under the main square tree in the cool, yes it has got very hot these last few days – and as you will see it gets even more so the further south we go.
Ok, so it was just me that was short of grog but to be honest I wasn’t that bothered. Yes, you did read that last bit right!
Sandra:
A little bit of TV watching, our usual end of day crossword attempts – some nights much better than others! Memory serves this was an average to good with several words being guessed. We are on the highest and ‘Hard’ level now so we do not expect a ‘walk in the park’ to get the answers. A very good night’s sleep and that was it for today.
Saturday, 30th December 2023
Time to move on once more – this time another relatively short drive to Christchurch where we were to spend 3 nights over the New Year period. We were still in wine and vineyard countryside and the night previous I had identified a few vineyards on the SH1 which might yield some bottles of wine to take home to the UK thought I. We left in good time – no hurry as we could not get into our next apartment in Christchurch until 2pm. Well, as the saying goes, ‘best laid plans and all that …..’ We found the first one, the only one open apparently, but did not sell Syrah or Shiraz – so we moved on. My plan was also to combine a driving stop and a coffee whilst looking at the wines in their shops. Well, shall I say that it went rather downhill from then, the few we found were closed – some approaching permanently by their outward appearances. Richard even managed to find a little heritage railway – we found it but all shut up and looked like it had been for some time too.
Yes, a little disappointing as I know Sandra was keen to secure some gifts, however it was notable that, further south from the more famous Marlborough region, many of the vineyards only offered a Pinot Noir when it came to reds. A climate and/or type of soil issue at a guess. No matter, we would of course be heading back north so will make time then.
Sandra:
At this point, I was ready for a coffee and not one roadside café had been passed that was open. We were nearing Christchurch – way too early and then we struck lucky, a vintage caravan selling coffee and cakes in a car park on the opposite side of the road – by now traffic was getting very heavy so we did not have time to make the right turn. Thankfully, a few metres up the road was a right turn and we turned round and headed back to the café. It was a quirky set up but the coffee and cake were delicious, toilets and a look round the antique shop which also sold cooking utensils etc. On leaving, after sitting outside under a large verandah watching the traffic go by, we decided that it was not sensible to try and turn right out of the café either. A turn left and very hard pressing of the accelerator enabled us to travel a short distance, make another turn round and rejoin the traffic. It was pretty much continuous now and people did not have too much space between each vehicle and we were fully loaded.
It was the first time I’d really had to push the Elantra and was well impressed, given its weighty cargo! The days of automatics being sluggish are long gone and as I’ve said before it’s such a pleasure to drive and whilst there’s no paddles to change gear manually you can flick the selector sideways and shift up and down that way if you wish. If it wasn’t for Patsy I’d be looking for a car like this.
Sandra:
Whilst at the café we had perused the maps as to where we might have our picnic lunch – I saw New Brighton – a beach and a pier. New Brighton is a small town on the Wirral peninsula in the UK and in Victorian times it too had a pier – sadly long gone. A very good friend of mine and her children live nearby so I couldn’t resist suggesting we paid it a visit for the photos alone. We were to be very pleasantly surprised – a massive beach, obviously a favourite with people as there were lots in the sea and on the beach, the pier was busy too with people fishing. We found a car park and the bonus was the usual facilities too. We sat and ate our lunch with the air conditioning on for most of the time – it was now showing 30C on the car computer – hot it certainly was – it was just after midday too.
We then made our way to the apartment just on the outskirts of the City Centre. It is a small complex of 8 apartments, all fully fitted out with kitchen, bathroom with bath and shower and a lounge area. It is very clean and tidy and looks like it had been recently painted. From chatting with one of the owners – who handily live on site, I think they have not had ownership of the motel for too long. Kitchens are dated but clean and functional, similarly the bathrooms. There are two major drawbacks to the place, however. It currently does not have any air conditioning and temperatures in the very high 20’s to low 30’s makes it quite a challenge. I am sure in the fullness of time this will change. The other issue is that it is on a major roadway – dual carriageway and the entrance/exit of it is right by a set of traffic lights – during the day its fine, you have to turn left and as Christchurch is built on an American grid style system, running round a block to ensure you are going the right way is no problem at all.
