Out and About in Christchurch

From The Willows to Weedons it was just a short 22km trip, and we arrived by lunchtime.  This is quite a large NZMCA Park with a maximum number of 130 and there were plenty of spaces available at that time of the day, but of course, the vans continue to roll in later in the afternoon and early evening.  We will be here for several days, we have people to see, and places to go. 

Weedons NZMCA Park, Christchurch

Fellow bloggers (The Circumferous Gibbs) Dave and Nancy called around to see us, they had been following our blog and knew that Weedons would be our next stop.  It was so nice to catch up with them again, the last time was during our previous trip down to the South Island.  We had plenty to talk about, discussing trips, both previous, current and in the future, and people we had in common.  Dave and Nancy are planning a big North Island trip in a few months time, so of course they are rather excited about that.

Dave and Nancy called to see us

The next day we drove in to Christchurch CBD to see any changes since our last time here in 2018, when the city was still in recovery mode.  On Tuesday 22 February 2011, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake caused severe damage in Christchurch and Lyttleton, killing 185 people and injuring several thousand.  This earthquake occurred on a shallow fault line close to the city, so the shaking was particularly destructive.  The earthquake brought down many buildings damaged in the previous earthquake in September, especially older brick and mortar buildings. Heritage buildings suffered heavy damage, and two-thirds of the buildings in the central business district were subsequently demolished, including the city’s tallest building, the Hotel Grand Chancellor. Many residential properties were so baby damaged that they were levelled, while others waited quite some time for extra builders to arrive from across the country to carry out repairs.  The Anglican Christchurch Cathedral was very badly damaged, and after years of wrangling, the work has only just begun on the repairs.

Christchurch Cathedral

Another casualty of the 2011 earthquake was The Bridge and Arch of Remembrance.  The repairs included replacing the original 4m piles with much longer 27m piles, and the arch has been reinforced with an 8.2 tonne beam.  This work means that the arch, built from rock quarried in Tasmania, will rock rather than twist in any future earthquakes.  The Bridge and Arch of Remembrance serve as a memorial to servicemen and women of two World Wars, and later conflicts in Korea, Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam.  It was so nice to see it repaired and in use again.

Bridge and Arch of Remembrance

The city was packed with people, and as we found out later, two cruise ships were visiting.  Buskers were performing to throngs of people at various spots throughout the city centre.  Let’s get out of here away from these crowds and  go to Lyttleton, we decided.  We drove through the Lyttleton Tunnel, the longest tunnel in the South Island at nearly 2km in length,

Through the long tunnel

Up the hill we drove, joining several other vehicles at the Lookout, all snapping photos of the views of the port and harbour, or taking selfies, as tourists do.  There was a huge pile of coal in one corner of the port, with a big long conveyor belt to move the coal around.

 

Views from the Lookout

What we had really come here for was to check out the Timeball Station, which was damaged beyond repair in the earthquake.  The Timeball Station was one of only five in the world known to be still in working order. From 1876 to 1934 a ball was dropped on its mast on the stone tower signaling the time to ships in Lyttleton Harbour, and to allow corrections of ships chronometers.  After the earthquake, workers numbered the stones, stored them in crates, while plans were made to fund and re-erect the tower.  The $3 million project got underway, and the tower was reconstructed in the style of the original stone masonry, complete with a newly coated zinc timeball painted in the original colours.  The timeball drops each day at 1.00pm.

Lyttleton Timeball

From this vantage point I also spotted those two large cruise ships in the port.  No wonder there were so many people everywhere in the city and in the tiny town of Lyttleton.  We also saw plenty of coaches bringing cruise ship passengers back from day trips further afield.

Two cruise ships in the harbour

Son Michael lives in Christchurch and we met up with him for lunch  at the interesting café/restaurant/wedding venue, The Sign of the Takahe, which I had heard about.  It was so nice to see him again, and as you can imagine, there was plenty to chat about.  We will meet up again with him shortly before we leave Christchurch and make our way southwards. 

Jenny and Michael

It was interesting to find out about this building, which looks just like a small castle.  Built in the Gothic Revival style by Harry Ell, it is one of four historic rest houses constructed for those walking the scenic reserves of the Port Hills.  With a beautiful medieval style interior built to impress, even a set of armour standing by, and lovely gardens, no wonder this building is much in demand as a wedding venue.  The other three buildings in this chain of rest houses are The Sign of the Kiwi, The Sign of the Bellbird, and the Sign of the Packhorse.  We may have to investigate further, I think.

