Back to the North Island

Earlyish start as we  had to be at the ferry by 8am. Once again we were treated to a lovely morning and a nice calm sea. I have been really impressed at the organised way the cars and trucks are loaded on to the ferry and how it's such a quick and easy process.

We got a lovely view of Picton as we sailed away and couldn't have had  a better day to sail through the sounds

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We had hoped to see some Dolphins on the way but no such luck. Evidently a couple briefly appeared alongside the boat but it was right at the time we went inside for a sandwich . The best we saw  were a few fish swimming near the surface and jumping.

As they say, Wellington is stunning on a good day and today was a good day!!

We made our way to Upper Hutt where we were staying the night. From there it all turned to custard as we were so very very tired. We walked out for dinner then went back to sleep. The next day wasn't much better... a slow start as we seemed to have run out of steam. It felt like home was a good idea so about 11.30am we set off on the long trip back to Auckland via the Rimutukas.this is a drive that is absolutely beautiful on a good day, but horrible on a bad day. We were lucky to have a very very good day!!

We drove and drove and drove until we reached Lake Taupo at sunset. The light conditions as we drove along the Desert Road made the whole area look very interesting and quite lovely.

No one swims in Lake Taupo mid April at 5.45 except for Tarun!!

At least it woke him up for the rest of the drive back to Auckland .

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We got back to Auckland at about 10.30pm and straight to bed. We had travelled over 6,000 kilometres and seen a big part of the South Island and a bit of the North. I felt very satisfied that I had seen and done all the things I had wanted to.and I hope Tarun was equally satisfied. He had seen far more of New Zealand than most tourists ever do and still has another month before he goes back to India. 

During the next four weeks Tarun will be spending some time with some friends and hanging out around Auckland. I will be with him for some of this time but will also be getting some of my usual routine back ... two games of bridge planned for this week. On the 6th of May Tarun and I will be going down to Lake Taupo for a week, and will be joined by my daughter and her two children for part of the time. Ben, who will be four years old this week, has decided that Tarun is his very very best friend and will love spending this time with him. 

From our base in Taupo I will also show Tarun the thermal areas around Rotorua and some Maori culture as these are aspects of New Zealand that he hasn't seen yet.

Watch this space.... my blog isn't completed yet.

Kaikoura

Another bright sunny day. We didn't  have to travel far today ... just to Kaikoura.

We had arranged to meet Ali, a friend of mine, at Amberley on the way. That was a lovely little break and catchup. 

It was a lovely drive to Kaikoura, through the wine country. The leaves on the grape vines were starting to turn yellow and looked beautiful. Then we hit the coast. It had turned into a brilliant day with a bright blue sky and sea. It looked like the middle of summer but I guess the temperature of the water would tell something different.

We checked in and off went Tarun on his daily walk. When he returned he said it was flat so he made it more interesting and challenging by finding his own way up a few of the hills. By the state of his shoes when he came back this obviously  involved crossing water at some point.

I wandered around Kaikoura, being somewhat surprised at just how touristy it had become ... In the town centre there were people everywhere... dressed as if it was the middle of summer. When I wandered down to the beach it was almost deserted though.

We were lucky enough to catch a very beautiful sunset before walking into the township for dinner.

Monday morning we were off to Picton and our final night in the South Island.  Our first stop was about 25 km north of Kaikoura where we stopped at the Ohau waterfall to see the seal  pups playing.

 

There would have been more than 50 playing in the water and it somewhat resembled a seal kindergarten. Evidently the pups play here safely while mum goes out fishing for the day. We were able to get very close to them and they were very comfortable with people as they would come up close enough for you to touch them.

On towards Picton and once again there were vineyards stretching for miles.

When we left Picton on 24 March it was raining ... we returned today and it was raining again!! However the rain didn't deter the goat as off he went walking up in the hills again.

On his return it was into the kitchen . Chicken curry thanks to the real Indian chef.

Akaroa

The mountain goat was pulling at his tether again this morning so it was off the the bottom of the Port Hills bridle track where I dropped him off and continued through the tunnel to Lyttleton. When I was a kid I remember getting on the inter-island ferry  here and it was a very sleezy port town with very little else but pubs and fish and chip shops. 

