Christmas in the Country

It was a family Christmas this year, spent with my daughter Nicky and her family in rural Kiwitea.  But first, time to pack the caravan, moving the van from it’s parking area to the car park outside out home.  Here we can plug into power to get the fridge cold, and make the necessary trips from the house to the van, carrying food and clothes.  And most importantly, don't forget the family Christmas presents.

Caravan in front of our home

We left home on Saturday, an easy drive through the back roads to Kiwitea .Son-in-law Robert helped guide Robin back the caravan into place, but there was an oopsie when he backed over Nicky’s favourite avocado tree.  There was a loud “snap”, but luckily it was the wooden stake which broke, the tree trunk bent and survived to keep on growing.

Here for Christmas

You know you are in the country when you see plenty of hay bales.  And someone on this farm arranged a few bales with happy faces on the road side.  Just the thing to make a couple of townies happy.

Happy hay bales

We called into the local honey shop, Down Under Honey, hoping to find some comb honey.  Yes, they had some in the shop, and we happily purchased some.  We drove down the drive past a group of ostriches on this property, always interesting to see these regal looking birds.

Ostriches at Down Under Honey

Christmas morning was wet and showery, as the weatherman promised.  The traditional family Christmas breakfast here is always warm croissants with ham and cheese, very tasty indeed.  Then it was time to open the presents.  Granddaughter Emma was the Christmas Elf in charge of giving out the gifts.

Emma loves Christmas

After all that activity it was time to get the barbeques out and get cooking for Christmas lunch.  We had brought up a rolled pork loin and Robin soon had it cooking nicely – our Weber BBQ is great for cooking roasts and it certainly smelt delicious.

Rolled pork loin for Christmas lunch

Nicky had prepared another old favourite, chicken breasts stuffed with cream cheese and apricots, and wrapped in bacon.  Robert fired his BBQ up and got cooking too, these needed turning often to make sure all the chicken was properly cooked through.  Delicious!

Robert cooking the chicken bacon roll-ups

The weather cleared up late morning so we could eat outside on the deck.  Neighbours arrived, and we settled down to lunch.  With pork, chicken, various salads and the neighbour’s home made rye bread, we were very well fed indeed.  Glasses of bubbly were raised in a toast, and everyone was quiet as we enjoyed our delicious meal.  After a respite it was time for desserts.  Granddaughter Megan had made a layered berry meringue dessert, simple but so delicious, plus a chocolate cheesecake.  And the neighbor had brought along a chocolate mousse.  We  were certainly well fed.

It was a lovely afternoon indeed, and I have to admit that we both sneaked away from the festivities for a quiet nana nap in the caravan.  Merry Christmas to all our friends and readers, thanks for reading and wishing you all a lovely day.  Take care on the roads if you are traveling this holiday season.

Up and Away on the Gondola

We all have a wish list, and a trip on the Christchurch gondola was on mine for this current trip.  It had been many years since we last had a ride, and in the meantime the gondola was closed for two years after the devastating Christchurch earthquakes.   But it has been up and running now for some time, and the summit complex has since been revamped since the 2011 earthquake.

We paid our money and bought our tickets – sadly no discounts for seniors.  Climbing aboard into that swinging capsule, we were soon on our way, soaring high.  Up, up, up we went, skimming the steep rocky cliffs of Mt Cavendish, and looking down on wonderful views over Christchurch.

All aboard the gondola

The Christchurch gondola was opened in 1992, and carries passengers over a horizontal length of 862m to the summit.  The cableway was made in Austria, and the cabins were constructed in Switzerland.  A sign on the inside of the window offers this reassurance to passengers as the gondola stops every now and then, and sways on the cable.

Safely at the summit

The viewing platform gives 360deg views of the city, Lyttlelton Harbour, the Canterbury Plains and across to the Southern Alps.  The day was a little hazy, but even so, the views were still amazing.

Views from the platform.

After lunch in the Red Rock Café, (lamb pie for him, corn fritters for her, followed by coffee) we followed the other patrons down the steps to an open area where everyone seemed to be taking selfies at the cliff edge.

More views from the top

The Time Tunnel Experience is something new, and we boarded little electric carts and got whisked away back into history.  The area had a fiery birth through volcanic activity, then we were taken through pristine forests inhabited only by native birds.  The Maori people arrived, followed by the early settlers, both on perilous journeys across the sea.  The time tunnel experience then told of the early days of Christchurch, and famous inhabitants, such as Richie McCaw, Richard Hadlee, Hayley Westerner.  Although the journey was only 5 minutes or so long, it was very well done indeed.