A search online revealed a pub/steakhouse just a few minutes up the road, and after ‘being good’ and cooking in the motels for a few nights we reckoned a meal out was deserved.
Very tasty it was too – a Club Sandwich for Sandra and a ‘Steakhouse’ pizza for me. They’re generally generous with their portions here and I couldn’t finish it – though found room for a couple of spoonful of Sandra’s Tiramisu. Unusually I left some of the beer – Speights Gold – incredibly fizzy and with an odd smell. The merlot was much better – Kiwi of course.
Sandra:
Over here, there are a lot of souped-up cars and vans of all shapes and sizes, often with several turbos, or at least it sounds like they have more than 2 in some of them, loud ghetto blaster stereos and then motorbikes with very large engines, souped up to racing standards, turbo kick back is frequent, loud, and repetitive. That is their choice, however, this two mile straight stretch of road with traffic lights every couple of blocks, did duty as a racetrack this night – loud it certainly was – interspersed with police sirens did not make for a quiet night. Thankfully Richard slept well so I was grateful for that. Tomorrow is New Years Eve and we had booked a couple of trips whilst we were there.
Sunday, 31 December 2023
I woke reasonably promptly and got up to make the usual cup of tea – I also wanted to get the washing on as arranged with the owner the night before. With the heat, clothes are being used up more quickly, so it becomes a necessity. A quick shower, which was very enjoyable, anti-slip floors here – excellent. Washing was on the go, time for some breakfast and wait until the dryer finished. Suffice it to say, despite it being a full load of washing, we were all done and ready to leave at 10am. Our destination was the main Tram terminus, just off Cathedral Square in the centre of Christchurch. I will leave Richard to tell you about all that we saw. I will sign off with one comment, I had not realized how severe the damage had been to the city following the 2010 & 2011 earthquakes. I remember Prince William visiting at the time in the aftermath – I could now see why.
The earthquake in 2010 was more powerful than the 2011 one but deeper and no doubt did some hidden damage to buildings that otherwise may have withstood the 2011 one. It is estimated that 80% of the buildings in the city were damaged or destroyed, changing the city’s landscape entirely. 185 people died, well over half in just one building.
A huge amount of rebuilding has taken place but there is still much to be done. The cathedral is still shrouded in scaffolding and the sports stadium is not scheduled for completion for another year. Foundations are sunk much deeper here to help buildings survive further quakes.
Trev and I visited in 1997, flying over from Australia to watch three cricket Test matches, the last being in Christchurch. I remember very little about the city as it was, however, we did go canoeing on the Avon river and stayed at a budget hotel called Ambassadors. Very basic with shared facilities but lovely hosts and the cooked brekkies were superb. I couldn’t find it online and given it’s location on Manchester Street it’s likely it succumbed.
Anyway, back to the present: the trams were immaculate with beautifully polished wood interiors and the driver guide was very knowledgeable. Although it was sometimes difficult to hear the commentary he spoke with great enthusiasm and whilst giving us some grim facts and figures, was clearly very optimistic for the future of a city that had been so devastated. But then I wouldn’t expect anything else of the Kiwis.
We did a loop and a bit on the tram then stopped for our usual caffeine fix. We could have wandered around a bit but the mercury was climbing fast. So was the wind – in fact we’d heard that the gondola ride had been suspended until things improved, so we headed back to the motel for lunch. It’s perhaps worth pointing out that this is the only time so far that we’ve had to pay for parking!
There was nothing online about the status of the gondola so we thought we’d take a drive out anyway, perhaps as much to enjoy the air-con in the car if truth be known! They were very apologetic but yes, had closed it for the day, but no matter, our tickets were valid for anytime in the next year, which should be long enough!
Instead we had a gentle drive around the coast, pausing for an ice-cream, the majority of mine landing in the car park gravel thanks to the blustery conditions! We cut inland at Sumner, cue more fun twisty turning roads, emerging high up overlooking Lyttleton Harbour. What a view.
