Christchurch -Boxing Day

The day we left CHC, we felt several tremors.  I had felt a few during the night.  Alison said she thought it was about a 4.6.  It was in the city centre and we heard there was lot more damage than the September quake.  

Incognito

We have done three cities and have not been able to get on.  Watch for changes.

We are on the road now and are not readily able jump on to the internet.  Right now we are in our second night in a cabin high up a hillside overlooking Ortego Harbor.  The panoramic views are splendid.  A few green covered islands lie in the harbor and the far shore is speckled with small communities that sparkle in the twilight.  Today we went to the end of the penisula to the Albatross Centre with hopes of seeing some of these great birds.  There wasn't much wind so there wasn't anyvisible activity as these heavy birds rely on strong winds to support their weigh and hold them in the air for hours of flight over the sea.  We are going to take another run at it this evening.  While there though we did see several sea lions trying to bask in the  mid-day sun in spite of the tourists trying to take their pictures and get them to do tricks.  I was no better.  I almost stepped on one while I was staring at the beach full of gulls standing on on leg and preening.  I hearda strange grunting noise which I thought was coming from the cliffs, then looked down at my feet to see a lump of angry fur daring me to take one more step.
After lunch we went to a aquatic research center run by the University of Ortego to watch them feed their fish.  They have an excellent little aquarium containing all the fish of the bay and surrounds.  I thought the niftiest exhibit was thelarge cylindrical tank in the lobby filled with red krill, the mainstay of the diet of many species including the the huge ballen whales.  There are so many in the bay that you can see long red bands in the water.

Out in the Wilderness -no internet

We are at the edge of the world.  Almost as far south you can get before the South Pole.  No internet.  Saw sea lions basking this morning and incredible native forests this afternoon.  Hope to add pictures in time.

On the road on Boxing Day

Tomorrow we will begin our trip along the SE coast of the South Island.  Our stops will include Oamaru, Dunedin, the Catlins, Glenorchy and Lake Tekapu.  We will be on the road for ten days, staying mostly in hostels.  We hope to see penguins, seals, albatross (none for our necks, thank you!) and lots of beautiful countryside.

Old mustached guys

Christchurch Museum

Sumner from the top of the valley

Dock in Akaroa

Fish and chips in Akaroa

Headed out to Quail Island

The Summer solstice

Yesterday was the summer solstice, unless you are unfortunate enough to live in the Northern Hemisphere.


Bob drove us to the lovely village of Akaroa. This village was originally founded by the French, who, if the had arrived two years earlier could have made South Island a French colony. We had intended to go out on a boat to see dolphins and possible whales, but the seas were high and all but the two biggest boats were bound in the harbor.  Instead we went for a lunch of incredibly delicious fish n' chips.  We walked out on the boat pier and enjoyed the sun and lots of wind and then walked back to the beach.  Rowan and Avery went swimming and playing in the sand, while we crumbled in the shade of a beachside tree and enjoyed the ocean air.  I walked down to the French butcher shop and looked around a bit.  I was attracted to the butterflied leg of lamb pre-seasoned Moroccan for the barbie. In the mid-afternoon we drove back through the gorgeous countryside of colossal volcanic hills covered with trees, grasses and sheep.

Last evening we went up to a park on top of the ridge and waited for the mid-summer's moon -made special this year by a full eclipse. At first it seemed we would be disappointed as there was heavy mist along the horizon and full eclipse was scheduled for 9:15 pm.  But about 9:22 the pinkish brown disc forced its way through the clouds and from then on did justice to the night sky. We watched until about  10:30 when the creamy midsummer moon proved enough light to make our way back along the rocky trail in the park to our car and then home.

Christmastime in Christchurch Cathedral

We have been in the Cathedral a couple times.  One morning we ran into the large group of school children singing Christmas songs and carols.  We listened for half an hour -pretty long program for youngsters.  Interesting that this is an American song/Mexican.  I've seen a lot of people here but no Mexicans.

Around town -Sumner

We have been here now for over a week and I am beginning to get a feel for the community. 

The Bower family lives in Sumner, a borough of Christchurch.  The town spreads along the coast and sprawls slowly up the valley between two legs of an ancient volcano. Driving east into Christchurch, you pass through other small communities where the rock comes right up to the sea and the many layers of volcanic rock and ash can been seen in cross-section.

For reference, the nearest large landmass to South Island is Antarctica which plays an ever ready role in the weather systems here.  Lyttelton Harbor has been and still is the key staging point for Antarctic expeditions.  