Then it was time to board the cabin for our downwards journey.  Here we go – going down!

The Circumforaneous Gibbs

It was our pleasure to meet up with fellow bloggers Dave and Nancy.  We very nearly met up a few weeks ago when we were passing through Christchurch on the way down to Dunedin, but it wasn’t to be.  This time, after a phone call, we were kindly invited to afternoon tea. 

Nancy, Dave, and Penny

Penny the dog barked severely at us when we first arrived, but then settled down when she realized that we were no threat at all, and wouldn’t be making off with the family silver.  And the two Burmese cats kept us entertained by their antics, they weren’t the least bit interested in the visitors.

Dave and Nancy write their blog The Circumforaneous Gibbs and we followed them on their recent travels through Australia.  Thanks so much for arranging the get-together, it was so nice to meet you at last.

Having a Meltdown in Christchurch

There were a couple of jobs to do before we hooked up and left Ashburton – a visit to the laundromat and put the 4WD through the car wash.  After all those gravel dusty roads we’d been driving on, the car was rather dirty and dusty.  Then it was back to our delightful POP to hook up,  and be on our way.  Donegal Downs is such a lovely place, we would have been happy to stay much longer, but really needed to keep travelling northwards.

 Ready to move on

Our time spent in Ashburton had been great, and there are sure to be places to discover that we didn’t find – perhaps next visit.

Goodbye to Ashburton

Heading northward, we crossed the bridge over the Rakaia River once again.  The present road bridge was opened in 1939 and spans 1.8 kilometers of one of the world’s best examples of a ‘braided’ river, and the rail bridge is on one side.  These two bridges are New Zealand's longest road and rail bridges.

Crossing NZ’s longest road bridge, with the equally log rail bridge beside it

Getting closer to Christchurch City, we passed the small town of Dunsandel, which always brings back memories of that Kiwi song written by Ken Avery, “By the Dog Dosing Strip at Dunsandel I fell in love with you””.  Non Kiwis may not be aware of such things, but hydatids testing was done regularly on dogs, and I certainly remember taking my own dog to the strip in the Hutt Valley many years ago.  There are no such things these days as dog dosing strips, but the connection to Dunsandel lives on.  After an intensive hydatids control programme, New Zealand was declared free of the disease in 1999.

If possible, we like to arrive at our destination about lunch time or early afternoon at the latest.  We pulled into Weedons NZMCA Park at 1.00pm, found somewhere to park up, wound the legs down, switched the fridge on, and we were ready for lunch.  And copious amounts of water, as it was another extremely hot day.

At Weedons Park

Although not full, there was quite an array of vans parked around the edges of the large park.  And as expected, more rolled in all afternoon and early evening.  With all our tiki-touring around, Robin had to go and purchase some more Road User Charges – just to keep us legal.

It was very pleasant sitting outside after our evening meal under the shady awning, watching the day slowly come to an end.  We are under the flightpath to Christchurch Airport and plane after plane kept flying overhead as they made their descents.  The temperature slowly cooled and we watched the colours of the sunset – pretty peachy-pink against a clear blue sky.

Sunset at Weedons

As for that meltdown – the temperature here in Christchurch was 32 degrees C today, with the same promised for tomorrow.  Wow – that’s hot!

On to Christchurch

It was hello and goodbye to the resident chook at the camp this morning as we got ready to continue on our trip.  There could well be more than one, but if there was, they kept themselves well hidden.

Hello, chooky

First stop on leaving Hamner was the very necessary visit to the dump station, just a few kms from the camp.  A posse of very interested cows were peeping through the trees from across the road.  They were keeping an eye on Robin as he got on with the job of emptying the waste water and topping up the fresh water tank.  No, I don’t help with that, it is a designated “Blue Job”.

We drove along the very quaintly named “Mouse Point Road”.  There has to be a story behind a name like that, but even Mr Google couldn’t help me – maybe someone knows the tale?  Our trip then took us down SH7 past the little town of Waikari.  We have fond memories of this place as we boarded here for a trip on the Weka Pass Railway in 2012 when we were touring the South Island with a group of four vans.  What a fun trip that was, even though we remember that the rain was pouring down.  And look – here’s Frog Rock, visible from both the train track and the road as we travel through Weka Pass.

