Wellington

Wellington and the South Island

We arrived in NZ to stay at Kristen and Kyle’s house which they were renting in the Hutt Valley –15 minutes from downtown Wellington.

It was lovely to see them all doing well and of course the children were growing fast. My mother continues at 91 to live and manage well on her own—luckily she has many family members visit regularly. She has had a new lease of life with Adelyn and Grayson visiting as they are the only young children around anymore. She enjoys buying little treats and toys to have when they come and it is nice to see—they are amongst the fortunate who establish a relationship with their great grandmother.

We got there in time for the Chinese New Year parade so had a day with the kids taking in a little of the culture—it was weird to think we had just arrived from China where the preparations had been going on for weeks.
We were lucky enough to take in a rugby match with Tracy, Ken and Brady who had now arrived in Wellington.

We had planned a trip to the South Island and left Wellington after a week on the ferry to Picton. Our first stop was to renew acquaintances with Graeme, Lynda and Lachy from Little Blue. We had spent two summers with them in Abel Tasman sailing together.

They are an extremely hospitable family and we set up our tent on their yard. Their home had been a casualty of the Christchurch earthquake and is still awaiting repairs. We took a tour of some of the worst hit areas and were horrified at how much there still is to do. Roads are still buckled and the city centre is still closed off as they continue demolishing buildings—it is now 2 years since the initial quake and somehow we had assumed it would all be fixed by now. It is horrifying to imagine how long it takes to rebuild in the third world if it takes this long in a prosperous country. As we drove in some areas damaged houses are still perched on the edge of cliffs and containers have been used as a barrier to stop landslides closing roads. Downtown, a shopping centre has been constructed using brightly coloured containers and it has become a tourist attraction. The feeling of the area is still eerie though as except for the containers businesses have relocated elsewhere and it is devoid of the bustle of a city centre. We were happy to see the Art Centre which was the former University which although blocked off appears to be mostly OK and looks as though it will be able to be saved. We visited a museum which has been set up to display the earthquake which was sobering. One of the most powerful items was a movie which was made solely of people’s memories of where they were and what happened to them on that day. It was heart wrenching as people talked about the search for loved family members who did not survive.

We wanted to do a “tramp” into the mountains and so left Christchurch to head to Te Anau which is the start of the Keppler Track which we planned to hike. It is one of “NZ’s Great Walks” which you book into the huts you wish to stay in before leaving. You need your sleeping bag and cooking equipment and food but bunks and stoves are provided.

We were lucky that the magnificent summer weather was still holding and we had amazing views as we climbed up the ridge. We had chosen this track as it is one of the shorter ones and you attain high altitudes quickly. You are surrounded by wonderful mountain vistas and lakes in the valleys. The huts are luxurious with running water and flush toilets. We took 3 days walking it but wished we had spent one more day as our last day was long and we felt we had to rush through some of the wonderful scenery.

Driving around the South Island was wonderful as the weather continued to hold—what a wonderful year it would have been to circumnavigate it on Cop Out—the summers we had spent there always had gale warnings for the far south and we had always felt it would have been an endurance test rather than a great trip.

Our trip took us from Alexandra to Queenstown where we stopped in Arrowtown for lunch. It is one of the quaintest historic towns in NZ having been a gold mining centre and is well preserved. We continued to cross the mountains at Haast Pass and continued to Franz Joseph Glacier for the next night marveling at the wonderful scenery as we drove through.

We stopped in Nelson for a few days, it is at the top of the South Island and has a great Saturday market—a larger version of the Saltspring Market where I have sold and hope to go back to sell my pottery. I love to visit the Nelson market and get inspired by some of the lovely work displayed there.

It was now time to catch the ferry back to Wellington to spend more family time.

Amazing New Zealand

New Zealand once again

We arrived in Auckland where we picked up the rental car we had rented for the next 2 months.

We drove to the marina where Mike and Devala our good friends from Sea Rover had their boat. It was lovely to see them again and we spent the night on the boat reminiscing about the wonderful adventures we had shared with them. The next day they took us to an amazing pub on a lovely north shore river bank where the food is good and live jazz entertains the large number of people who come out for the day.

Our next destination was to meet up with Tracy and Ken from Calgary who we had last seen in Malaysia when they had joined us on Cop Out. We had rented a 2 bedroom motel on the shores of the Coromandel Peninsula near Thames to share with them.

We spent a few days there with them timing the tides at Hot Water Beach perfectly. You dig a hole in the sand which fills with hot water from the nearby springs. Some places it is so hot you cannot sit in it and you wait for the tide to come in bringing the cooler sea water.

The other major attraction in the area is to go up the hill in the train which was first built to dig clay by a local potter from the nearby hill. It has become a tourist attraction in its own right and now several trains go up and down the tracks filled with tourists. All profits have been put back on the land where they are replanting native bush and restoring the hills to their former beauty.

Next stop was Rotorua where we joined them and Tracy’s nephew who had arrived from Canada. We went to the thermal park with the mud pools and geysers along with the large numbers of Chinese tourists who have replaced the former Japanese bus loads.

We had booked a day at Hobbiton where “my” Ken had as a number one “must do” and Tracy was also a dedicated fan. The tour itself was well done although the cottages were only facades built into the hill. The tour ended with a beer or cider at the Green Dragon pub and we all enjoyed it.

So far the weather has been exceptional and we have been able to have an amazing time.

We would now leave them and make our way to Wellington to stay with Kristen and her family and see my 92 year old mother still living on her own.

We stopped for one night at Napier where we discovered it was in the midst of Art Deco Week. It was incredible with the whole town dressed as “flappers” and retro music, vintage cars and festivities abounded. We were sad to be wearing our normal clothes as the imagination displayed in many costumes was amazing. Vintage aircraft were flying loop de loops overhead and NZ with their relaxed alcohol laws enabled us to purchase a bottle of wine and 2 glasses as we wandered and enjoyed the atmosphere.

 

Flavours of Hong Kong

Return to Hong Kong

I have been remiss in finishing off my blog—I always intended to finish it back on Saltspring Island, our future home but somehow life kept getting in the way.

Having spent the last year feeling guilty it is time I just took the bull by the horns and just “did it”.

I left off in China where we had a flight booked to Hong Kong to finish our Asia sojourn with David and family.

We had an enjoyable 10 days and were able to go and see Alex at his school sports day and Arianne at her school science fair. Expat children in Hong Kong do not often have grandparents to share these important events and it was nice to see them happy and thriving at the excellent schools they attend.

Hong Kong is an amazing city; huge numbers of people live in massive high rise apartments—often with no kitchen hence the huge number of cheap noodle restaurants. The markets are bustling and colourful and streets are busy.

Contrasted with this the expat and more affluent Chinese live in smaller villages often with a network of trails through forested areas where birds are singing and you are not aware of the fact you are in one of the most densely populated countries in the world. We often took Dave’s dog for a walk in the forest, as you continue walking all of a sudden you will come across a vista of massive high rises over the hill—quite amazing!!

As in any major city in the world there are museums and gardens where you can seek refuge. Public transportation is efficient and cheap and easy to negotiate.

I took a day on my own to get my last taste of the markets which we have spent many hours over the last seven year buying our food. I have always loved the smells, taste and flavor of them but Ken wanted a respite so sought his rewards separately.

We did go to the shopping centres purchasing clothes as ours from the boat are a little the worse for wear and we do not want to arrive home looking life refuges.

It was now time to bid Asia farewell as we were on our way to New Zealand to travel and visit with family there.