The Shaw’s down under.....part one
On the first day of February we landed in Christchurch, the garden city of South Island, New Zealand. It is very British with the cathedral, designed by Pearson, sitting in a busy Cathedral Square. We went to Evensong and the all male choir were very good. Surrounding us was a wonderful Flower Festival with the central nave a carpet of flowers and shells. So many of the flowers were types we never see in our northern climes. After the service there was a fashion show where all the models were dressed as flowers and the stitchwork in the costumes was amazing.
Nave Flower Festival in Christchurch Cathedral
We toured Christchurch on vintage trams to see all the granite neo-gothic buildings, fountains, botanic gardens and the small but leafy River Avon, where you could hire a punt. The next day we travelled by train from the East coast across to Greymouth on the West coast. The journey took us through the farmland of the Canterbury Plains and then high up through mountain passes, stopping briefly at Arthur’s Pass. There is only one train a day so it makes unscheduled stops to pick up locals and does not seem to mind if it arrives late. We stopped at one place to pick up a basketful of wonderful fresh muffins from a farmers’ wife, which quickly sold among the passengers.
From Greymouth we spent several days driving south towards the fiords. Between the sea and the mountains is sub-tropical rain forest, full of large tree ferns and beech trees and some palms. We had never seen such vegetation before, nor had we encountered single track bridges carrying traffic from both directions, but this is the way to cross the numerous creeks which flow out of the forest. Two bridges also carried the railway so before driving across you had to check, not just for cars, but also for trains!
We stayed for two days in the mountains and walked to the foot of both the Franz Josef and the Fox glaciers. All the walks were either in thick rain forest or along the edge of beds of the rivers which flow out of the glaciers.
The Franz Josef Glacier
Then we turned inland and drove up through the forest to a pass called the Gates of Haast. As soon as we crossed the summit, the geography changed completely and we were in very arid mountains. Distant geography lessons about prevailing winds and watersheds immediately came to mind. In these mountains we caught up with the 2006 Vintage Bentley tour of NZ, with many cars and owners having been specially shipped over from all over the world. The mountain valleys now became fertile again and full of orchards and vineyards. We often stopped to buy wonderful fresh apricots and peaches.
Our next major stop was at Lake Wanaka. The scenery was stunning, blue sky, high mountains, green shoreline and a vivid blue lake. Wanaka is a favourite place for Kiwis to holiday and as it was a Bank Holiday the lake was busy. From here we travelled through the old Victorian goldfields to Dunedin, back on the East coast. In the dusk we sat on a beach and watched penguins return from the sea, waddle up the beach and feed their young , just feet from us. A very special moment.
Lake Wanaka
Then on south-west to the fiords. As well as sailing on the famous and so scenic Milford Sound, we also spent 24 hours on a boat with only 40 other people on Doubtful Sound. No roads go to this fiord so we got there by boat over a small lake and then a track over a pass. It was a privilege to see the seals and sea-lions on the rocks and to see the Wandering Albatross and several petrels and penguins. On the second day we all sat in silence on the deck and listened to the silence and watched a pod of dolphins frolicking around the boat. This is a very special part of our planet.
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From here it was back to civilisation and Queenstown, a busy tourist centre famous for its extreme sports. We declined the bungy jump but we did go on the jet boat streaking at 80kmph through a narrow gorge and doing several 360 degree turns. Not something to do on a full stomach! Then we caught another train from Christchurch to the north of South Island and then a ferry over the Cook Strait to North Island. We broke the train journey at Kaikoura to go whale-watching. We saw lots more dolphins and three sperm whales. They lay on the surface for about 15 minutes showing only a fraction of their huge mass and then they gracefully lift their huge tail and dive beneath the surface for about 45 minutes.
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This is only a snippet of our two and a half weeks on South Island. We were busy every day but as NZ has excellent food in its cafes and restaurants, and the portions are very adequate, we were able to keep our strength up and enjoy every day to the full. Mary, of course, tried all the new food, even liquorice ice cream.
Mary and Brian