Frog Rock at Weka pass

Turning on to SH1 the traffic got more and more busy as we headed towards the city of Christchurch.  “Look at that”, I said to Robin as we drove along, catching a glimpse of a huge globe glinting in the sun.  Fanfare, designed by Neil Dawson, is a 25m tall sphere covered in 360 spinning metal pinwheels and is one of the largest public artworks in New Zealand.  You could almost liken the sculpture to the return of a relation who moved overseas for a while.  Neil Dawson was first commissioned to create Fanfare for the 2004 New Year celebrations in Sydney, where it was suspended from the harbour bridge.  The sculpture was gifted to Christchurch from Sydney in 2007, and the $1.3 million upgrade and installation costs covered by crowd funding, corporate donations, and grants.  Mayor Lianne Dalziel said "Fanfare will always be a symbol of the regeneration of our city (after the earthquake) and the rebirth of our arts scene.  It has been on quite a journey, having started life in Sydney 10 years ago. It feels like we are welcoming it home."

Fanfare, by Neil Dawson

We are staying at Weedons NZMCA Park in Christchurch for the next few days.  This is a huge park and can take up to 50 vans, and also has a large area where members can store their vans.  Water, rubbish bins, toilets and a large meeting room are available.  There used to be a washing machine too – but sadly that is out being repaired at the moment, so it will be a trip to the local launderette for me tomorrow. 

Our little corner of the camp

Our trip so far has been a bit of a rush,  travelling down the Island to where we need to be so that we can meet up with family and friends.  Not much time for much sight seeing so far, but things will get a bit more relaxed soon.  Tomorrow we are meeting up with son Michael – he is a whizz on his coffee machine so we are looking forward to that!

We’re Pondering

Why, we wondered, were our suitcases just as heavy for 6 days away for our Christchurch trip recently – when these are the same suitcases we packed to take to England for a 3 month holiday a few years ago?  Doesn’t seem to make sense, does it?  Mind you, these days we are used to throwing everything we need, or think we might need, into the caravan, where weight is not such a concern.

And just because we could – this is our very first “selfie”.  Actually, it’s the second, the camera wasn’t held high enough for the first one.  Guess we need more practise to get those glamour shots that other people seem to post!

A selfie at Kaikoura

Reflections of Christchurch

There must be a million road cones in Christchurch, and I think we saw every single one.  They were everywhere, lined up like soldiers in long rows as they moved the cars to this side of the road or the other.  No matter where we drove, in the centre of the city or out in the suburbs, there were cones everywhere.  Plus workmen digging holes, replacing pipes and resurfacing the road surface.  In the central city alone  there was around $160 million of earthquake damage to roads, bridges, wastewater, storm water and fresh water networks.  This equates to 43km of wastewater pipes, 8km of fresh water pipes, 9 pump stations, 15 bridges and 62km of roading.  This work is being undertaken by SCIRT (Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team) and  is responsible for rebuilding horizontal infrastructure in Christchurch following the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.

  Just a few of the million or so road cones in Christchurch

There were plenty of these signs around too

Shipping containers are plied one on top of each other holding this building in place.

 

The steel rods are all twisted and torn

But it’s not all doom and gloom amongst all this damage.  Although many of the damaged buildings have been levelled, there are also new ones are going up.  The Restart Mall (made from brightly painted shipping containers) is buzzing and brings foot traffic into the city. 

  The Restart Mall

Bright and colourful Wall Art is popping up everywhere in the city, we particularly liked this one of a ballerina.  Paintings brighten the bleak city walls of damaged buildings and bring a little cheer into people’s lives.

Very clever wall art

Although Christchurch has a long way to go to get the city back to normal, the people seem to take it in their stride and just get on with day to day living.  That’s the Kiwi attitude, I guess, just knuckle down and get on with it.  What else can you do?

The Woolston Tannery and Lyttelton

The Tannery of Woolston was built about 1870 from brick by Gustav Lindstrom, an impressive array of buildings indeed.  After operating for 80 years, the tannery closed in 1959 after the company went into receivership and the land was progressively sold off and many of the old buildings demolished.

The former tannery buildings

Since 1994 most of the site has been owned by Alisdair Cassels who began restoring some of the old tannery buildings and leasing them to businesses, while also developing the vacant land. The site now contains a mix of buildings, old and new, containing boutique shops, cafes and bars.

