Christchurch

Hi, everyone.  This posting is on tape delay, as I find it difficult to catch up with posting every night.  So if I'm three days behind (as I am now), assume we are fine and I will catch up eventually.  Here is the post for Feb. 12 and 13.

Saturday, Feb. 12 in Christchurch

We had another hot typical English breakfast at Croyden Inn; that is, sausage that is not really sausage, bacon that is not really bacon, and eggs that – OK, well, they are really eggs, but not cooked to Karen’s satisfaction.  But like a dog eating any table scraps, I wolfed it all down.  We began our exploration of Christchurch with a walk to  Cathedral Square, the city’s centerpiece.  As you would expect, the square is dominated by the Cathedral, but a new sculpture also catches the eye, Chalice as shown in the picture beside the cathedral.

Christchurch Cathedral with Chalice sculpture at right

Our dumb luck brought us to Christchurch at the beginning of their flower festival and the center of that festival was in the cathedral.  The center aisle of the church was a carpet of flowers very artistically laid out.  All around the sanctuary were displays of flowers that were also exquisite works of art.  The theme of the show was conserving water and each display was some representation of that theme.

Carpet of flowers in the cathedral

We had a muffin and coffee in the Cathedral Café.  By now I have learned the cafe terminology of New Zealand. There is “short black” which is espresso, “long black” which is a double espresso, “flat white” which is espresso plus milk, all very strong, obviously, which I love, but is too strong for Karen.  Coffee in homes (and hotel rooms) is either plunger (French press) coffee or (yech!) instant.  Some restaurants do offer “Americano” coffee which is drip coffee through a filter.

We went punting on the Avon River; no, we weren’t kicking a football, we were pleasantly boated down the river in a punt, poled by a punter.  Very peaceful and somewhat romantic, but very inefficient mode of transportation!

Punting on the Avon.  This was another punt passing by us.

On to the Christchurch Art Museum, a flashy architecture space with excellent art by mostly 20^th century New Zealand artists.  Very high quality stuff, but none of the artists are really known to Americans.  A 21^st century aspect of this museum is that the audio tour was on an ipod, which neither Karen and I had used.  A bit confusing, but we are now trained in ipod use and are ready to be given ipods on our next birthdays.  Lunch at the art museum café – cafes are everywhere!  However, because of very slow service, an endemic disease in NZ restaurants, we were late for a walking tour of botanic gardens.  However, we took a guided tour on a tram, less effort for us.  The Botanic Gardens were the best ever, exceeding even Wellington.

At the Christchurch Botanic Gardens

Our final activity for the day was the Antarctic Centre - really well done multi-media, hands on experience, including a ride on an Antarctic track vehicle that traverses the rugged icy landscape, very bumpy and wild.  After my experience with the whale watching boat, I was a little concerned, but this time I kept my lunch down.  There was also a 4D movie about life in Antarctica,  3D, of course, but complete with water spray and snow falling, etc.  Pretty cool (so to speak).  So maybe Antarctica is our next continent?  I doubt it.

Awaiting the snowstorm.  Here's a hint - don't wear shorts in a snowstorm!

Dinner at Portofino capped a fine day in a fine city.  Oh, one other thing.  I noticed right away that several buildings had scaffolding around them and learned later that Christchurch had quite a major earthquake last September and major repairs are still being completed.  They have had thousands of aftershocks since, the last one a day or two before we arrived!

Sunday, Feb. 13 – Christchurch to Queenstown

This was a travel day, driving across southern part of South Island, from the Canterbury Plains to the Southern Alps.   I have mentioned driving before, mostly two-lane winding roads especially in mountainous country, with passing lanes at times.  I got a real scare when passing a car thinking I could see ahead, but suddenly a car appeared from a dip in the road I didn’t see.  A quick acceleration and a slide back to the left side of the road averted a collision.  Patience, Jim, patience!

It was our first rainy day and the mountains ahead of us were dark and mysterious because of the  rain and low-hanging clouds.  Reminded me of Mordor… (If you didn’t see or read Lord of the Rings, never mind.) 

Oh, Mr. Frodo - it looks so dark and evil over there!

Finally arrived in Queenstown. Nice hotel (Coronation Lodge) and nice town, Queenstown is.  Dinner at Soltera Vino - food excellent, service a little slow (notice the pattern here?).  Looking forward to tomorrow, the trip to Milford Sound.