The houses along the beach are quite nice and of modest size although not of modest price. The all have a full on view of the ocean which they capitalize on with lots of glazing. But as you move back away from the beach, most of the houses are smallish and on smallish lots.  Many have lovely gardens full of flowers -lots of roses right now- and ornamentals (many of the plants growing in yards are those we only keep as houseplants!), but they have an unfortunate custom of surrounding their lot with high board fences or walls.  While that may afford some privacy, it means that when you look out any window of the house all you can see is fence.

As you move up the valley, things improve.  The houses seem to get a little larger and because many of the lots are on a slope, they lose the fences.  Bob and Ali's place spreads up the cliff three levels, each with walkouts on the hillside and a nice deck on the valley side.

It is an 18-20 minute walk from the house to the beach or town centre, whichever.  Sumner is something of a travel destination in the summer so there are quite a few restaurants, a movie theatre, a nice little library, a grocery, meat market, fish market, hardware store, etc.  

Thursday was the last day of school and we had been walking the kids to and from school -a sixteen minute walk, so a touch over a mile.  Avery is taking riding lessons at a stable which is about eight minutes up the valley on foot.  we do a lot of walking here.

Looking down the street from the deck

Nice place to sit and enjoy the sun

The front of the house: far left is kitchen,the dining are and right is living room.  Upper level is upstairs bath and master bedroom with a small deck

Deck facing northeasterly.  The sun spills over the deck as it comes up, but being in a valley doen't crest the ridge until about 7:30.  In winter Bob says the sun disappears about 1:30 pm.

The weather so far has been less agreeable than the travel books claim.  We have had many days when wearing a pullover or jacket were necessary.  We are only a few days off from the summer solstice.  Lots of rain yesterday.  That said, on nice days it has been comfortably warm and in the morning a cool sea breeze wafts up through the valley adding a moist freshness to the beginning of the day.  

As you can see, they have had some dry weather, in fact something of a drought according to the newspaper.  The hills above town are already yellow and brown looking a lot like California.  As there are lots of dairy farms, the shortage of water is being felt particularly on the North Island.  Selfishly, we would welcome some dry days as we begin our road trip after Christmas.  

This morning, Bob, Rowan and I are going off to look for a Christmas tree.

Lots of school activities

Since we arrived there has been a flush of school activities with the grandkids Rowan and Avery.  It is the end of the term and they will be off Thursday for their summer holiday.  

First Avery's class had a picnic and a swim at the school.  Everyone brought a few items to eat.  well, actually not a few but enough to feed the 27 kids in the class.  Lolly made chocolate chip cookies for Avery to take.  When lunch time came the food was all laid out on a long table and the kids got up in orderly groups and got a few items to eat.  This was repeated about four times, so everyone got a good choice.  The teacher invited us to join in after the kids had pretty much their fill.  There was still lots yo eat.  When they finished eating they went into the dressing rooms and put on their swim suits.  We were pleasantly surprised to see how polite and orderly the kids were.

Monday both grades had an outing which involved climbing to the top of what seemed to me to be a very high mountain, planting a tree and coming back down again for a catered lunch of sausages and fruit.  Our hike started from the school yard and continued to a park at the base of this foreboding cliff where they kids were allowed to play on the swings, teeter-totters, etc.  After some playing around, they had their tea-time and then stacked their backpacks under a tree in preparation for our tramp up the "mountain".

We started out in a long queue and serpentined up the side of this mountain, kids by class and parents and teachers injected here and there.  By the time we reached the top, most of the parents were a the end of the line, red-faced and puffing.  Most of the teachers to their credit and extraordinary fitness held their positions.  More play and noise.  Then they took turns examining a small tree planted three years ago by an earlier class.  It is a tree I believe they call New Zealand Christmas tree.

They view from the top was exhilarating.  The wind was up and e could see the waves rolling into the beach as insect-sized people paddled boards out to catch a wave.  Then all the children were gathered up in a group to sing the national anthem in Maori.  They then asked who were the newcomers to NZ (Avery and Rowan raised their hands) and the most recent -a boy- was given the honor and responsibility to plant the new tree.

After the planting, we hiked back down , more playing ensued and then lunch was served.  The sausages were shorter and fatter than out hot dogs.  I asked Avery if they were good and she quickly informed me that "Hot dogs are better".  The serve them on a piece of folded bread and topped with catsup.  (Purists can shriek now!)  

Avery is the one with brown shoes on

Lolly and I took off for the town center for coffees while we waited for the end of the school day.  It's a considerable hike from the Bower house to the school yard -about 35 minutes- so we did not want to get home and turnaround and come back.

Some more pictures of the outings

Rowan's teacher led the kids in the singing

Ms McKindrey talked about the tree.

Avery's teacher is loved by her class.

Horsing around.

Boys and trees

Avery in the saddle

Avery has been taking riding lessons since early on after their arrival.  She has taken a real affinity to riding the donkey, Tillie.  Go Avery!