How it has changed! It was full of upmarket cafes and restaurants and a very busy farmers market. While there were many of the same things that you'd find at a farmers market anywhere there were also many other things that we didn't get in Auckland .... like bunches of Pinot noir grapes!

Tarun eventually caught up with me and said that he had enjoyed his walk.

We thendrove out to Akaroa ... another beautiful drive.

First stop in Akaroa was the i site to find out where the walking tracks were so I could drop off the mountain goat again. Off he went while I explored the town 

Akaroa was originally a French settlement and still retains this character. 

I headed down to the wharf to investigate what the noise I was hearing was all about and was very lucky to be able to watch what turned out to be the worlds first Pastafarian wedding. For those of you who have no idea at all as to what this is all about try googling the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It appears that pirates are the Spaghetti Monsters chosen people so the complete wedding party, the celebrant and the guests were all masquerading as pirates. The whole ceremony was hilarious and filmed by the TV channels.

A bit more exploring and then it was time to pick up Tarun again. It appears he had another good walk .

He had evidently been trying to take a photo of himself doing a headstand up there without a lot of success.

I got the last laugh of the night as Tarun's last words to me before he went to bed were " oh my legs!"

Christchurch again

Tiredness is catching up with us. Tarun decided that a day when he didn't even get into the car would be a good idea, so I left him watching movies on tv and ventured into Christchurch city .... by bus!!

Although I don't know Christchurch really well, over the years I've been here a few times, but not since the 2011 earthquake. The television pictures haven't really given a good picture of what it's really like. It was very hard to get my bearings as all of the usual landmarks were gone and it was hard to know where you were. There were many open spaces where damaged buildings had been cleared and the skyline was dominated by cranes. The noise from construction was everywhere.

I stopped for coffee in the pop up mall where temporary shops had been set up in shipping containers. The creativeness was impressive.

Being so much colder than Auckland, Christchurch has a much better selection of winter clothes so I took a bit of time to add to my winter wardrobe before heading down to look at the transitional cardboard cathedral and the 185 white chairs commemorating the lives lost.

Cathedral Square was different to how I remembered it and it was sad to see the damage to the cathedral which had been such an icon.

Before heading back to the motel I met another friend from my past in the museum for coffee. We both walked back along the park to her car and my motel where I caught up with Tarun again. He had spent the day watching TV and walking in Hagley Park where he learnt a considerable amount about dog breeds from a random dog walker.

Taruns meatless period was over!. 😛Good chicken pasta for dinner!!

Christchurch

Another beautiful morning and perfect for Tarun to do yoga on the beach. We were heading north to Christchurch with the first stop at Kurow because we heard there was a steep hill for the goat to climb.

The trip was interesting as we followed the 'forgotten world' trail with its unusual rock formations.

We found the 'hill' in Kurow and off went Tarun while once again I had coffee with a couple we'd met along the way. 

In the mid 1950's I remember staying with relatives who owned the Kurow general store and the cafe we were in was a much renovated version of it.

These days Kurow is mainly known for being Ritchie McCaw's hometown and obviously several people were making some sort of pilgrimage  there as I saw lots of people wearing No7 All Black jerseys.

We had decided that as we weren't in a hurry to get to Christchurch we would take the long route via Tekapo... and what a good choice that was!

 

Of all the lakes Pukaki looked the most inviting to Tarun, and much to the amazement of all the tourists he went swimming!!!  Glacial-fed Lake Pukaki in April !!!!!

Nice easy driving around this area.

Next stop was Lake Tekapo where we joined the many tourists checking out the Church of the Good Shepherd.

This was a long drive, so on advice from some locals we stopped at Fairlie for a pie from the Fairlie Bakehouse. Yum is all I can say ... and there was even a vegetarian pie for Tarun.

The day had involved a lot of driving so buy the time we arrived in our motel in Christchurch we were pleased to be able to settle in and do nothing. After so much moving from place to place it will be nice to have three nights here.