Week 12 - 8th & 9th Dec.

9th Dec. - Mount Maunganui - hiked the trail. Saw a freighter leave the harbour and travel through the narrow opening out to sea. Saw a stingray along the shore. Lots and lots of jelly fish. Also, we saw school camping trips that were hiking the trail and playing on the beach. They were camping at the base of the Mount.

The New Zealand Christmas tree is called the Pohutukawa. They are in full bloom all around the mountain and all over NZ.

In the downtown we saw these christmas trees!

Also, the palm trees are quite spectacular with their orange clusters of flowers.







8th December - Mount Maunganui - hiked up to the top. We took the difficult stair climb up and walked back on the easier track. What a spectacular view! On the way up we passed a grade 10 class hiking the mountain...they were exhausted as it is a diffiult climb. At the top we met their bus driver who said it would take that group ages to get to the top.

At the top we find the California Quails.

Below are pictures of the views from the trail as we climb up then down Mount Maunganui.

Us at the top!

This is one of the easy stair cases in the sheep's field as we climb up. They have these fields to act as a fire break, protecting the top of the mountain.

Week 11 - 30th Nov

Kaikoura, Blenheim, and off to Picton
Monday Nov 30th, 2009

Monday morning and I can hear the rain falling on the roof outside our cabin. We are up showered, the car is packed and we head over to the kitchen for breakfast.

Today we head north up the coast to Picton. Before we leave we take a quick detour out to the Kaikoura Peninsula. We have seen this on the map and are not sure just what is there. We find a seal colony and beautiful rock formations. From here we also hike up the peninsula for the views around each side of it.

It is quite beautiful at the top. There are eleven known Mauri fortresses found on the peninsula, which are marked by white poles. At the shore we meet another couple and their two children from Brockville, Canada. They are both teachers on the same leave as me and are travelling for an entire year.

The road becomes more beautiful and mountainous as we head north. There are signs on the road that tell of seal hazards for the next five kms. It is along here we stop to view the seals right at the side of the road. Apparently they come and sleep on the road! There are hundreds of them all over the rocks. Seals snoozing, talking with other seals, some are chasing others off their rocks.

In Blenheim, it’s off to the saddlery store, so I can look around. This shop specializes in making anything from leather require. This is a large horsey area with many racing and riding stables.

In Picton, we settle into our little cabin, then head to the RSA for supper. We both have roast beef and Alan has a beer. The food is alright, but they now have a new caterer, so it is not as good as the last time.

Week 10 - 27th - 29th Nov

Christchurch, Market, Kaikoura
Sunday Nov 29th, 2009

This morning we are having our usual toast, fruit and coffee for breakfast, pack, and then we are off to Kaikoura. We make a couple of stops before we leave Christchurch. We plug into the GPS, Rotary Race track, and head off to the market to see what it is all about. This market is just like Peterborough’s market only three times the size. What fun we had. There are over 300 stalls selling new goods, used goods, food, vegetables and just about everything you could think of. We purchase a couple of little presents and a large bag of onions for $2.

We continue on again and stop along the way for coffee then continue our drive to Kairkoura. In town we found chili and pepper gluten free sausages for dinner

Tomorrow we are heading to Picton.

Christchurch, Papanui Coffee, Shopping
Saturday Nov 28th, 2009

Saturday morning and there is water on the ground so it looks like it is raining today. We get up and have breakfast, toast without any butter, and find out that there are others in the park with missing food. It now seems from our conversations with others that the park has not cleaned out the fridge as someone went yesterday to talk to them about their missing food. It seems that there is someone stealing food and unfortunately we do not know who.

We decide to drive to Papanui to have a look around the suburb and we find this nice little bike shop. I stop in at the sewing shop next door and find out that there is a quilter’s café around the corner.
It is a cute little shop with beautiful quilting and appliqué.

In Christchurch most roads have bike lanes. At the intersections they have used red stone in the pavement to keep drivers aware that they must leave room for the bikers.

Tomorrow we are heading to Kaikoura.

Christchurch, Crater Drive, Akaroa, RSA Dinner
Friday Nov 27th, 2009

Today we take a drive up to Summit Road, the rim of the crater. The drive is beautiful and at the top we stop at the Centennial Memorial to the Pioneer woman of Canterbury. Woman arriving by boat in the Port of Lyttelton had to endure a long and painful climb to the top of the crater rim to get to the other side and begin their new lives. It is at this point on the mountain that the monument was raised to celebrate their perseverance. We talk briefly with a couple of Christchurch ladies who have walked up the hill path. They do this for a bit of exercise, and as the hill is quite steep a bit of exercise is what they get. They say the downhill part is the best.

Further down the road we stop and climb to the rim of the volcano. Across the opposite side of the road, and up the hill is a beacon. We decide to climb to the top and take our lunch with us. The beacon is a geodetic position marker and we are able sit on the concrete base and have a picnic lunch. We can see the surrounding countryside. The wind picks up and we feel like we are going to be blown off the top!

We are travelling to the small town of Akaroa. The road is again very twisty and windy as it follows the Pacific shore. The wind is picking up and we are nearly blown off the road as we travel along then climb the hill once again towards the volcano’s rim. Akaroa is located inside the remnants of an old volcano and we have to climb to the top of the rim and down the other side to get into the town. At the top, the view is once again beautiful and we drink in the scenery. In the town, we park and do a walk about. It has a French flair as the early settlers arrived from France and brought their creative flair to the area.

There are lots of little boat houses in this area.

Opposite the car, is a nice little house with a beautiful rose garden. We admired this garden on the way into town, but now a lady has now come out of her house and is feeding a small dog an ice cream cone. We chat with her for a while and find out that she has a daughter in Canada. She is married and has lived in Edmonton for many years now. We tell her what beautiful roses she has then we hop in the car and head back to Christchurch for dinner.