Jim

Feb. 11 - Wellington to Christchurch

Up early to get to the ferry on time.  We actually made a dry run yesterday just so we knew where to go.  I booked first class lounge for the trip, minimal cost, but included breakfast, lunch, and a quiet place to sit, away from the hoi polloi. :-)  Beautiful scenery once we entered the islands of the Marlborough region before landing at Picton.  Then on to Kaikoura for the whale watching boat ride.

When we got to Kaidoura, we were told that the winds were 25 knots and the seas were very rough, 7-9 foot waves.  We said, hey, we don't get seasick, bring it on.  I knew all the right things to do - focus on the horizon, etc.  I lasted through the first whale sighting, a sperm whale on the surface for about 15 minutes, tried to take pictures and movies with the boat rocking violently back and forth.  Pretty exciting, but I almost lost it on the upper deck.  Came back to our seats and then I did lose it.  Not so cocky any more about having sea legs!  I was proud of Karen until she lost it about 10 minutes later.  From then on it was, when is this going to be over?

There is a whale out there - really!  I need a faster camera with telephoto lens!

This was our whale-watching boat.  The captain said, "If you have to use the bags, the instructions are at the bottom of the bag."  Ha, ha, ha!  Very funny!

Nevertheless, it was a great experience.  The same sperm whale surfaced again an hour later, and we had a bunch of dolphins around the boat at various times.  But it was finally over!  Then I had to get in the car and drive over mountain roads to Christchurch.  Whew!

Checked into Croydon House very late and the only thing open was the RSA across the street.  RSA stands for Returning Servicemen Association, providing a meeting place, bar, and cafe for their soldiers.  They took pity on us (after all, I did play trumpet in the National Guard band!) and we feasted on fish and chips surrounded by young people.

Tomorrow - exploring Christchurch.

Jim

Pictures from Wellington

Here are some pictures from Wellington.

The view from Mount Victoria.

The Admiral Byrd Memorial, pointing to Antarctica.

The Wellington cable car to Botanical Gardens.

Roses in the Lady Norwood Rose Garden - Botanical Gardens.

The Te Papa Museum - viewed from our hotel room balcony.

In the Hippopotamus Restaurant - the hippo was taking the picture....and paying the bill!

Wellington

Thursday, February 10
What a beautiful city Wellington is.  Our favorite place - so far!
The first thing we did, on the advice of our friend Peter Slowik, was drive to the Victoria Lookout where we could see the entire Wellington area.  It was quite windy there, and Wellington is perpetually windy, sitting on Cook Strait between the North and South Islands.  There is an Admiral Byrd memorial there which points to the South Pole.  If you flew south from New Zealand, the next stop would be Antarctica!

Driving up and down the narrow, windy, steep road was an adventure in itself, with cars parked everywhere and never knowing whether a tour bus would be coming at you just around the next bend.  We drove downtown then and parked in a garage. (Big mistake - cost $20 to get out after only two hours!)  Walked to the cable car terminus and rode it up the hill to the Botanic Gardens.  Great show in an Imax type theater in the Planetarium about the origins of the universe, a segment on training to be an astronaut, and displays of the southern sky at night, how to find the Southern Cross and other constellations.

The Botanic Gardens were gorgeous!  All sorts of flowers, trees, a Kodak moment around each bend in the pathway.  (I haven't uploaded my latest batch of pictures from my camera yet.  I'll catch up on pictures tomorrow.)  Then another wonderful lunch in the Lady Norwood Rose Garden.  By the time we got to the Te Papa Museum it was three o'clock, so we only had about three hours there.  This is the best museum I have ever visited.  We could have spent a couple days just in the museum.  We are museum people, but even if we weren't, we would have loved this one.  Every display is full of movement, color, and very interactive.  It also has many hands-on activities for children.  There was a lot of information about the Maori culture, the origins of New Zealand, as well as special exhibits of art and photography.  I wish we had more time there.

We ate dinner at the Hippopotamus restaurant in our Museum Hotel.  I told Karen I knew I would feel at home there because I'm beginning to look like a hippo from all the good food.  It was a French restaurant, which of course means small portions at exorbitant prices.  We had wonderful Chateaubriand for 2, with a salmon sushi appetizer.  I tried an Otago region Amisfield Pinot Noir - great!  I'll wax enthusiastic about New Zealand wines in a future post.  Up early tomorrow to catch the ferry to the South Island.

From Wellington, New Zealand

Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011 It may be freezing in Cleveland, but it's hot in Rotorua!