The Trip

Between the gate and our seats on the Air NZ plane, we had one good surprise and one bad (or least annoying) surprise.  Erik was sending guitar for Rowan for which we expected to be levied a sum of money as extra baggage.  The counter agent asked what was in the box.

-A guitar.

-Is it wrapped in Styrofoam?

-No, it's in a hard case. 
-Sign here.
And that was it!  

TSA was a different matter.  First I went through the full body scan.  The new SOP for TSA is "you can't see London, you can't see France until we see our underpants".   


Then when they scanned my carry on, the discovered I had a weapon of mass destruction with me- a Micro-Leatherman that has a little ruler, scissor, nail file, tweezers and a 1 1/2 inch pen KNIFE.  I had to leave security and mail it to myself.  United did  not consider it as dangerous as Air New Zealand.


Twelve and a half hours later we touched down in Auckland and changed planes to go on to Christchurch.  We had to go through security again, but before we did, Lolly cried, "I left my Kindle on the plane!"  She had to sprint back to the airplane and muscle through the cleaning crew to recover it.


Customs, although slowish, was a breeze.  All our worry about prescription drugs, and manure on our shoes was for naught.  I never had  to use my argument about why I was entitled to three bottles of bourbon, either.  

Lyttelton

We had to wait a little for Bob to show up.  It turns out they had to do some time juggling.  Alison got a short consulting gig in the north and had to go to the airport to fly out.  That meant dropping the kids at school before they could come to the airport.  So we got picked up and Alison said Hi and Bye and left.  We were now in Christchurch.  


We motored through town and down through Lyttelton, where we stopped for a somosa and a coffee.  Then it was on to Sumner and the house.

In the coffee shop

The first thing we noticed about the area is that it is bloody cold.  I wish I had brought all my sweaters.  It was overcast, very windy and about 50F.  While you see people on the streets in short sleeves and shorts, you need to remember that this is a country that still has not discovered central heating.  They have a mindset that NZ is a South Sea Island and, therefore must be tropical.  Happily, I did hear a local woman comment saying, "I can't imagine what -5C is like".  

We made to Sumner in time to greet the grandkids at their school.  They were nearly unhinged all day with the excitement of grandparents showing up.  It was a grand reunion.  We hung about all afternoon and evening catching up on everybody's stories.


Walked into town this morning and along the beach a bit.  Still miserably cold.  

At the edge of the continent

Here we are at the edge of the continent with 6290 miles facing us as the last leg of our journey.

SF sour dough

Last night we had Crab Fest at Erik's place.  What a great feed.  All the Dungeness crab we could eat, homemade French fries, a delicious salad -both masterfully prepared by Kevin- and lots of delicious wines and beer.  For desert, Erik made licorice ice cream with a little cherry-currant sauce and a gingerbread cookie from Tertine's.  A great last night before we tackle the airways again.  Our flight is on Air New Zealand early this evening.

Crabs in the pot

MSN to SFO

This morning we woke up to a  foggy San Francisco.

We left Mineral Point in the forenoon and drove to Madison, arriving with enough extra time to have a lunch at the Italian Bistro Not far from the airport.  We checked in with bags laden with more Christmas gifts from Laura to Bob and family.  My bag was a few pounds overweight, but the United attendant said he wasn't going to quibble over it ( and why should he, we paid $25 for each bag checked).

The flights were crowded but uneventful.  We changed planes in Denver and touched down in SFO around 7:30 pm.   We collected our bags without the aid of a Sherpa, phoned Erik and waited about ten minutes until he arrived and took us on to his house.  I had been thinking about supper and thought maybe i would ask if we could just get some takeout.  To my great pleasure, Kevin must have read my mind because a delicious dinner was laid out for us within minutes of our arrival: egg roll, spicy vegetables and meat.

This morning after making coffee, I stood on the deck and watched the city come to life.

Midday, we went to an oyster bar in the Castro where we met with Corrine,a friend of Erik's, and had a tasty repast. I had an Italian seafood stew which consisted of a tomato base containing fish, shrimp and several kinds of clams and mussels.

Corrine and Sloan

Lunch at the oyster bar

Italian seafood stew

Looking west from Erik's deck...

Neighbor's succulent garden

 We went to the Sun Fat Fish market to but our crabs.

Lots of fresh shell fish

It's Dungeness crab season; one of the special treats in San Francisco during the holiday season.

Erik and I inspect the variety of fish offered here on Saturday morning.

We also stopped at the Tartine Bakery, where the best sour dough bread in San Francisco is made.  needless to say we sampled some of their delicious sweet rolls as well as buying bread for our dinner.

The bakery has many delicious temptations to tease you while you wait to order your bread.