 

Sign of the Takahe building

Medieval style interiors

The wind here in Weedons is ceaseless, and seems to get stronger as the afternoon wears on.  So much so that it is cold and unpleasant to do much sitting outside, or to have the awning out.  But we have had a few lovely sunsets.  Robin caught this lovely golden glow over the tops of the caravans and campers as the light was fading.

Sunset at Weedons

The following day we had a couple of chores to do, refill the gas bottle and visit the laundromat.  For a change the gas bottle didn’t run out in the middle of a wet and stormy night, as often happens.  As we had been  so impressed with the beautiful Sign of the Takahe building, we decided to visit another of the Harry Ell’s rest houses.  This time, The Sign of the Kiwi, high up on Summit Road.  Up and up we drove, wondering if we would ever reach the summit.  We finally arrived, and once again had trouble finding a park, luckily someone was ready to depart so we sneaked into that spot on the side of the road rather quickly.  We walked up the steps into another beautiful stone building – there were plenty of customers inside.

Sign of the Kiwi Rest house

This café advertises “The best date scones in town” and the certainly were.   Date scones are a real favourite with Robin, so that was his choice, and I had a lemon slice, but rather wish I’d ordered a date scone as well.  We enjoyed our light lunch and cold drinks, and sat and admired the interior of the building.

Rest a Whyle – the original purpose of the rest houses

There was an interesting looking stone column outside, and what did I see hanging from it but a wooden sign blowing in the breeze showing a kiwi.  And the views up so high on Summit Road are amazing.  There were scores of crazy cyclists around, zipping down the road by the café, and then along the cycle tracks in the hills.  Some of these cyclists stop off at The Kiwi Rest house for a cool drink, ice-cream, and comfort stop, so the vision of Harry Ell is alive and well.  That’s two Rest houses we have tracked down, perhaps we will try and find the other two next time we stay in Christchurch.

Stone column and a view from the top

Our time at Christchurch is almost at an end – we are visiting son Michael again today, then we pack up and drive to Ashburton tomorrow.  Just hope that dratted cold wind doesn’t follow us down there.

New Year at Cape Foulwind

This trip saw us backtracking along SH69 to the turnoff then continue along the Lower Buller Gorge to Westport.  This road is narrow, winding and rather slow.  We stopped at the Kilkenny Lookout sign which gives drivers the first view of Hawks Crag, a prominent landmark in the lower Buller Gorge, where the road has been excavated through a bluff that drops into the Buller River.  The almost vertical cliff at Hawks Crag posed a challenge when building a road through the lower Buller Gorge. The solution was to cut a narrow slot across the cliff face, which had to be negotiated with care by wheeled vehicles. 

 

This part of the road is a single lane, of necessity, and we watched a a small blue car passed effortlessly under the overhang.  Then it was our turn.  I must admit I found it a bit scary driving under the rock, but we have of course towed a caravan along this road  before.

Here we go under the rock

We were heading to the Star Tavern, in Cape Foulwind, where we had stayed on our 2012 trip with several friends.  That time, we stayed on the pub owners private section, where we remember Robin and Derek splitting logs for the owner.  Here’s a blast from the past, we managed to retrieve this earlier photo from April 2012.  Goodness, we had forgotten just how big that woodpile was.

Robin and Derek, way back in 2012

This time, we came down Domain Drive to a large grassy area to park up, and were soon joined by several other vans.  We spent a pleasant 4zees chatting to the couple next to us in the Dethleffs motorhome.

At Cape Foulwind

Coastal erosion is alive and well here, with signs posted at the cliff edge.  I walked gingerly up to the fence and peered over.  Such a pretty scene below, a lovely little beach with some people down on the sand.  There is a track a little further away, but I declined, realizing that what goes down, must climb all the way backup again. 

Over the fence

Who named Cape Foulwind?  It was named by Captain James Cook in 1770 after his ship Endeavour was blown off course by the prevailing western winds.  A century and a quarter earlier Able Tasman sailed by and named this spot Rock Cape.

We had been playing Telephone Tag with fellow bloggers Irene and Ian who write Free Spirit blog and had arranged to meet at this camp for News Year Eve.  And here they are, come inside and have a cuppa.  It was great to meet them at last.  They are traveling around New Zealand in a tiny little van,  opted to take power and were plugged into a power point at the Star Tavern.