These tongues will scare any tribe away!

After a huge breakfast prepared by our hostess Sandi, we are off to see the Whakawerawera Thermal Area, maintained and lived in by the Maori.  Not a whole lot to say about it, just incredible that they live there.  One advantage they have is a built in oven for steaming their food.  They just build a box around a steam vent, wrap their food in foil, and voila!  Several hours later they have the tenderest food you ever tasted.  This process is called a hangi.  We experienced this in spades later that evening in a cultural experience (Mitai) complete with a fantastic hangi meal and the best Maori show I have seen yet.  Back to the morning, the best part of the tour was the eruption of two geysers, Prince of Wales Feathers, and Pohutu.  The Pohutu geyser spouts up to 100 feet, pretty spectacular.

In between these two cultural experiences, we did touristy things, soaking in the hot springs of the Polynesian Pools.  We got soaked in more ways than one, but it was worth doing - I was a very mellow fellow after a half hour at 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrentheit for you backward Americans).

Best looking 69 year old bathing beauty I have seen!

We also took a gondola ride to the top of the nearby mountain to get a view of the entire Rotorua area.   There is an unusual aspect to this volcanic area.  Lake Rotorua is basically a caldera formed by a huge eruption several thousand years ago.  But there is a volcano within a volcano, as the island in the middle of the lake is a dome volcano, which erupted more recently.

Wednesday, Feb. 9  Rotorua to Wellington

After another sumptuous breakfast from Sandi, we rushed off to another thermal area, Wai-o-Tapu.  This was quite spectacular and very similar to Yellowstone in many ways, but much smaller in scale, which makes it much easier to take in.  Very colorful pools, including this one, the color of a lime popsicle!

On to Lake Taupo for lunch, where we stumbled on our best lunch yet in a sidewalk cafe.  My club sandwich had a fried egg, bacon, brie cheese, and assorted other ingredients and sauces.  Karen had a BLAT, bacon-lettuce, avocado, tomato.  My pre-trip diet is now history.  Continuing on to Wellington, a long drive, but interesting because of the changing landscape (from rain forest to desert-like high plains) and from mostly cattle on the farms to mostly sheep the farther south we went.  Those wimpy tourists who fly from city to city miss the real country.

We are now in Wellington, the capital.  We are in room 441 at the Museum Hotel.  What's the significance?  The Lonely Planet Guide, which I used extensively to plan where to stay, recommended asking for this room because it has a fantastic view of the harbour.  So when I booked it on the internet, I requested this room specifically, never expecting to actually get it, but we did!  And the view is great!  Sometimes things work!

Jim

From Rotorua, New Zealand

Sorry for the delay in getting the first post out.  To get internet in Auckland was going to be a small fortune, and haven't had a good connection since then until now.  So this will be an extra long post!

On the plane in first class!

On the harbour cruise in Auckland

Vern, our Maori guide

The Royal New Zealand Navy Band 

A view from our Paihia hotel

Our Royal Navy Escort!

Thursday 2-3-11  On the plane - first class!

How nice to be able to lie down and sleep!  Got pretty much a full nights sleep!

I watched Secretariat and Karen watched Red and Morning Glory

I also listened to Brandenburg Concertos by Bach (all six of them!) and Carmen by Bizet, the opera we will see in the Sydney Opera House.

Friday, 2-4-11- Auckland

Arrived Auckland around 8:00 am, rented Avis car and set out to see if I could drive on the left side of the road.  Did OK, especially since I was driving in busy Auckland.  Missed the hotel first time around, but came back and found it.  Being morning, room was not ready, as expected, but we walked some of the city, came back to the hotel area and had a buffet lunch in a Chinese restaurant - pretty awful food!

In the afternoon we took a harbor cruise, including a brief stop at Rangitoto island, formed by a volcano eruption about 1500.  All of the Auckland area was volcanic at one time.  As we passed under the Harbour Bridge, someone did a bungee jump.  Bungee jumping is really big in New Zealand, where it was invented.

Dinner at Harbourside Restaurant in the Ferry Building after visit to Maritime Museum and a walk to the SkyTower, but decided not to pay the $40 to go to the top - cloudy day and limited visibility.

Saturday, 2-5-11 - Auckland to Waitangi (Paihia)

Breakfast on our balcony.  We had a really nice room at the Auckland Hilton.

Drive to Waitangi with “shortcut” by the Garmin that had us on dirt roads instead of Highway 1.  Last time I trust the Garmin blindly!

