Thursday 22 September 2011

Oamaru and the Moeraki Boulders

Last weekend we accompanied Tim and Judith Bell and their band (2 sons, son's girlfriend, and a family friend) to Oamaru, 4 hours south of Christchurch, for the grand opening of Annie's Victorian Tea Rooms, and an evening dance.  We all rented Victorian costumes, supplied by a huge wardrobe facility in the old Victorian precinct in Oamaru.

Oamaru is quite an interesting city.  With only about 12,000 people, it's got a number of interesting features - the old Victorian precinct with white stone buildings from the late 1800s, two types of penguins (little blue and yellow-eyed), a Steampunk Museum and sculptures on the main boulevard, and nice hills surrounding the downtown area.

Steampunk is a movement that combines science fiction and steam technology from the Victorian era.  Inspired by the early science fiction of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, and feeling that society somehow got off track after this era, it has evolved into a sub-culture inspired by 19th-century visions of the future.  Steampunk has been described as "tomorrow as it used to be", and there are now steampunk books, clothing, art and design, and other cultural influences from these ideas.

We woke up Saturday at 4:30 a.m. to the sounds of little blue penguins in the car park below our lodging, but we never got to see any of them (they go out to sea early in the morning, and come up on shore again just after dark.)  They look for secure places and warmth, so occasionally end up under cars and in garages.

On Saturday morning we drove 35 minutes south of Oamaru to see the Moeraki Boulders which are spherical boulders, generally 4-6 feet across, sitting on the edge of the beach.  The boulders were created by a combination of mud, silt, clay and calcite that somehow grew outward instead of just clumping together.  They were then covered by other sediment, which preserved them.  The rocks got large cracks called septaria, and the cracks were then filled with other minerals such as quartz, calcite and dolomite limestone.  They're really quite amazing and fun to see.

Back in Oamaru, we were fitted for our costumes, and then attended the grand opening of the tea rooms, attended by about 200 people.  We heard a number of speeches from local government council officials and friends of Annie Baxter, the proprietor - she's been involved in community projects for many years, and has built up a large core of friends and supporters.  There was a Maori welcome, a ribbon cutting, and of course tea and sweets.  We then had a few hours off before going to the local Scottish hall for the evening dance.  Tim and Judith's band  (Barock) was superb, and we walked back to the hotel just after midnight.

On the way back to Christchurch we detoured inland and stopped to see some Maori rock drawings but were blocked by a small landslide.  We also stopped to see a hydro-electric power plant on the Waitaki River (New Zealand gets about 11% of its energy from hydro power), and also stopped to see the historic Church of the Good Shepherd at Lake Tekapo.

Monday 19 September 2011

Spring in Christchurch

Back in Christchurch, we attended a 50th (advertised as 39 + 11) birthday party hosted by the lively Anna Kostic, originally from Serbia.  This was a costume party with a theme of "Wild East Meets Wild West".  There were lots of cowboys and cowgirls (mostly guys), but also some representatives from the wild east.  The birthday cake was announced by bagpipe, played by a man in full highland Scottish regalia.  There were a number of Serbian, Croatian and Bulgarian folks there, and also most of our friends from the Farandol folk dancing group.

We hosted Hanna Terwilliger, daughter of friends Ellen and Steve from Eau Claire.  We met her at the airport on Sunday after she returned from her school break trip to Australia, and then got her to her bus back to Dunedin on Monday.  It was fun to host a high-energy college student overnight - she was happy to be here, with good food, a warm bed and talk of Eau Claire.  She was also welcomed to Christchurch by a 4.4 magnitude earthquake during supper - not the biggest aftershock we've felt, but it was one of the longest. 

Cindy is a member of the Kiwi Adventure group, a gang of four friends who are all spouses of visiting scholars at the University.  They have gone to Ashburton (about an hour away), lunches, movies, op shops (Kiwi for thrift shops), and have explored the bus system, going all around Christchurch as well as out to Lyttleton and Sumner.

"Filling the Tins" was part of the Christchurch Arts Festival.  Admission was $5 or a plate (plate meaning plate of baked goods).  Cindy of course made cookies, and joined a good sized crowd for stories of New Zealand baking by Richard Till, a TV personality and former restaurant owner.