Hello, Ian and Irene

We were booked in for a pub meal at the Tavern to celebrate New Year.  The bar still had money pinned to the ceiling, the notes must have been in place for quite some time now.  The bar staff were friendly, and we enjoyed a drink while we waited for our dinner booking time to roll around.  The dining room was well booked so our allocated time was not till 8.00pm, although as luck would have it, we were served half an hour early.  All of us decided on Crumbed Camembert for starters, nice and tasty indeed.  For the mains it was salmon for me, and steak for Robin, no surprises in our choices.  Ian chose fish, and Irene struggled with a large Mixed Grill.

Jenny, Robin, Ian and Irene

By the time we had finished our meals, the patrons had thinned out, the music was getting louder, so we all went back to our van for coffee and cake. It was a lovely evening indeed, although we have to confess that we just couldn't stay up till midnight to see the old year out, and the new year in.  Loud fireworks had Gemma hiding away, and they kept going intermittently for a while.

Happy New Year to all our readers, may 2023 be a good year for us all.  Safe travels for those on the road.

UK Visitors in Takapau

In the midst of all our 600th Rally Celebrations, some VIPs arrived in Takapau to stay the night.  It was Barry and Sandra, who blog at Barry and Sandra’s Adventures.  They have kept us interested in their travels cruising the cut in UK on their narrowboat AreandAre.  Our club members Dot and Derek had met Barry and Sandra some yeas ago on the canals, when they had their own narrowboat Gypsy Rover.  Although we hadn't met the visitors personally, we certainly felt we knew them after following their adventures on their blog for quite some time now.

Jenny, Barry, Dot, Sandra and Robin

Sandra and Barry have returned to New Zealand for an extended holiday and are currently traveling around in their newly acquired campervan.  We were very interested to read about their experiences as they were placed in a quarantine facility on arrival for 14 days, having the required Covid tests twice during this time.  By all accounts, the hotel room was comfortable, three meals a day were supplied including desserts, Internet was available, and wine was able to be purchased, so it didn’t seem too bad at all.  The daily updates gave an interesting insight into their quarantine experience, and the days were ticked off one by one till finally the day of freedom arrived. 

They joined our group for 4zees (Happy Hour) outside in the sunshine and for our evening get-together in the hall on Saturday, and it was great to get to know them both.  We wish them many happy travels while they explore our beautiful country.  There shouldn’t be too many problems as they travel, after all, Barry is a Kiwi and Sandra had resided here for a while, so it’s rather like returning home for them.

A bit of male bonding going on, Barry, Pat, Robin and Bill

Gidday to Tom and Jan

What’s the weather like today in Perth, we wondered, as we looked out of our 22 floor hotel room in the morning.  Doesn’t look too bad at all.

After an enjoyable breakfast in the busy hotel restaurant it was soon time to head downstairs to the lobby.  Tom from Waiouru blog fame was coming to collect us and take us back to his home for a BBQ lunch.  We had first “met” Tom and Jan some years ago in blogland, when we followed their adventures as they traveled along the canals of England aboard their narrowboat Waiouru.  Jan was waiting to meet us at the door, and we were ushered inside to have a cuppa.  What’s this?  Cups of tea served in their very special Llangollan Canal mugs, we felt very honoured indeed!

You know what it’s like when you finally get to meet people who write blogs, sharing their adventures and travels over the years.  Even though it’s the first get-together, it is just like meeting up with an old friend after a period apart.  There was plenty to talk about, even the obligatory narrowboat topic, toilets!  But as I commented to Tom, caravan owners don’t really discuss toilets as narrow boaters do.  Probably because the caravans have little itty bitty toilet cassettes which are easy to empty, unlike the long drawn out pump-outs which boaters experience.

The BBQ was soon fired up and Tom took over the cooking.

We enjoyed a very pleasant lunch outside under the awning, and still had plenty to talk about.  Little two year old Molly wandered around, keeping an eye on these Kiwi visitors.

Hello, Molly

We spotted  Tom’s pride and joy,  his newly built camper trailer, constructed for outback off road adventures.   Just back from one trip, he is now planning his next one.   And why not, there’s a whole lot of country to explore over here in Australia.

Before we knew it, it was six o'clock and we were still putting the world to rights.  Time for us to get returned back to the big city, so we said our goodbyes.  Many thanks for a lovely day, a great lunch, and we so enjoyed meeting up with you both.

