Akaroa / Mount Cook

The sun is out, the scenery spectacular and the walking great. Say...No...More!

Moving on

The weather didn't improve in Kaikoura so we left the following morning,as planned, but sans dolphin experience. Christchuch to a peninsula called the Banks Peninsular and our stopping point, a small town called Akaroa. We were supposed to have a studio apartment but were again upgraded to a two bedroomed apartment which could easily have accommodated a family. I'm not sure whether people think we've been arguing and need space to sleep alone or (more likely) it's because of the reputation of the company we've used to book the trip and the desire to keep well in with them. Whatever it is I'm all for it.

Akaroa is a strange place in a number of ways. Firstly, it is built on a bay which was formed by the collapse of a volcano rim and is surrounded by three similarly collapsed (and extinct) volcanoes. This gives the whole peninsula a strange, almost circular, shape and a coastline which looks as though it has been nibbled by a giant.

Secondly, Akaroa is a French town. Strange but true, it was established by French colonists who hoped to claim New Zealand for France but who were too late! Instead they built a town with a Rue Jolie and a French butcher's shop. Some of the locals still speak French (with a New Zealand accent).

Akaroa's economy has benefited by an influx of cruise ships into the deep water harbour. Most have previously used Lyttleton which is at the other side of the peninsula but this is still recovering from the effects of the earthquakes. Akaroa was affected and signs are still apparent (our apartment had floor tiles which had been damaged. The war memorial had lost two buttresses and the local Gaiety Hall had been declared unsafe.

On the subject of the earthquake, we have been talking tonight at our latest stop, Lake Tekapo, with a young couple (English emigres) who live in a suburb of Christchurch. When asked how they had managed they said they were lucky as there house was still habitable - it soon became clear that this meant one wall was braced to stop it falling down, door frames were buckled and windows needed replacement. The Government indemnifies people against earthquake damage and their house has been identified as needing two walls replacing as well as more cosmetic repairs ("we never liked the floor tiles anyway"). Tales of living in the aftermath with no heating, lighting or working sanitation began to bring home how much people have suffered, but they were stoical and resigned.

We are now in the Alpine region of Southland. From our bedroom we can see snow covered peaks in the distance and Lake Tekapo itself is a bright turquoise colour. Today we went up Mount John where there is an observatory and looked at the 360 degree vista of the lake, mountains and rivers. Stupendous.

Tomorrow we will either stay locally or drive the 60 miles to Aoraki, Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand.

Pictures will follow tomorrow

Food and Drink Musings

I'm writing this with a Sassy Red in front of me, no it's not the latest woman I've picked up but Mac's Best Bitter. It's a good drink with "five different malts forming a rich base for gratuitously generous hopping". From this you might gather it is not generic lager. In fact all the pubs  and bars we've been in sell a range of beers much wider than I expected. Although some are well known international brands most are home grown. As you would expect the beer is served cold and gassy but is fine nonetheless. Price is another matter, typically a "pint" is $7-$8 and a "glass" (just over half the metric pint) $6. Divide by two for sterling equivalents.

I've already commented that wine is by no means cheap, one Kiwi I was talking to bemoaned the fact that when he is in the UK on business he can get NZ wine cheaper than at home. All that we have had is palatable, mainly sauvignon blanc and chardonnay. The Renwick vineyard we visited was unusual in specialising in Pinot Gris.

Coffee has been the big revelation, it is uniformly excellent. All places, even the smallest, have proper espresso machines and produce really good drinks for reasonable prices ($3-$4). For those who like such things there is always a range of tea (including yucky herbal ones) on offer. All of our accomodation has had coffee facilities and a range of teas.

There is a huge range of food available. There are the usual food chains, especially McDonalds, Burger King and Subway, and a few KFCs, but most  food is provided in local restaurants, bars and bakeries. This is certainly Pacific Rim territory, the range of choice is ecletic and has absorbed many influences - some better than others. The Asian influence is strong, with all towns having Chinese, Thai and Japanese restaurants (we also ate in an Indonesian restaurant). European influence is still very visible, especially Italian and British. The latter is especially strong in pub food and fish and chip shops. Sometimes the influences are not always well assimilated, yesterday Sue had a warm Salade Nicoise with a seared tuna steak on top. If you're not careful your fish and chips will come complete with fried egg!

