Rotorura to Wanaka

After two nights in Rotorua, we got back on the bus for Wellington. Two nights there. The rain, of course, followed. Nice little town, very nice hostel, The Downtown Backpacker. Only one I ever saw with a bar. Wellington itself is actually rather small, sandwiched between the harbor and the surrounding mountains, no more than a couple of hundred yards with the result of homes being built into the sides of the mountains. Makes it pretty picturesque. That's helped along by a very eclectic mix of architecture.

We spent not a penny on touring in Wellington. First off, it's not as if we had the time - just a day and a half. Second, just walking the harbor and attending the (free) museum are plenty entertaining. Third, well, the hostel is a pretty nice place to hang out. I'd love to see the place in the sunshine but we're glad with what we got. Restaurants around the harbor are plentiful, high quality and inexpensive. In the museum I got a pleasant surprise. There, right next to the cafeteria was the Britten motorcycle. I'd completely forgotten he was from here. Britten was a glassware manufacturer who decided to go into racing. He built this machine from the ground up, apparently using every bit of technology he'd used modernizing his glassworks. From magnesium engine cases and internal parts designed with Formula 1 technology to spun carbon fiber frame and suspension members, it was all hand built. It ruled the Battle of The Twins class at Daytona until Britten's untimely death from cancer at age 45.  We also saw a fine example of a giant squid and the biggest ammonite I've ever seen.

The harbor was very much a working harbor and contained nearly every kind of ship, from cruise ships and freighters to ocean sailing racers, preparing for an intercontinental race.

Onto the ferry from Wellington to Picton, North Island to South. A 3 hour ride, complete with dolphin sightings a good distance off. Mountains all along the shore 'til we hit Picton harbor, a very long estuary. The ferry was massive, the size of a cruise ship with several bars and entertainment areas. No time for sightseeing, an hour later we were on the bus to Christchurch. Through more New Zealand countryside. Big steep smooth hills, usually dotted with cattle or sheep. These animals graze all the way up the side of the hills, looking as if they were in imminent danger of stumbling and rolling clear to the bottom. For once, our driver was not intent on being a tour guide, just driving at maximum possible speed on the narrow two-lane, full of curves. Then we hit the seashore. A fellow passenger on the ferry had advised us to sit on the left side of the bus. Good move! We met the seashore at Kekerengu. From there on, hills to the right, seashore on the left. Lots of camper parks right on the sea, beaches from pure sand to rough and rocky. About 30 kilometers north of Kaikoura was a seal breeding colony. Hundreds, no, thousands of seals, young and old, resting, playing in the frequent streams. Unfortunately traveling too fast to get any kind of pictures. I tried but got nothing but blurs.

Overnight stop in Kaikoura. Got there about 3 in the afternoon. Cute little beach town, nice intimate little hostel, the YHA Maui. Liz heard from the desk clerk that there was a seal colony a few kilometers up the road and the best time would be at low tide, arount 6 PM. Made a long trek to the rocky point. Saw 3 seals. Well, at least this time I was able to get pictures, though the seals were much more interested in their naps than the dozens of tourists clustered around them. Oh well. At least a few lunch wagons along the road served a very acceptable fish, scallops, squid rings and chips dinner. Next day, we had several hours to kill until the bus came at 3:30. Lots of time to walk arount the tiny business district and along a stream paralleling the ocean shore. Ducks, cormorant and trout in the stream. Profusion of vegetation on the banks, including lots of peas gone wild (and delicious) and dill, sweet clover, flowers. I wonder how all this got here.

Got into Christchurch about 6 PM. Just time to take a taxi to the YMCA, conveniently located near the museum and Botanical Gardens. A good thing, it seems that they're the only things going in this city just now. Wandered the streets looking for something to eat. Only thing open was a high end restaurant where one could easily lose track of a hundred or so dollars. Had some emergency rations, ham, cheese and crackers. Good enough to tide us over. The Y is nice, though pricey as everything is here just now. The whole city is on an emergency footing with a large part of the downtown cordoned off and very little traffic in the streets. Apparently the museum is a sturdy edifice (unlike the cathedral which is apparently going to have to be demolished). The usual general museum stuff,  New Zealand history, geology, fossils - most of the dinosaur bones were from North America, nothing much in the way  of paintings or sculpture, a bizarre wearable art exhibit (Okay, this needs expanding on. Very unusual materials - leather, wood veneer, copper radiator scraps, etc. used to make mostly formal dresses, men's suits, suits of armor. It actually beggars description, therefore  no photography allowed - this means you!), a large exhibit and film on National Geophysical Year, 1957, and the trek across the South Pole. The Botanical Garden was quite large and situated on the both sides of the Avon (Honest, that's the river's name. So much for originality.) featuring a formal rose garden, heritage rose garden, native and non-native trees, even a boat rental shed patterned on the British model. Really big trout in the river, maybe a foot and a half long, also eel. Parallel to the cordoned off downtown is an effort to restart commerce using shipping containers called Re:Start. Oh well. The shipping containers are sturdy, well bolted together and quite nicely done up. On the far side of this is the fenced-off zone, most of the central business district. Strangely, the only evidence of damage visible is shattered curbing and the occasional missing cornice. Oh, and building demolition off in the distance. Most of the buildings are in good shape, but next to structures that are iffy. On the walk back to the Y, we saw occasional houses cordoned off, most with no visible damage. Across the street from the Y was a ministry-of-something-or-other, taking up most of the block, closed off and missing a couple of steeples. Looks like that's being repaired but not yet habitable. We felt one small tremor. Nobody in the street got excited, after the one quick hesitation.

Another long bus ride through the Southern Alps, stoppping near Mount Cook, the highest peak. This resort was dedicated to New Zealander's famous Sir Edmund Hillary. (All the autographs I saw -many- said Ed Hillary, apparently he considered himself just another guy.) He learned  mountain climbing here. Bronze statue of him at the Hermitage, a 5 star hotel, nice little museum and theatrette devoted to his exploits. Breathtaking scenery of truly rugged looking mountains in every direction unlike the nice soft hills we'd seen in the north of New Zealand. Truly alpine monsters complete with a glacier (we only got to see one tiny corner of it) and snow on the 3,000 plus meter peaks. Lots of movies of mountain climbing on screens throughout the museum. Question, why the heck do they seem to all be climbing in crappy weather? Is there some advantage to climbing in the middle of  winter?

Now we're in Wanaka, 30 or so miles out of Queenstown in The Pines, a timeshare. Wanaka is a high-end resort town with a beautiful little lake, mountain scenery, golf course nearby. Our townhouse apartment houses up to 7 people with every modern amenity. Liz is devastated that we won't be able to get to the fjords. Wanaka is pretty much the end of the road, with minimal bus service. By the time we got to Queenstown (still 100 km form the fjord, the tours would have already departed, as it's a very full day, 7 AM to 8PM. Pretty you can't get there from here. Yesterday, Saturday, we attended a festival sponsored by the Lion's Club in the local park. Games for kids, amateur bandstand and rides in antique cars were the feature events. For a 5$ donation I scored a ride in a 1903 Renault. Chief oddity was a motorcycle style (all 3 forward gears in line) shift pattern, also radiator behind engine, thus no grille.