The historic tannery site has now been turned into a Victorian Arcade, light and airy with glass overhead, wrought iron fittings, and full of interesting and different shops which call you to come and investigate their wares.  We met son Michael there for lunch, and after walking the length of the arcade, settled down outside the cafe.  The deli windows were full of interesting cheeses, sides of smoked bacon, and all sorts of tasty goodies.  It all looked delicious.

Let’s do lunch

Saying goodbye after lunch, we took a drive out to Lyttelton, to see how things were progressing in this port suburb.   Lyttelton was extensively damaged with the earthquakes, as we noticed a couple of years ago when we were last here.  Things didn’t seem to have moved along much at all.  Hill side homes still had big concrete blocks in place to stop the land slipping away

.

Concrete blocks in front of suburban homes

Although there is a little building work being done, there are still a lot of buildings fenced off and left abandoned, just as they were after the earthquake had struck.  It was sad to see that things are taking so long to progress.

 

Locked up and lonely

The port is still busy with logs piled up ready to go overseas.  After the earthquake the port facilities quickly returned to operation. The overall quake damage was less significant than in Christchurch itself, due it was reported, to the dampening effects of the solid rock that the town rests on.

Lyttelton Port is still busy

We drove back through the Lyttelton road tunnel which runs beneath the Port Hills and links the city with its seaport.  It opened in 1964 and carries about 10,000 vehicles each day as part of State Highway 74.   At 1,970 metres (6,460 ft) it is the longest road tunnel in New Zealand.

On our way back to the city

That’s enough sightseeing for the day, it’s time to head back to our accommodation for a cuppa and start packing up for our journey home the next day. We are hoping for a nice calm ferry crossing.

50th Birthday Bash

Do all Mums have this thought at a time like this – how could I possibly have a son who is turning 50?  But I have, and he is indeed 50, much to his surprise.  I think it sort of sneaked up on him.  Michael had organised an evening at Becks Southern Alehouse on Saturday night and 30 guests met there for dinner.  It was a mixed group, mostly Michael’s friends, and his two parents, accompanied by  their spouses.  There was much hugging and greeting as the guests arrived, then everyone settled down at the two tables.  Any late comers got to sit at the parents table – that was their punishment for arriving late.  Everyone was very friendly - “oh, you’re the ones with the caravan”, some of them said.

The Birthday Boy

There was plenty of choices on the menu, and after a lot of dithering on my part, I had finally decided.  Although I dearly would have liked to try the duck breast for my main, I felt that I couldn’t really justify the high price.  So I did the next best thing and ordered duck won tons for starters, (slightly dissapointing, as it turned out) and had a more realistically priced main course to follow.

Michael visiting the parents (and friends) table

Friend Fiona had baked a large birthday cake, banana, Michael’s favourite, spread with chocolate ganache icing in the middle.  She had copied the Star Trek design on the top, and added the words “Captain James T Groovy – Live Long and Prosper”.  When did Michael turn into a Trekkie, I wondered?

Fiona and Michael

After dinner I stood up and related 10 facts that the guests might not know about Michael.  Such as when his father and I took him on his first camping holiday when he was only 4 months old into the wilds of Lake Waikaremoana, with nothing more than a small car and a pup tent.  And he really, really loved his gollywog and woolly blanket when he was a toddler and carried them everywhere.  He was also very fully informed on the Ottoman Empire and could tell you everything you wanted to know about this subject, whether you were interested or not!

Relating some family secrets

After the dinner, everyone moved out to the bar to listen to the music, and danced on the tiny dance floor.  I watched as Michael whirled Fiona around the dance floor.  He never used to dance as a youngster,  I thought to myself, but then he has been away from home for a long time now.  Michael’s group of friends attend the Ceroc Dance classes on a regular basis. 

Dancing the night away

The birthday celebrations continued over to Sunday (the day of his actual birthday) with an informal “at home”.  His gift from us was a Photo Book showing his life, from baby, to toddler, schoolboy and beyond.

Happy Birthday Michael

It turned out to be a very busy afternoon.  Michael’s Dad and his wife came calling.  So did a whole swag of friends bearing plates of food and gifts,   Michael was kept busy at the coffee machine whipping up lattes and cappuccinos as required.  The birthday celebrations had gone very well.   My little boy had turned 50 with style and panache.