I can't leave the subject without mentioning pies. There seems to be a national obsession with the things. All bakeries have an enormous selection, including traditional mince, steak and onion and chicken and mushroom. There is no end, though, to the fillings available. Butter chicken ( a mild curry chicken) is a favourite, and many others with oriental influences are available.

To give some idea of the scale of the obsession you may remember that our ferry crossing was very rough. The captain told everyone to sit down as it was dangerous to move around and everyone remained seated. Until, that is, the announcement that hot pies were being served in the cafe!

One final thing, portion sizes are generous. We have not managed three courses anywhere and usually are sticking to one!

Nelson and Kaikoura

We've had our three days in Nelson and have driven today to Kaikoura for an overnight stop with good wifi, thank goodness. We did manage to meet up with Sue's Soroptimist colleagues and I picked up two women!

The first night we were invited to Gay and Derek's house for dinner. A lovely house with a pool and a view out over the Bay, loads of garden and a big shed. I was jealous! A very nice meal, if a little abstemious. We had been picked up from the motel by Donna and Wayne (they were not linked to the same Soroptimist group and had become involved because......? Donna is a member of the SI Nelson club and has been the regional President). Donna invited both of us to visit the Museum of Wearable Art the following day, Sue accepted and I reluctantly declined (sic). I will leave it to her to describe the museum. It was fascinating if rather bizarre. Apparently a local woman set up a competition some time ago mixing art with clothes. Some of the ideas are brilliant – some outrageous and some wonderfully stitched and created. If you want a flavour it's best to see them and they have a website. Each year a theme is set and it has become an international event , it has grown so much that they have had to move it to the capital Wellington. Last year's was won by a Northern lass from the U.K. She entered a horse outfit made from wonderfully worked and embossed leather.

In the evening Sue had been invited to a Soroptimist social event, and initially so had I. At Gay's we were told that as a result of holidays it would only be a small group (sevenish) and I could be the only man. Thankfully they suggested that Derek and I went to the pub while the meeting was on and we agreed to meet up in Monaco (nothing like the real thing) at a pub called the Honest Lawyer.

We dutifully arrived at 17.45 and there was a lot of activity. It was a local holiday and there was a fun run starting at the pub car park. Derek and I went for a short walk to build up a thirst and got back at 18.30, just before the first of the runners, and the pub was shut. Apparently it had closed at 18.00 as it was a holiday!!!

Opposite the Honest Lawyer was a faux English village which had been built by a local eccentric who subsequently went bust, it is now a Mercure Resort. We went over to get a drink and some food and met Donna +friend. A total coincidence but we ended up having an (expensive) meal with them. I'm not sure Sue believes in coincidence.


As a punishment (no it wasn't, it was a special treat) the following day we had to have a walk through the Abel Tasman National Park. We took a scenic cruise to Bark Bay and walked 8 km to Torrent Bay. Although there was one excruciating climb (everyone who walked seemed to stop at some point on it),it was mainly fine. Walking through rainforest is strange, at first you say “Look a tree fern” but after a while you become blasé. We have taken photos of each other walking over the bridge at River Falls, looking like real outback explorers. There were even kayakers underneath us.

Today's drive to Kaikoura was supposed to be a routine point to point drive, but the scenery was lovely all the way. About 20 miles from our destination Sue pointed out a seal on a rock (we were by the sea, I should have said). We stopped and there was a whole seal colony to admire. Serendipity rules.

Sue's been thinking about swimming with dolphins but when we arrived the boats had already left, in some ways a good thing as shortly after the wind picked up to 40 knots and all other sailings from the harbour were cancelled. Tomorrow there are boats at 05.30 and 08.30 but she has not decided yet whether to try one.

Picton and Environs

Well, we arrived in one piece in Picton. The initial part of the ferry ride was very choppy (understatement), we had at one point a Captain's announcement stating that everyone had to remain seated! Once in the Marlborough Sound,though, the sea calmed and we were treated to a spectacular journey up the Sound. Wooded hills fell steeply into the sea, and there were few signs of life other than some small pleasure craft. Incidentally we learned later that this forest is mainly less than 40 years old. When the Europeans landed they cleared the native forest, partly for the exotic hardwoods and partly to establish pastureland for sheep. Unfortunately (according to a water taxi captain) the local land is “crap” for agriculture and so the NZ government has encouraged the re-establishment of native forest mainly for ecological and tourism reasons. Whatever the motivation the results are spectacular.

