Week 3: 4th to 10th Jan: North East Coast of South Island
We spent a very hot day driving round Banks Peninsula (Captain Cook made a rare error naming this 'island' for Joseph Banks the naturalist on the Endevour)
The whole area is a sea of golden grasses, in fact the coltsfoot grass seed from here was a major NZ crop and was used to create grazing prairies in South America, Australia and USA! Akaroa the main town has a distinctly French style from it's original settlers - did you know NZ very nearly became French!
After camping for quite a few nights we decided to treat ourselves to something more luxurious but ended up sleeping in a cell in the Christchurch Jail! .... now a backpackers! It was quite strange to close the big heavy metal cell door and look at the sky through the tiny high up window with thick bars! Quite an experience, added to by being shaken awake by a force 6 earthquake at about 5am the next morning - at least we know the jail was really well built!
The centre of Christchurch itself is still eerily empty and quiet with signs of the quake devastation still very visible. The resilience of the people and the creative use of containers also shows through.
See the house half collapsed over the cliff - this is 4 years on from the quakes!
The memorial of the white chairs (one for each of those who died) was a very sad and moving statement. Baby chairs, wheelchairs, kneeler chairs, bar stools - all sorts of chairs.
On to happier things with our superb walk around the peninsula at Kaikoura. The town itself is heaving with tourists and the Top 10 campsite is one to avoid if at all possible (we learnt from experience!), but the scenery and wildlife just away from the centre was spectacular - another of the top experiences of this trip. We also had the best camping meal of banana prawns - yum!
The baby seals are no longer playing in the river nursery as they were when Rhian and Callum saw them - David Attenborough also showed them on his recent documentary as well!, they were still very sweet though, all jumping about and playing about in the rock pools etc - you can just see them!
A couple of nights at a lovely backpackers in Renwick near Blenheim in NZ's main wine growing area was great fun, as was the days cycling round the vineyard cellar doors, luckily it was a cool day. We bought a couple of lovely bottles from Hunters vineyard as Christmas pressies from Gilly and Dave - cheers!
From there it was back to Picton and another gorgeous walk looking down to the Beautiful Queen Charlotte Sound, it was great to be able to look back across the sound towards Cow Shed Bay and where we walked on Christmas eve - it seems like we've been on holiday for ages!
Picton is a pretty little place where the main park area next to the marina was full of families and buskers and market stalls etc, where one of the buskers was playing Mhari's wedding on the flute, she said she started her set with this song because it woke her up and made her feel joyful! - it made me feel joyful too!
We visited a couple of quirky wee museums, one for the Edwin Fox - the 9th oldest wooden boat in the world - build of teak in India she has been round the world 9 times! We also met one of the last people who worked as a whaler in Picton, he showed us round the wee museum including the harpoon guns he had fired to catch these magnificent creatures - it was a job to him!
Malcolm was a bit disappointed we didn't have time for the Husband day care!
Then back to the north island on the ferry - another serene crossing and farewell for now to the South Island