Rugby World Cup 2011 is being held in cities all over New Zealand.  Christchurch was originally meant to be a host city, but a new site had to be found as the earthquakes damaged the local main rugby stadium beyond repair.  The New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, has lots of supporters.  Christchurch is joining the celebration by hosting a Fan Zone with two large TV screens set up in Hagley Park and a small rugby field / play area for kids down the middle.  We went there and watched part of the Scotland vs. Romania game.  We are making good progress on figuring out the rules!

Spring has sprung here.  Christchurch is the garden city, and we see evidence of that all over town.  Large plots of daffodils popped up over the last two weeks in Hagley Park, and we're now seeing magnolias, camelias, cherry blossoms, and other blooming trees and bushes.


Wednesday 14 September 2011

Picton to Kaikoura

We took the bus from Nelson to Picton.  Picton is a transportation hub linking several bus routes, the ferry to Wellington on the north island, and the train down to Christchurch.  We got treats at a Dutch bakery in Picton, including the item pictured below.  It's called a Lamington - this one was sponge cake with raspberry, frosted and dipped in coconut, with cream in the middle and on top.  A secret many people may not know is that Paul likes pink food - anything with strawberry, cherry or raspberry flavor.   We found this pink treat extraordinary!
A Lamington from the Dutch bakery in Picton
Happy camper
The Interislander Ferry heads out into the Marlborough Sounds on its way to Wellington
We continued our journey on the train from Picton down to Kaikoura - Cindy had found a deal where you could add one stop to the train journey for only $10 more per ticket.  We were glad we stopped in Kaikoura - it's a beautiful place, with high mountains coming down to the beaches, and a hilly peninsula.  We hiked 15 minutes from the train station to the Dolphin Lodge Backpackers, which had been recommended to us by a fellow traveler.  We weren't disappointed - it's a small place on a hill overlooking the bay and mountains, and the views were spectacular.  It rained hard overnight, which translated to a nice layer of snow in the mountains.

Mountains outside of Kaikoura
Kaikoura is known for whale tours, but we opted for a hike around the peninsula.  We packed a lunch and started out on our four and a half hour hike.  The hike starts on roads in town and winds around the edge of the peninsula past a seal colony.  At one point we heard a cough, looked in a bush, and there was a seal pup looking at us.  We saw a number of pups and adults in and around the beach.

Boardwalk trail going out the peninsula from town (note two Norfolk Island pines)
Seal pup in bush below boardwalk
Seal colony

We then headed up onto a series of hills, and walked across pastureland.  As we moved away from the water we felt like we'd been transported to Switzerland, seeing cows, with snow capped mountains in the background.  We came down the hills on the other side of the peninsula, ate our lunch at a picnic area, and had one final hiking section through the bush and some fields to get back to our hostel.  We picked up the rest of our gear and headed to the station for our train ride back to Christchurch.




Paul breaks into "The Sound of Music"
Maori sculpture over trail

Sunday 11 September 2011

Golden Bay and Cape Farewell

We rented a car in Nelson to drive to the Golden Bay area at the top of the south island.  We retraced our Abel Tasman shuttle bus drive and stopped at a European bakery in Motueka for some treats, then drove up and over Takaka Hill (more like a mountain) pass, zigzagging our way across.  We did this with a fog rolling in, and fortunately were not able to see what was off the side of the road.  We found a good place to stay (Innlet Backpackers) between the towns of Collingwood and Pakawau, and with a few hours of daylight left kept driving north to view the sands and rocks at Wharariki Beach and see the sunset at Cape Farewell point at the very top of the south island.

The next day we drove back up to the same area, this time to do a 45-minute walk up to the Cape Farewell lighthouse, which gave us a beautiful view of the northern coast.  We could see the coves we'd hiked to the day before to the west, and to the east we saw Farewell Spit.  This protected area is a 35 km. long sand spit that curves off to make the top of Golden Bay, and is home to rare birds in the spring and summer.  We then drove back south to Te Waikoropupu Springs (locally known as Pupu Springs), a bubbling set of springs that is said to be some of the clearest water in the world.  We also visited the town of Takaka, populated by a combination of rural farmers and alternative folks who moved up in the hippie era.  We ate lunch at the excellent Wholemeal Cafe, and picked up some veggies at an organic produce stand just outside of town.  We then drove back across the mountain pass (this time with sun and clear views), and headed back to Nelson.