As we arrived at lunchtime and couldn't check in to the motel until later we decided to go for a ride to......Renwick. This small town is about 20 miles from Picton and is right in the heart of Marlborough wine country. We had to have some cheesy photos taken beside the town sign and, of course, a visit to a local vineyard to buy some (expensive) Renwick wine. One feature that we have noticed is that there are few cheap wines in NZ, even in wine producing areas. Some of the cheapest are Aussie imports (Banrock, Hardys etc) but local wines are seldom below $12 (£6) a bottle, with most being $15+. The ones from Renwick were $20 and $28 and they were by no means the most expensive.

We had seen reference to a museum in Renwick so we sought it out. Outside it looked like a small shop but inside was a really nice local museum. It was closed, but... As we arrived a volunteer was unloading some books (it is also the local library) and she showed us around and gave us lots of information about the founder of Renwick, Dr Thomas Renwick (no relation). We looked a bit at the genealogy and discovered he came from Dumfrieshire and was childless. Both of these make it unlikely there is a family connection.

Parts of Renwick were a bit quaint, the signs for “Renwick Nik-Naks” didn't appeals, nor did the imprecation to to have a Woody at the Renwick Tavern (it's a form of pre mixed spirit drink). We did like the 3 Bears Cafe, which had 4 bears outside and a sign that said:

Opening Hours

7 Days: 08.00 to 16.00

Thursday: 08.00 to 20.00

Clearly they operate an 8 day calendar in this part of the world!

We wanted to walk part of the Queen Charlotte Track, a long distance walking path through remote areas, but the first day in Picton was overcast and dull so we thought it unlikely. The next day dawned clear,bright and sunny so we went down to the harbour to make enquiries. One of the local operators organised a water taxi for us to Mistletoe Bay and we went from there to Anakiwe which marks the beginning of the track (yes, we did it back to front). We covered about 13 km and it nearly killed me. We had not realised quite how much of a climb it was from the bay to the ridge above where we joined the track. Suffice it to say 4WD cars were struggling. Manfully I gasped my way up, being encouraged by Sue who did not even seem to break sweat! Once the walk levelled out a bit it was great, spectacular views over Marlborough Sound and very few people at all. A water taxi back to Picton included an unscheduled visit by a pod of dolphins, Sue was enraptured. Inevitably to toast my achievement a visit to a local hostelry was arranged and so, eventually, to bed.

Today (Sunday) we have driven to Nelson, some way west along the coast. The journey over was absolutely spectacular, the densely wooded hills (mostly different kinds of pines) rose very steeply from the inlet. If we had stopped every time we came to a vantage point it would have taken several days to get here. On the way we stopped at Havelock, the self-styled green mussel capital of the world. One of the cafes had models of them on its roof and round its perimeter fence, very amusing. Havelock was also home to Ernest Rutherford. A local information plaque informed us that if a fellow student had not crashed out in his English exam, “Ern” would not have got the one and only secondary school scholarship. Just think we may never have found out how to split the atom. More importantly, Havelock is also home to Heidi's cafe, where “ritual coffee” is served and all of their cheese is “freshly cut”. Any suggestions on what ritual coffee might involve would be most welcome. We have had a 15 minute fugue on the matter, but it could bear some more flights of fancy.

 

We will be in Nelson for 3 days. The motel is perfectly adequate but a little step down from most of the rooms so far. One reason for being here is so that Sue can see some of the Soroptimists from the club that KL is twinned with. After a difficult time this has now been arranged and we have been invited for dinner by one of the club members (who coincidentally lived in Grimston just outside King's Lynn). More on this to follow.

Apologies for the lack of photos in this post, the motel does not have wifi and we're trying to find somewhere local that does not have tight upload limits.

