Christchurch, Kaikoura, Picton, Nelson….
We had planned to load our last blog whilst waiting for our flight at Brisbane airport. Brisbane turned out to be the only airport we could imagine which would have a total WIFI ban, hence the reason our last blog was delayed!
Our Air New Zealand flight was good and only three hours in duration. We landed in Christchurch at 1am and were glad to have pre-booked an airport pick-up.
Christchurch was a difficult city to find accommodation in as many of the hostels had been destroyed by the earthquake earlier in the year. We booked into Haka Lodge which is brand new and built after the earthquake. It turned out to be a great choice and one of the top places we have stayed. With only 16 rooms it has a homely feel and the big log burner completed the cosy living room.
Our first day in Christchurch was spent re-arming ourselves for cold weather. We headed to a Kathmandu outlet and both managed to get micro-fleeces which would fit under our raincoats.
As we had only visited the outer reaches of the city at this point, there was little evidence of earthquake damage.
We also managed to help out a little West Highland Terrier who although seemed very excited to have broken free, didn’t have much road sense! He followed us for some time before we decided that he may injure himself. He was more than happy for Emma to carry him around until we found a council office. They were well prepared and had collars/leads on hand. He was soon tied up outside and awaiting the arrival of the local pound officer.
The manager of our hostel ran us through the city centre map, showing us the off-limits sections. The whole of the central CBD is still off-limits and has a cordon fence around. She mentioned that we could get an idea of the destruction by taking a 2 hour walk, skirting the outer cordon.
After a short walk we reached the first cordon fence.
We had just passed the site of a main, local church. The site had been levelled and all that remained was the roof of the spire.
The whole place seemed very eerie. There was literally nobody around and as we followed the perimeter the damage only got worse. It was sad to see the city totally destroyed and turned into a ghost town. One of the most odd aspects was that no work was being done to repair the damage. We later found out that the insurance companies are yet to pay out and are awaiting confirmation that after-shocks have ceased.
Big hotels such as Copthorne and Crowne Plaza lay semi-destroyed in the centre of town and the big cathedral looked beyond repair.
After three days in Christchurch the time came to join the Stray Bus for the first time. Our pass would take us to all the main places in the North & South Islands and we have an extra pass to take us North from Auckland to the Bay of Islands.
We met the bus near the airport and were soon on the road heading for the small town of Kaikoura with our driver “trouble”. He would later become true to his nickname.
The 24 seater bus was fairly full and the bus was mostly Dutch, Germans & English.
The drive to Kaikoura was stunning as the road weaved through tunnels and around the coastline.
We stopped off at a lookout point before we reached the town. It was a nice day and the view of the small town nestled between the sea and white-peaked mountains incredible.
The bus drove on into town and we stopped at a seal colony.
We setted into our accommodation before heading out with some of the group for three-hour walk along the coastline and over the headland. The views here were equally impressive and it was a nice sunny afternoon.
One of the guys in the group had taken-up the offer of fishing for the afternoon with a local fisherman. It was a reasonable price at 75 dollars each and possibly the main draw was the unlimited home-brewed wine on-board. Our driver took the rest of the group early evening to the fisherman’s house for a free wine tasting. The guy from the fishing had clearly taken full-advantage of the wine which was strong at 23%! The fishing trip had taken the whole afternoon and they had caught some good sized fish.
Local fishermen catch a fair amount of Crayfish due to the value and they had managed to hook out some good sized examples. A few crayfish went on the BBQ and we got stuck-in pulling them apart to eat.
The evening was spent at the hotel watching Australia vs Wales. One very vocal, very drunk, local man was shouting expletives at the Australian team. His taunts included the desire to stab Australian players should he have the chance! We moved into the other room which was bigger and busier with the rest of the group. One of the guys from our group joined us shortly after and reported that the drunk man had, whilst shouting at the screen, fallen from his bar stool and was now on the floor of the bar, bleeding but still swearing!
Our next destination was the small town of Picton. At the top of the South Island its main purpose is to serve the outgoing and incoming ferries from the North Island. The town was very nice with some impressive boats in the harbour and again incredible surroundings.