Wednesday 7 September 2011

Abel Tasman National Park

We booked a visit to Abel Tasman National Park, about an hour or so north of Nelson.  Abel Tasman is the smallest national park in New Zealand, but one of the most beautiful.  We first got a shuttle bus through the town of Motueka, picking up the driver's dog in town, and continued on to Marahau on the edge of the park.  We were joined by Helen, a young woman from Aberdeen, Scotland.  We first got a water taxi ride to Bark Bay, about halfway up the coast of the park.  The three of us hiked 2.5 hours from Bark Bay down to Torrent Bay, where we were again to be picked up by water taxi.  The beach was very gradual here, so we had to take off our shoes and socks and wade out into knee-deep cold ocean water (remember: it's winter here) to climb up on the boat.  After another short water taxi ride we were dropped off at Watering Cove, where we met John, our young kayaking guide.  We had lunch on the edge of the beach at this beautiful cove, then started off in two tandem kayaks for a three hour trip around two of the local islands and back to Marahau.  John happily shared his extensive knowledge of the area and the wildlife, and we saw seals up close, as well as sea urchins, birds, and crabs.  We finally paddled back to Marahau, and took the shuttle bus back to Nelson.  We had patches of sun, clouds, rain, and fog during the day, but whatever the weather we had a great time.  This trip was one of the highlights of our time in New Zealand so far.

Monday 5 September 2011

In and Around Nelson

A very nice six-hour bus ride brought us from Greymouth up the west coast and across the north to Nelson, a city of about 44,000 people on the Tasman Bay at the top of the south island.  We stayed for several nights at Accents on the Park, a backpackers' hostel which feels more like an old hotel and is well located close to the city centre.  Royce, one of the owners, is charming and enthusiastic, and he and his staff helped us significantly with our exploration of the local parks, museums, and natural attractions.

Accents on the Park (backpackers' hostel) in Nelson
The cathedral in Nelson is named Christ Church Cathedral, though it is not as spectacular as the destroyed cathedral in Christchurch itself.  The architectural style is a rather strange combination of Neo-Gothic and Art Deco - apparently the local population couldn't decide on which they preferred.  We thought it was enhanced by the large daffodil that appeared on the cathedral steps for Daffodil Day, a fundraising day for the New Zealand cancer society.


The first full day in Nelson we traveled to Founders Heritage Park, where many of the old Nelson buildings from a century ago have been moved to create a museum village.  The park includes several working craft shops and businesses, including the Founders Organic Brewery where Paul got a six-beer tasting sample and met the 5th generation brewmaster, John Duncan.  The park also has a maritime museum with one of the largest collections of "ships in a bottle" in the world.

Just a few of the many "ships in a bottle" at the Founders Park maritime museum

Paul being served by John Duncan, Founders Organic Brewery brewmaster
Lagers and ales, ales and lagers...
Good to the last glass...
The second day we visited the lively farmers' market, the Nelson Provincial Museum, the Suter Art Gallery and the neighboring Queens' Gardens.  The city has a strong arts community, making it an enjoyable city to visit.
Curry from the Hare Krishna booth at the Farmers Market - $5 per plate, $2 for a refill (Paul took advantage of this)
Nelson tea towels
The third day we took a bus to the suburb of Annesbrook to visit the WOW Museum - the World Of Wearable art and Classic Cars Museum.  It's an unusual combination, but it works.  The wearable art fashion show started in Nelson in 1987, and the annual show, which attracts professional and amateur designers from all over the world, has been moved to Wellington and runs for 10 days.  The wearable art museum itself is small but fascinating, with examples of standout entries in past shows.  Many seem surreal in combining abstract art with the human form as clothing.  Photos are not allowed in the Wearable Art section, so we only have a photo of the outside banner, which shows a relatively ordinary example.  See the World of Wearable Art web site for some additional information, photos and videos if you're interested.

Wish we could rent one of these for a few days...