Sandra:
Once we had eaten
our New Years Eve dinner and the usual clean up afterwards, we sat down and
discussed what to do next. The weather
forecast was not good, particularly later towards midnight and the question did
arise, shall we give it a miss – neither of us wanting to get yet another
soaking at an outside event in one year – albeit the other side of the
world! In the end we agreed that we
would watch some TV and see about going out about 10pm – we had disabled access
parking right by the entrance so we thought we might even watch the fireworks
from the relative safety of the car – and the dry!
Anyway we duly arrived and parked up. A short stroll across the road and we were into the event. There was a good crowd of all ages and people had come well prepared with seats, blankets, picnics etc. We had none of these and standing for 1.5 hours was just not going to happen. We did find one spot which had some barrier fencing and I could utilize that to try and sit down. Thanks to Richard and a person sitting nearby I managed, very unglamorously to sit down – it was not at all comfortable and we then realized we were by a speaker – ouch! Another for me, tortuous get up and we decided to have a little wander to see the food stalls – so many fish and chips. No alcohol at all. The coffee and tea van had probably the longest queue of all. We decided, as the bands were not to our taste, to go back to the car and wait until a little nearer midnight when we could walk the 5 yards to the bottom of the road where we were parked and watch the fireworks from there. Well, we had not been sitting in the car for more than 5 minutes and it started to rain and as midnight approached, it got even heavier – I did feel for the organisers. Nevertheless, we had a pretty good view of the fireworks, warm and dry. Happy New Year! We returned to the apartment, very very slowly. The amount of traffic and roadworks made for a slow journey – we got back, sleep came quickly.
Monday, 1 January 2024
We awoke to warm, dry weather and still a lot of gusting wind. Today was the day for the trip to Akaroa and the harbour cruise. Richard had done this before, although as part of a coach tour, I will leave him to tell you all about it. I will say this, words are not enough to share the beauty and majesty of this country – it is something else entirely.
Akaroa began its life as a European settlement in 1838 – the Maori had been there some time of course. A French whaler landed ashore and bought Banks peninsula from them. Or so he thought. French settlers arrived two years later only to find the British flag flying. Oh dear, how sad, never mind. They stayed though and many streets still have French names.
The drive from Christchurch took us out through the suburbs and across the plains to Birdlings Flat where we paused for photos.
We turned inland soon after and a gentle climb brought us to Little River – a very popular stopping off point – for coffee. We started climbing more after Cooptown and once again the grin widened as I wound the Elantra around the tight twists and turns. Soon after our descent we rounded a corner and both took a sharp intake of breath. When it comes to stunning vistas we’ve already seen plenty on this trip but this was something else. Just when you think it can’t possibly get any better, it does. Our little guide book mentioned this stop – the Hilltop Tavern had closed down but the car park was accessible. No room to stop on the way down so this is from the way back up, later on.
There was yet more fun to be had before we eventually arrived in the town. It was very busy indeed but we managed to find a parking space on the front and promptly devoured our packed lunch.
The harbour cruise was next – and as Sandra said - I’d done this before but I reckoned she would enjoy it. And so it proved, the next couple of hours were a joy, lovely sunny weather, a comfortable boat, entertaining commentary and we got to see the little Hector Dolphins as hoped.
It was even better than I remembered, in fact Akaroa was too – maybe because I’m older and appreciate such things more. Back on land we had an ice-cream and then it was time to depart and I felt somewhat sad, even a little bit emotional. This country is so beautiful, achingly beautiful, it is sometimes overwhelming. Sandra – ditto totally get it.
There was the drive back to enjoy though and we stopped for photos at spots we’d missed on the run down. We paused again at Little River in the hope of a cuppa but they were just closing up. I reluctantly but sensibly relinquished the car keys to Sandra who drove the rest of the way back.
It was unanimously agreed to eat out rather than cook in the unit and another superb meal punctuated a truly memorable day in fact I would go so far as to say, one of the best days so far, and the bar has already been set very high indeed.
I know it is often difficult to recommend something to someone, not knowing if it will appeal – there was no contest here. I had a comfortable seat and room to move around – I managed to get out to see the dolphins – so cute! I even saw a seal. We also enjoyed the power of the turbo engines on the run back to shore. That it is done with sensitivity is a tribute to them – having had a very bad experience in the Far East many years ago. I could have happily stayed there and the quaint little village, nice shops and cafes and the pretty little lighthouse were just the ticket.