Tom and Jan

There was one more job to do when we were dropped off at the hotel – laundry!  Tomorrow we are starting out Indian Pacific adventure and I didn’t want to take a bag of washing with me.  Surprisingly, our hotel does not have a guest laundry, but we found  laundromat just a couple of blocks away.  The washing machines were all named, five in a row had the names of the Jackson Five.  Our laundry was washed in “Michael”, and he seemed to do a good job.

After just a short walk we were back at the hotel.  With the laundry all done, it was time to sort out our bags for the train trip tomorrow.  As we can only take hand luggage each into our cabin, with the larger cases going in the luggage car,  we have to make sure we pack everything we need for the journey into the small bags.  Really looking forward to this next part of our Aussie adventure.

On the road to Hastings

With the packing finally finished, it was time to hit the road – the only thing forgotten, as we discovered later, was Robin’s tomato sauce.  Being a true blue Kiwi who loves his tomato sauce, this was a disaster, and it will have to be added to the shopping list.  Travelling up SH57, we then went up and over the Pahiatua Track, passing through some lovely native bush.

The Pahiatua Track

This brought us out, as would be expected, at Pahiatua.  It’s always nice to cross over the lovely bowstring arch bridge on the way into town.  The reinforced concrete bridge was constructed between 1931 and 1932, built for the Pahiatua County Council in the midst of the Great Depression.

Bowstring arch bridge at Pahiatua

Welcome sign

Not too far up the road is Mangatainoka – almost the Holy Grail as far as Kiwi blokes are concerned.  This is where the world famous Tui beer has been “brewed on the banks of the Mangatainoka since 1889”, as the advert says.   No time to stop, all we had time for was a quick snap out of the window as we sped past.

Tui Brewery at Mangatainoka

We stopped at Dannevirke for lunch, welcomed into the town by the Viking on the sign.  The town was founded by Scandinavian immigrants, who were brought to New Zealand by the government in 1872 to fell the forest that covered much of southern Hawke’s Bay and to farm the cleared land.  But did you know that Dannevirke was also known as “Sleepertown”?  The cost of carting supplies to the frontier town was so high that the settlers could not repay the money owed for their passage.  In the face of revolt, the government offered them work splitting railway sleepers from totara trees growing in the district, at the rate of one shilling per sleeper.  Work progressed so well that the road through Dannevirke was lined for two miles with stacked sleepers up to twelve feet high.  With the settlement largely obscured, it was nicknamed Sleepertown.  

Dannevirke – known as Sleepertown in the early years

Just past Norsewood, another town founded by Scandinavian immigrants, something caught our eye in the rear vision mirror.  It was the spare tire cover being ripped off by the wind and fluttering to the road side.  Oh my goodness, we didn’t want to lose that, but there was no space to pull over.  So up the road we went, did a U turn, drove back, turned again, and parked up on the side of the road with the hazard lights on.   Robin then did the long lonely walk up the highway as cars and trucks roared past, and came back clutching the prize.   Seems it needs some new elastic cord inserted, so a trip to Canvasland for repairs will be on the cards when we return home.

A successful mission

Continuing on our way, the dark clouds rolled over and the heavens opened up, and down came the rain.  Not just ordinary rain, but a downpour so hard the the wipers couldn’t really keep the windscreen clear, and we had trouble seeing clearly.  Luckily everyone had reduced their speed, so we kept trundling on, the wipers going flat out, tires kicking up vast amounts of spray, and the navigator hoped to goodness that we would make it to our destination safely.    Eventually we  drove out of the downpour, so could breath a sigh of relief.

It’s hard to see in this sort of weather

We made it safely to one of our favourite CAPs (charges apply parking) in an apple orchard to be warmly welcomed by Camp Managers  Rose and Ross.  And as luck would have it, we got the last available power site.  Owners Dick and Elly called in to see us once we were settled, and invited us to join in Happy Hour with the campers.  We have been here often over the years, and it is so nice to be welcomed back each time we return. 

 

Parked up in the apple orchard

Rose brought her new puppy out to Happy Hour and offered me a cuddle.  Isn’t she just gorgeous!

What a beautiful baby

We also met up with Travelling K (Karen) who tells her travel stories in her vlog – a video blog to those who don’t know the term – check out the link here.  It was lovely to meet her, after watching her vlogs, and we hope to get together to swap some travel stories again soon.

Hello to Travelling K