Leaving North Island

Leaving North Island

I'm writing this on the Interisland Ferry between North and South Islands, experiencing North Sea like weather conditions. Driving from Napier to Wellington was a straightforward experience except for some very picturesque but winding roads over forested hills. Hairpins following articulated timber lorries were a bit hair-raising (especially after seeing one of them on its side earlier in the holiday!). We found the Rydges Hotel quite easily and took the car back and explored a bit of Wellington's redeveloped seafront on a delightful calm afternoon with the sun shining and the sea flat calm, and then......

Yesterday showed us why Wellington is nicknamed the “Windy City”, although the sun was still out and it was quite warm it blew a gale all day. At times the wind was so strong that it was difficult to walk upright. We had decided, wisely as it turned out, to spend the morning in the Te Papa museum, New Zealand's national museum. This is a very innovative and well thought out museum, with a lot of areas for children to carry out activities. Although in some ways unusual to European eyes it is one of the best museums I can recall. Most of the artefacts (especially European ones) date from the last 150 years with a considerable number from our lifetime. The Maori artefacts are sometimes older but many are marked as age unknown or unknown provenance. The number of artefacts is very low by the standards of, say, the British Museum but they are displayed in such a way as to tell the story of New Zealand very effectively

After about 4 hours we were museumed out, and decided to go to the Botanical Gardens for a walk. Wellington Botanical Gardens are very large and built on the side of a steep hill. Unusually we decided to start at the top and work down (sounds an easy concept but Sue is noted for doing it the other way round), so we got the cable car to the top. Thankfully in the light of the wind, the cable car is a funicular and provided an easy way to the top.

By the time we had walked down through masses of flowering hydrangeas, begonias and bizzy lizzies (strange in January) we were shattered. The rest of the day we put our feet up and just went out for a pizza last night. Anyone for “sheepshank” pizza (topped with shredded lamb shank)? Sue, for a start!! This must be what is meant by fusion food.

We will be arriving in South Island shortly, and look forward to some stunning scenery. North Island has set the bar high but we're hopeful South Island will more than match it.

Napier Nurdlings

Napier was a small, not very important town until 1931. It was then hit by a major earthquake which destroyed most of the existing buildings and lifted the land up by 2 metres to convert a lagoon into prime swamp land. This was duly drained to form the town as it is today. Rebuilding was started in 1932 and much of the centre of the town dates from 1932-1936 and was rebuilt in the fashionable Art Deco style. Although some of the building were demolished for “modernisation” purposes the town decided that it should preserve the Art Deco details as far as possible and this has led to Napier becoming (the self styled) Art Deco Capital. In fact the concentration of buildings is very impressive and I spent a happy couple of hours taking lots of photos to bore people with.

While I was doing this (and I admit finding a bar along the way) Sue went on a worthy and informative town tour organised by the Art Deco Trust – this included some interiors as well as exteriors. I would have liked to see the leaping nude panels in the theatre but decided against! During the tour Sue was informed that Napier averages 500 earthquakes each year (more of this later).

We also went to Hastings nearby which has almost as many Art Deco buildings and is much less well known.

In the last post I said I would say more about Gerard the proprietor of Mon Logis. Originally from the Languedoc Gerard had been in NZ for about 20 years. He resembles Gerard Depardieu, or Obelix from the Asterix books. His use of English is erratic, and his accent strongly resembles Hercules Poirot. He seems to run the B&B by himself having little time for the Kiwis who he thinks do not want to work but expect him to be concerned about their problems. Over breakfast there was a discussion about earthquakes, and he was saying that the absence of quakes was a major concern rather than their presence as it could mean a big one was on the way. “Actually” he said “we are more concerned about Tsunamis as we are on the seafront. Last time there was an earthquake in Samoa the government did not even bother to give us a warning.” I was getting a bit concerned by this, but he said the resultant fuss had meant they get warnings of even quite small ones (50cm or so). When this 'appens the seafront is clogged with sightseers looking to see whether they can see it coming to land. Personally I'd head for the hills.

Gerard was a treasure, he took our laundry and got it washed and dried whilst we were out enjoying ourselves and would not accept anything for doing so. So I did give him a kiss (this is Sue by the way).

Today we have driven the 200 miles to Wellington and have dropped the car off. We stay here two nights (tomorrow will be the NZ National Museum) before taking the Inter Island ferry to South Island. A less characterful city centre hotel near the waterfront is our base for the next couple of days.