Made it to the Treaty Grounds.  Great tour by Vern, a pure blood Maori (only 1% or Maori population pure-blood.)  He knows who his ancestors are for hundreds of years.  The Maori were very smart people and are one of the few indigenous people in the world who fared well under colonial rule, adapting themselves to the ways of the white man without giving up their heritage.  They are well integrated into New Zealand society.  Except for major cities, most place names are Maori.  We also saw a cultural presentation of Maori dancing and Haka, a ceremony to scare away enemies with shouts, gestures, bugged out eyes and tongue sticking out as far as possible.

Then we saw great closing ceremonies - New Zealand Navy Honor Guard and Band.  Many New Zealand political bigwigs were there, plus the English Governor-General.  We sat in chairs that may have been only for invited guests, but we invited ourselves.  A secret service person-type person did ask us to move back a row, as I was in his chair!  (NOTE:  LATER REVISION - I FOUND OUT LATER THAT THE PRIME MINISTER, JOHN KEY, WAS IN FACT SITTING TWO ROWS AHEAD OF US.  CAN YOU IMAGINE BEING ABLE TO AMBLE IN TO AN EVENT IN THIS COUNTRY AND SIT RIGHT BEHIND THE PRESIDENT?!!)

Dinner at Kava, a French restaurant seaside in Paihia.  Best food so far.  We are staying at Waterfront Suites with a nice view of the Bay of Islands, a beautiful area.

Sunday, 2-6-11  Waitangi Day!

Today in 1840 the Maori chiefs signed the Waitangi Treaty, which established British sovereignty over New Zealand islands and recognized Maori ownership of the land.  The effect was to provide law and order over a deteriorating social condition.  We timed our itinerary to be here for Waitangi Day, more or less equivalent to the 4^thof July in the US.

So we went walking toward the Treaty Grounds, because we knew parking would be impossible, and who should pick us up but Vern! (See Saturday)  We were able to get there in time for an interdenominational and bi-lingual worship service:  Catholic, Methodist, and Presbyterian, conducted in English and Maori, with signing for the deaf  in both languages.  We took a position in a shady area and were soon joined by a contingent of the Royal New Zealand Navy!  They were very nice and offered to take our picture.

Walking the treaty grounds later, the activities there were somewhat disrupted by Maori dissidents, so not all is well, but as protesters go, these were pretty mild and respectful.  Lunch at the Waikokopu Café on the grounds, really good food.  By mid-afternoon we were getting a little tired, so we noticed a shuttle bus that we thought would take us partway to our hotel, but when it went the opposite direction, we knew we were in trouble.  Turns out that there was auxiliary parking several miles away with a shuttle service.  So we got to see the same scenery again as we returned to our starting point and THEN started walking the 1.2 mile trek to our hotel.

After a brief respite, we drove to Haruru Falls, nice but mostly a yawner, then decided to give the budget a rest by buying a frozen pizza and fixing our own supper.  Worst pizza ever made by man.  Ah, well, 

Feb 7 - Paihia to Rotorua

Today was mostly a travel day, driving about 600 kilometers (roughly 360 miles) south to Rotorua, passing through Auckland again.  That may not seem like a lot until you are driving on the left side of the road on twisting, up and down two lane roads.  Arrived in Rotorua about 4:00, checked in to Sandi's B&B and went exploring in town:  a city park with bubbling hot springs, a fascinating museum in a striking tudor style building that was once a hot springs spa.  They had a movie theater that showed a film about the eruption of a nearby mountain in 1886.  To our surprise, when the ground started shaking in the movie, so did our seats!  Dinner at a Thai restaurant, and here we are, back at Sandi's, where I have internet access.  Hooray!  I feel like a drug addict who finally got a fix after suffering for days.

An Early Beginning

We began our journey one day earlier than planned.  As my nervousness increased due to the dire winter storm warnings, I decided to see if we could fly out on Tuesday rather than Wednesday as scheduled.  I'm usually optimistic that everything will turn out OK, but this time I was concerned that if we didn't get out on time on Wednesday, we would miss our flight to Auckland and like a domino setup, all my best laid plans would one by one fall down.  So we are sitting in a hotel room in L.A. bored to tears, but with the certain knowledge that we will be on the plane to New Zealand tonight!  We are about to watch "The Social Network" on the TV, so that will help to pass the time.  Next blog from Auckland!