This lovely horse came when I called it...makes me think of Dancer with those ears up!

Tonight we are not cooking! Dinner will be at the Papanui RSA (Returned Services Association). Alan had a lovely roast pork dinner and I had lamb shanks…Wow…just like Mum’s roasts!

Some of the birds we see are this little brown and grey one...it likes the peanuts and raisins we were having as a snack. Also, this black and white bird reminds us of the magpie in Alberta. It is about the same size, but it isn't noisy!

Week 9 - 21st & 22nd Nov.

Worlds steepest street – Baldwin Street, Mount Cargill,
Moraki boulders, Moraki Harbour – Lunch at Fleurs

Sunday Nov 22nd, 2009
Today we carry on to Oamaru. On our way out of the city we check out the world’s steepest street. It is recognized by the Guinness World book of records. Baldwin Street was originally designed by William Baldwin, a member of Otago council in the late 1800’s. The street is 161 m long and climbs a vertical height of 47.2 m from beginning to end. At its steepest point, the climb is 1 in 2.86 with an average climb of 1 in 3.41.

On the hill, we meet a runner (over 60 years old) with a tee-shirt that claims Worlds Steepest Hill World Record Runner. We chat with this fellow for a bit and he runs up and down this hill 60 times a day as part of this fitness regime. Apparently, he has also been recognized by the Guinness world book of records.

He recommends we go to the top of Mount Cargill. He even offers to drive up with us but we have the back of the car packed with stuff and there are no available seats for him. He also says don’t forget to stop in Moeraki harbour and go to Fleurs for lunch. Have the blue cod and tell them I sent you. We thank him, take the directions and head to Mount Cargill.

Mount Cargill is a very high spot and it gives perfect panoramic views for 360 degrees. There is the Pacific Ocean to the East, Dunedin to the south, and mountains in all other directions.

The GPS suggests an alternate route to Moeraki, which we of course take.The scenery is once again stunning and we are able to drive through a narrow gorge just outside of town. One car wide! Then up to the mountain side we go and down the other side. It is beautiful country.

At Moeraki we head to the beach. Luckily the tide is low and we can see the boulders in the distance. There are lots of people milling about and it is not to difficult to tell that this is one of NZ’s popular tourist attractions. As we get closer we can tell that these boulders are similar to the ones we saw in Kohtou but more uniform in size and shape.

We wander up and down the beach looking at all the boulders, waiting for our turn to take pictures between the tourists. Here we meet Tom and Chad Adams from the previous night. They tell us to go back and see Shag Point as they have seals, penguins and lots of sea life. We thank them for the tip and carry on our way.
In the tiny town of Moeraki we find the restaurant “Fleurs” right at the dock. It looks like an old weathered fishing building and you have to look twice to realize it is a restaurant. I can imagine it has been here for 100 years. A place where fisherman stored their nets and life revolved around the sea.
Here we explain to the waiter how we found the place…he did ask…and what an amazing lunch we had. They served us a baked whole blue cod with steamed vegetables and on top of the fish are lots of slivered almonds, capers and butter. We devoured all the fish… what a wonderful meal.

Shag point is a short drive back toward Dunedin but we think from Chad’s description that it is worth it. Out at the point we see two yellow eyed penguins, seals, and lots of sea birds. It seems this was a mining area as there are lots of signs to stay on the track due to open holes. The mining information indicates that a thriving coal mine once existed on this point and the drifts go way out under the sea. Due to the problem with water in the tunnels eventually the mine was closed and the mine features removed.

We continue our drive to Oamaru. One of the locals suggested we head to the harbour around seven in the evening to see the blue penguins, or fairy penguins. You can take a tour that costs $110 or do it ourselves…we went ourselves. We put on most of our coats, I put on my scarf and hat and wished I had mittens. There is a fence up from the shore line to protect an area for penguin nesting. Inside the large enclosure are penguin boxes around local shrubs. We met a fellow looking over a fence and he explained that these penguins come in at night in waves or groups, usually when it is dusk. We watch for a long while with him and it is very windy and chilly, but we persist.

Finally, as the sun hits the horizon, you can see what looks like a flock of floating ducks on the sea. The crowd is building and we don’t want to move for fear we lose our vantage points. We wait, and wait, and wait with the mass coming closer to land, and then it seems to head back out to sea again. Eventually you can see little bird outlines coming ashore.

It was suggested a better view was from up the harbour, so I went there leaving Alan at the beach. Here I saw five blue penguins jump out of the water onto the rocks against the pier. The proceeded to jump up the rocks towards me then turned and headed for the penguin boxes. What an amazing sight.

Dunedin, Coffee in town, Botanical Gardens
Saturday Nov 21st, 2009

We are up early this morning. The sky is blue, the sun warm and we cook our usual morning breakfast. The Australian couple we had met the night before, Sharmaine and Nigel, join us at the farmers market.

The Dunedin farmers market is just like Peterborough’s market with stalls of fresh baking, vegetables, meats and wine. After the market the four of us went out to a café then we head off our own way. We had worn shorts as the weather was so warm when we left. However, the weather changed in a flash and we had to head back to the cabin to change and then had lunch.

After lunch we head to the art gallery, but it has limited artwork on display and was disappointing. The Cadbury company was outside handing out chocolate when we left, that was quite nice.

We later found the Dunedin Botanic Garden and see the beautiful displays of rhododendrons, azaleas, rock garden flowers, and torch flowers. I loved their bronze sculptures of Peter Pan and Wendy with the children.

We had a lovely evening back at the cabin. Spend the evening talking with Sharmaine, Nigel, then Tom and Chad Adams, American friends of Nigel’s, from North Carolina joined us. Tomorrow we are heading to Moeraki Boulders and Oamaru.