We were spending two nights here and would be here for the Rugby final
On our first day, four of us took a nice walk along a track running alongside the sea channel into port. It was a hilly three-hour walk but we were rewarded with views over the sea at the end of the track (complete with All Blacks flag) and good views back towards the town.
New Zealand has a hundreds of walks, or as the New Zealander’s call them “tramps”. The top multi-day walks are the “9 Great Walks”, mostly taking between 3-5 days. One such walk is the Queen Charlotte Track.
Most of the group headed down to the I-Site tourist information centre in town to work out the best way to spend a day walking a section of the track. As New Zealand relies heavily on tourism and outdoor activities are the main draw, their information centres are excellent. It took only a matter of minutes before we were all booked on for a 15km walk the following day.
It was an overcast day but dry which was a bonus. We first caught a water-taxi for an hour and a half along the coastline to our starting point for the track. The 15km walk would take us along what is regarded as the most diverse and interesting section of the track. Scenery en-route was good and the jetty in the bay where we arrived made for a good picture.
A quick toilet stop and we were soon on our way up the hilly track. Other passengers on the boat had rented mountain bikes to ride the track and one couple had their own bikes with them. The couple with their own bikes seemed suited for the terrain whereas the couple with rental bikes seemed they had taken on more than they could manage! The track was steep and extremely slippery due to the clay base.
We stormed off ahead of the bikes and were soon at the first lookout point with no bikes to be seen. Our group comprised of four English, two German and one Dutch.
The walk was steep in places but manageable and when the track broke free of the trees we got good views of the coastline.
At the end of the section of track was Fernaux Lodge. The Lodge has a big restaurant and is surrounded by luxury holiday cabins. Only accessible by boat, the area was stunning and a number of boats were moored in the small harbour for the evening. A roaring fire greeted us and we removed our muddy boots and were soon tucking into a good pub lunch.
Our accommodation in Picton featured a big hot-tub and soon after arriving back Matt & Jos (the Dutch guy) took full advantage of the 40 degree water before we headed out to catch the Rugby final.
It was this evening that we realised just how quiet NZ can be. We headed out to get to the pub fairly early, presuming that the place would be packed, only to find it virtually empty! Picton has a similar population to Overton and the same amount of pubs yet on a Rugby final night it was quieter than a normal night in Overton. The pub filled fairly quickly and after the win, emptied just as fast! We searched around town for any “happening” places but none were found. We all had a good night but it was a shame we weren’t in one of the cities as the atmosphere was reportedly great.
The following morning the bus arrived from Wellington and would be travelling along the Northern coast of the South Island to Abel Tasman National Park. The bus was over an hour late, just one of the many traits of our driver “trouble”. As soon as the bus arrived it was clear that there was a problem with numbers and quite obviously not enough seats. Trouble went ahead with boarding as if nothing was amiss. All of our group had booked on so we had no problem but many people hadn’t booked themselves onto this leg but were trying to travel anyway. The solution was quickly found by trouble – three people sat in the aisle with bags every-where. It was like being back in Asia.
We had decided not to take the bus all the way to the National Park but to stop for a few days in the town of Nelson. The English girl & Dutch guy also got off the bus here for a few days but we had to say good-bye to the German girls as they were on a tight schedule for their trip.
The plan in stopping in Nelson was to prepare for a multi-day walk along the famous Abel Tasman Coastal Path in the National Park. A fair amount of planning is required to book accommodation huts and water taxi’s. We also persuaded the Dutch guy to invest in some walking boots and socks as his lightweight trainers were at the end of their life!
One of the days we were here was sunny and warm so we headed off to “The Centre of New Zealand” – a hill overlooking Nelson which is the geographical centre of New Zealand. Views from here were great, overlooking the town and ocean to one-side and the valley to the other.
On our return to town we walked through the Botanical Gardens.
We have our walk planned for the National Park and tomorrow we will be catching the bus again. Thankfully a new driver will arrive to replace “trouble”!
Love Emma & Matt
xxxx
Cooke & Craddock 